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OP, when you paid rent for January, did you pay a full month's rent, or did you just pay for 22 days' worth of rent?
Correct me if I'm wrong here, guys, but if OP paid for all of January's rent, I would think that basically means the landlord is accepting OP as a tenant for all of January (not just up until the lease ends on Jan 22). I don't do leases here in CA (just month to month), so I'm not entirely familiar with the legalities of whether or not accepting the full month's rent would constitute the landlord acknowledging the tenant maintaining tenancy and converting to month to month.
Ok, time out. I just went back and reread the OP's lease phrasing, and I think this is the key:
Any holding over after expiration of the term by the Lessee without Lessor's expressed consent shall be deemed a tenancy at sufferance only.
I looked up what "tenant at sufferance" means:
a "hold-over" tenancy after a lease has expired, but before the landlord has demanded that the tenant quit (vacate) the premises. During a tenancy at sufferance the tenant is bound by the terms of the lease (including payment of rent) which existed before it expired. The only difference between a "tenancy at sufferance" and a "tenancy at will" is that the latter was created by agreement.
So, if the landlord has not provided notice to OP to vacate at the end of the lease, he is a tenant at sufferance, which is fine. OP should just need to give 30 days notice prior to vacating. OP, you will owe rent through the end of your 30 day notice of vacating, even if you move out sooner, unless of course the landlord rerents the unit prior to the end of your notice period. For example, if you give notice on Mar 15, you will owe rent through Apr 15. If you move out Apr 5, you have to pay rent due through Apr 15, but if the landlord rents it to someone on Apr 12, then he is supposed to refund your rent money for those last few days.
OP, when you paid rent for January, did you pay a full month's rent, or did you just pay for 22 days' worth of rent?
Correct me if I'm wrong here, guys, but if OP paid for all of January's rent, I would think that basically means the landlord is accepting OP as a tenant for all of January (not just up until the lease ends on Jan 22). I don't do leases here in CA (just month to month), so I'm not entirely familiar with the legalities of whether or not accepting the full month's rent would constitute the landlord acknowledging the tenant maintaining tenancy and converting to month to month.
Very interesting. I hadn't thought of it that way. Given that the wording of the lease and what the manager said I don't get the impression that paying for all of January would commit us beyond the 22nd. But if we do move out on that date I assume that the LL will need to refund the remainder of January's rent.
Ok, time out. I just went back and reread the OP's lease phrasing, and I think this is the key:
Any holding over after expiration of the term by the Lessee without Lessor's expressed consent shall be deemed a tenancy at sufferance only.
I looked up what "tenant at sufferance" means:
a "hold-over" tenancy after a lease has expired, but before the landlord has demanded that the tenant quit (vacate) the premises. During a tenancy at sufferance the tenant is bound by the terms of the lease (including payment of rent) which existed before it expired. The only difference between a "tenancy at sufferance" and a "tenancy at will" is that the latter was created by agreement.
So, if the landlord has not provided notice to OP to vacate at the end of the lease, he is a tenant at sufferance, which is fine. OP should just need to give 30 days notice prior to vacating. OP, you will owe rent through the end of your 30 day notice of vacating, even if you move out sooner, unless of course the landlord rerents the unit prior to the end of your notice period. For example, if you give notice on Mar 15, you will owe rent through Apr 15. If you move out Apr 5, you have to pay rent due through Apr 15, but if the landlord rents it to someone on Apr 12, then he is supposed to refund your rent money for those last few days.
This has been very interesting. I looked up how California views a tenancy at sufferance, and in CA it is considered a trespass. It is not the same thing as a tenancy at will.
Got it from California Real Estate Law by William H. Pivar and Robert Bruss:
The way the OP's lease was worded saying the tenant could not stay without express permission of the LL was at odds with the idea that a tenancy at sufferance meant that staying was no problem.
Your argument about paying rent beyond the 22nd and it being accepted by the LL is an interesting one. But, I really think a judge would see it as a simple mistake, since it's for 9 days rent, as opposed to a month's rent.
Anyway, I've learned a lot here. Very interesting stuff!
OP, the wording of your lease is clear that your tenancy ends at the end of your lease. So, you don't have to give 30 days notice.
If I was you, though, I'd go ahead and email the office and just reiterate that you will be leaving at the end of your lease.
Right now, all of the power of whether or not you can stay beyond the end of your lease belongs to the LL. If the landlord accepts rent for Feb, then you have a month-to-month agreement at that point going forward. If the landlord gives you express permission to move onward to a month-to-month agreement, you can do so.
If you don't get express permission to stay, and the LL refuses your rent payment on the 1st, you can be evicted as a holdover tenant.
At any rate, if you want to leave on the 22nd, you can do so without a full 30 days notice.
I'd email this, if you want to just end the tenancy on the 22nd:
Dear LL:
As you know our lease ends on 1/22. Although the lease does not require it, we just wanted to do you the courtesy of letting you know we do not intend to ask you to extend the lease beyond the termination date of 1/22.
Please forward our security deposit to the address below.
Cheers,
You
Your Forwarding Address
NoMoreSnowForMe,
I am remiss in not responding to your first message and posting an update (I tried twice but ran into glitches, then got interrupted).
It turns out that your interpretation is exactly right. The manager called and said that if we leave on the 22nd we don't have to give any notice at all. I am so surprised, I would never have thought we could move without notice!
So now I'm feverishly looking for a place to move (to think I started this thread because I thought it was too early to look for a place!). If we don't find a place in time, this thread has definitely brought it to my attention that we need to get "express permission" in writing that we are continuing under a month-to-month tenancy, not "tenancy at sufferance".
Serious thanks for your input and information.
Cheers!
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