Does a landlord have to give any notice that your lease is going to expire?

Question

I live in Michigan & My landlord did not give me a 60/30 day notice that my lease was expiring. Instead least week they put a notice on my door stating i had to resign my lease within 7 days or I would be charged a month to month rate of my current rent plus $200. I know I should have been more aware, but I’m young & have a special needs child so honestly that was the last thing on my mind, lesson learned for sure. I just knew my lease ended sometime in the summer & I figured I’d get some type notice. Once I got that notice I immediately started to move out bc I DID NOT want to resign for another year. When I went to turn in my keys to the office they told me I would have to pay 2 months of rent at market rate plus a $500 fee for not giving them a 60 day notice. I don’t feel I should have to pay all of this if I never received a notice. I just want to know my rights, maybe I’m wrong?

Side note: they also said they would to do a walk through to see if any damages occurred, but they never did a walk through with me when I moved in & there were already damages I do not want to be charged for. This place is very unorganized & unprofessional, they never answer the phone or communicate with residents. I’m willing to go to court over this all I just need to know my rights. Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

It is your responsibility to be aware of your financial obligations and contracts you sign.



It is not the responsibility of others to inform you of things you should be aware of. Your landlord is not required to inform you of something that is in your lease you signed.



Your lease agreement clearly state the date you lease would end. Your lease also state the requirements you would need to do prior to your lease expiring.



Since you failed to inform your landlord of your intentions to sign a new lease or to move, your landlord indicated that they were willing to continue to have you as a tenant on a month to month tenancy and there would be an increase in your rent. This is normal,they have indicated the conditions of you remaining in the rental.



You failed to indicate your desire as to sign another lease or move.



You took it upon yourself to move once your landlord indicated the terms for you to remain a tenant. Again you failed to provide the proper notification that you would be moving.



You want your landlord to comply with various rules in this situation, yet you have failed to comply with any of the rules of your lease or state requirements. In your state, without a lease, you are normally required to provide your landlord with a 30 day notice that you would be moving. Apparently you failed to do this requirement.



If you have a feeling that you were not legally given the proper notice to move and you have the legal grounds, by all means you would want to take your landlord to court and sue them. You should keep in mind that you do not have clean hands. You have not complied with providing your landlord the 30 or 60 day advance notice that you would be moving.



Since you failed to do this requirement you could be required to pay the 2 months rent, lose a portion of your deposit for damage to your formal rental. Your feeling about this matter would not matter. You feelings have no legal standings in any court.



The fact that you are young and have a child that is in need of special attention is not a legal defense in court. Also ignorance of the law or your lease agreement is not a legal defense in court.



You are bringing up things about your landlord and the way they have conducted their business, as a means of supporting your position. This things should have been taken care of as they happened.



I hope this has been of some benefit to you, good luck.



"FIGHT ON"

Answer 2

You are responsible fro keeping track of things like that.

Answer 3

Your landlord needs to give you at least one full month's notice for any rent increases. (It may be more; read your lease)



You need to give your landlord at least one full month's notice to move out without penalty. (It may be more; read your lease)

Answer 4

All the information you needed was in the lease you signed. You should know when it expired.



That said, if he wants to convert you to a month to month tenant at the end of the lease, and charge higher rent and/or change any other terms, he MUST give you more than seven days. As long as they put that note on your door before July first, they can start charging the new rent, and they CAN charge $200 a month more, on August 1st. If the lease they want you to sign - READ EVERYTHING IN IT - is for the current rent, then you might want to consider signing it and locking in for another year. make sure you READ IT before you sign it.



If you don't sign it,you will be paying $200 more starting in August. You may leave anytime you want, but as month to month, you must give them adcance notice, too. If you want to leave at the end of August, make sure you notify them in writing before the end of July.

Answer 5

In Michigan you have to give one months notice (assuming you pay rent monthly) that you are leaving and if you left mid month then it is 2 months. So they can cahrge you 2 months rent but I don't think they can charge you the $500 fee. Also, they have you the same notice that they are raising your rent, which they did not do. If you have already moved out you will probably have to pay this but you could try fighting it since they screwed up not giving you enough notice of the rent raise which is what caused you to move in the first place. So, you can try fighting it in court but not sure if you'd win this one.

Answer 6

Check your original lease. In addition to clearly stating its expiration date, it likely also described what would happen if you failed to renew it. When an annual lease expires, it typically turns into a series of one-month leases until either the tenant or landlord gives a 30-day notice to terminate it. And in general the rent on a one-month lease is higher than a year-long lease.



By not responding, you defaulted into accepting those terms. You should owe ONE month's rent - not two, and not an additional fee.

If the rent increase wasn't communicated a year ago, then a court might let you pay at the old rate.



As for damages, if you didn't report any damage when you moved in, then you're stuck with it.

Answer 7

1. No. They do not need to inform you that your lease is expiring. Many do, but as you mentioned you should have been on top of it.

2. They need to give you proper notice to increase rent. The exception here is if your lease states new fees if you fall to month to month. (Because you did already agree to that.)

3. Once this issue came up, did you read your lease or talk to them about your options? You ALWAYS have to give notice. It sounds like you were supposed to give a 60 day notice.

4. It makes zero sense to be charged for 2 months PLUS $500. One or the other. Push back on this. If they insist of both, check your lease carefully. Also tell them that they can't take possession for 60 days so technically you gave notice and just have to pay the 2 months.

Answer 8

No, generally they don't. You already knew when your lease was set to expire, its not their responsibility to remind you of information you already have. They are only required to provide you with relevant NEW information.



The 7 day notice of a rent increase is probably not legal but you need to check your original lease. what does it say will happen at the end? Does it say that your tenancy automatically terminates? Does it say it rolls into a month-to-month tenancy? - If so, does it specify a rent increase or extra fee?



You might be able to get away with refusing to pay the surcharge for the first month because they did not notify you in time, but by the 2nd month you need to either have a new lease signed or plan on paying the surcharge.

Answer 9

Quite often the landlord is not required to give a notice. It's the tenants responsibility. To confirm this Google 'landlord tenant laws" and your state's name.

Answer 10

You DID receive written notice. It's called your lease. Did you read it? It says right there in black and white when your lease expires and what your responsibilities are.



Your landlord is not your mummy or personal secretary. You are responsible for the stuff you sign.



"This place is very unorganized" They're far more organized than you are, cupcake.

Answer 11

You're mixing up multiple issues. The one-year (?) lease expired. You are being given the OPTION to sign for another year. You're not being ordered to leave. You have been offered a new month-to-month term as the ordinary extension of the existing lease. This is very common. You only have to leave if they give you 30-day notice (or whatever MI law or the contract requires) that the current lease is being terminated. You may also give that notice to them when you decide it's time to leave.



In fact, if you want to get another one-year lease, you can certainly ask at any time. It is almost always to the benefit of a tenant to have more than a one-month lease term.

Answer 12

In Michigan, the landlord is not required to give you any notice that the lease is expiring. But YOU are required to give 60 notice that you're moving out. You could stay in your apartment and pay the extra rent for the two-month period and avoid paying rent on two homes at once. That's your choice.

Answer 13

Yes

Answer 14

Oy. You're getting some guessing in a couple of these answers, but what matters most is what is stated in your lease. Sixty days notice is not uncommon where I live, and if that's in the lease, you never should have left without making sure you were giving enough notice.



Also, since this sounds like a larger complex (meaning not like a duplex with 4 units) these folks know what they're doing. It may appear disorganized to you, but they're not going to tell you something that isn't true. You can google rent increases in your state, but this gets tricky, because it's not a rent increase if the lease states you're now on month to month, which is always more expensive. The only thing I'm not sure about is the $500, but it would cost you more than that in court fees to pursue it if it's invalid.

Also, on the damage, you say they didn't do a walk through with you, but they're not obligated to do that. You're supposed to put in writing anything you notice when you move in, and this is probably somewhere in the lease. The walk through is done when you leave, and you're responsible for any damage you didn't report originally.



I feel kind of bad for you, mainly because you're young. But you still need to use common sense when you sign your name to a legally binding document. If you noticed that damage but never asked who to report it to, this wasn't common sense.

Answer 15

in my lease forms it says that at the end of the one year- the lease becomes a month to month lease. With proper notice the landlord could raise the rent and do it again (once they give proper notice) as often as they wish. If you are willing to sign a new one year lease and the landlord also agrees then you could lock in a rate for a year. I bet the 7 days is not proper notice.

Answer 16

You signed a lease. Evidently it covered one year - like most do. Unless you have had a closed head injury is there some special reason why you didn't know your lease was expiring? I've been renting since 1964 and I've ALWAYS known when my lease is up for renewal. AND my rent always increases effective with the date the current lease expires - that I get notice of.



You want to renew your lease? Then contact your LL and let him know. You want month-to-month then talk to the landlord. You want to move out - then give LL 30 days notice. As a renter you have certain responsibilities - it's time you found out what they are.

Answer 17

No, you have the date of expiration on the lease. Your age and a child do not let you out of your brains to figure out you should give notice or sign a new lease. Dont make excuses, thats juvenile. You dont get notice that your lease ends. Grow up. If there were damages when you moved in, prove it by showing you informed landlord about them or asked for repairs. You have no rights.

Answer 18

YOU must give notice if you were choosing to leave. That's on you. They are right.

Answer 19

That info will be in your lease. Check your lease and if it does not contain the 60 day notice requirement then there isn't a 60 day notice requirement.



Did your lease already expire? Typically a landlord will give you plenty of notice that your lease is expiring because a guaranteed renter (one who resigns a lease) is better than trying to find a new tenant (which can take time). Is it possible you missed the notice? If your lease already ended it's very possible that your landlord would give you only 7 days to leave.



As far as the damages when you moved in, check your lease and see if it mentions any kind of move-in damages form. Every apartment I have lived in provided me with a form to list existing damages on. If I found any, maintenance would come verify the damages to make srue I wasn't charged at move out. If you didn't fill out a form like this you might be stuck.

Answer 20

If u didnt do a walk through and didnt present them a written paper with all the problems - u are paying for all the damages whether u want it or not. If u moved during 7 days u dont need to pay anything, if u didnt - u did have a written notice