2 thoughts on “Landlord raising rent I have a lease that ends at the end of the month…”

1. Re: Landlord raising rent
   1. Is your lease a self-renewing or self-extending lease? I’ll assume not, though I’d check your lease myself if you would send me or fax me a copy. The standard leases often put that into the title of the lease. (You can try to fax it to me at 527-1763 or else mail it to me.)

   2. These are a few of the rules that apply GENERALLY (but I’d need to talk with you to see if your case fits the general rule!):

   When the lease expires (again, if it does not self-extend or self-renew), then a new sort of tenancy called a tenancy-at-will (TAW) is ‘created’ (begins). The TAW requires 30 days notice (the minimum of one rent period and 30 days) to terminate, and a proper notice (“notice to quit”) ends the rent period on a rent-due day, usually on the first of a month. (If you fall behind in rent, there’s a different kind of notice with only 14 days and not necessarily ending on a rent due day.)
   Since you didn’t get such a 30-day notice, I assume that you now have a TAW, which can be changed if you two agree upon and sign a new lease.

   Meanwhile, technically, no, the rent cannot be raised without 30 days written notice of the rent increase. If you push that point, however, you could find yourself getting a 30-day notice to quit and no simultaneous offer of a new tenancy at a higher rent; I assume you want the latter and that you even would like a lease for the balance of the year. (It will be okay if the lease dates back a month or so to the beginning of the year it covers, as long as the money is worked out okay.)

   You can try to negotiate: tell him you’d more comfortably be able to pay, say, half of the increase he mentioned, but leave yourself an ‘out’ in the negotiation in case you want to crack and pay exactly what he asked for. Apartments in the Boston area are hard to come by right now! (Where are you? Reply to lawyer@mediaone.net if you will.)

   Two more questions are answered in my next reply.

   Stuart Williams
   Law Offices of Stuart J. Williams
   PRACTICE CLOSED
   Newton, MA 00000

2. Re: Landlord raising rent
   SECOND OF A TWO-PART ANSWER:

   “DOes written turn into a month to month lease?”

   I don’t understand that question. Write to lawyer@mediaone.net if you will.

   “How much notice do I need to give now when I leave?” Under a TAW, you need to give 30 days notice (and pay rent for all of those 30 days, without pro-rating); as an illustration, if you give notice Feb. 1st, you are required to pay rent for the month of March, assuming rent pay day is the 1st of each month, because Feb. has under 30 days! Under that rule, if you give notice December 2nd, that’s enough to get you out by January 1st without having to pay January rent — but I strongly advise you not wait until December 2nd to give notice for January 1st. The lease even if it expires could give more rules for the TAW that follows and could alter these rules somewhat.

   Overall suggestion: keep communicating with your landlord and don’t make guesses about all this stuff; find out what he wants, decide what you are willing to do, and don’t take an adversarial position, at least not while you are a tenant-at-will. Once you have a lease, you are in a stronger position to demand various rights.

   The right to pay the old rent, while your right, is a short-lived one; you’d be right for one month, and probably a second, but then you might get evicted shortly thereafter. There is generally nothing to prevent the landlord from raising the rent sky-high with 30 days notice whether you agree to pay it or not. (I assume also you don’t live in federally subsidized housing, e.g., a project or a HUD property.)

   Stuart Williams
   Law Offices of Stuart J. Williams
   PRACTICE CLOSED
   Newton, MA 00000

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