Being forced to pay an extra month of rent when leaving

[djulian]

What is the name of your state? Kansas.

Good morning.
My friend's lease ends on 3/31/19. He did not give a 30 day written notice that he would be leaving when his lease expires. He received a call a couple of weeks ago from his apt complex asking what he planned on doing. He informed the landlord that he would be vacating on the 31st.

He was then told that he was setup for automatic renewal and because he did not give a 30 day written notice, he will need to pay for the month of April. Yet, he still must vacate on march 31st when his lease ends and would not be allowed in after that time.

I am a newbie when it comes to the law so I am just curious if this is legal? If so, does he have any options? Paying for any extra month of rent while also trying to pay a deposit for the new place has been difficult for him.

Thank you,
Daniel

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Without reading the lease there is no way to know. Many leases have wording that converts them to month to month and require 30-day notice. So it is certainly possible that it is completely legal.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? Kansas.

Good morning.
My friend's lease ends on 3/31/19. He did not give a 30 day written notice that he would be leaving when his lease expires. He received a call a couple of weeks ago from his apt complex asking what he planned on doing. He informed the landlord that he would be vacating on the 31st.

He was then told that he was setup for automatic renewal and because he did not give a 30 day written notice, he will need to pay for the month of April. Yet, he still must vacate on march 31st when his lease ends and would not be allowed in after that time.

I am a newbie when it comes to the law so I am just curious if this is legal? If so, does he have any options? Paying for any extra month of rent while also trying to pay a deposit for the new place has been difficult for him.

Thank you,
Daniel

They have the right to require 30 days notice from him. They do not have the right to require that he vacate before the end of his notice period.

 

[FarmerJ]

As long as his lease did not auto renew to be for a whole year at a time he can re issue to them a written on real paper notice that tells them he will be out at the end of april and mail it confirmed mail delivery , or certified mail and staple his receipt to a copy of the notice and stay put , pay his april rent and plan accordingly to be out on time and make sure the apartment is clean (take pictures too) Logic is that at this point if he became month to month then he has not given proper notice to LL and can stay thru the time he pays them for .

 

[djulian]

Thank you for your thoughts. I read any lease that has not be notarized and can be automatically renewed beyond 3 years (doesn't specifically state a limit) is unenforceable by law. If these loopholes exist within the contract, is it possible that he could avoid paying the next months rent?

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Thank you for your thoughts. I read any lease that has not be notarized and can be automatically renewed beyond 3 years (doesn't specifically state a limit) is unenforceable by law. If these loopholes exist within the contract, is it possible that he could avoid paying the next months rent?

Notarization changes nothing.

 

[djulian]

Notarization changes nothing.

https://www.gertsburglaw.com/blog/automatic-lease-renewal/

"

• Almost no one bothers to get the lease notarized. A common and successful defense against landlords attempting to enforce an automatic renewal clause in a lease is to point out that there was no limit to how many times a lease could automatically renew, and that the lease was never notarized. Because the lease wasn’t notarized, and the lease through the automatic renewal clause went beyond three years, the term of the lease is unenforceable by law.

"

This is where I got that information from. But it looks like it's stating that both have to be true and not one or the other.

 

[reenzz]

Ohio law does not apply in Kansas.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

You need to make sure you are looking at the correct state's law when you Google.

 

[STEPHAN]

And the exact working in your contract matters!

 

[adjusterjack]

This is where I got that information from.

You need to read the Kansas landlord tenant statutes:

https://law.justia.com/codes/kansas/2017/chapter-58/article-25/