Bay Area

[swimfiend]

I love this forum but I don't know if a tenant question is ok here....

If it's not, please delete. Here's the question.

I'm going to be moving out of my current place into a new rental that will work better for my eternal wait for my short sale house. My rental agreement is month-to-month but it stipulates a 60 day written notice (the 30 on the form is crossed out and changed to 60).

My rent is paid on the 15th of each month and I have pre-paid my last month's rent (Mid Feb to Mid March) when I gave him my first month. I would love to only give a 45 day notice ending my tenancy mid-March instead of the end of March if I gave him 60 days notice.

I'm reading the California Tenant Guide
-http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/catenant.pdf

They say that I only have to give notice for the amount of time between rent payments which is in my case 30 days. So while my rental agreement says we have to give each other 60 days notice, I'm wondering if I could give notice for 45 days through the time of my pre-paid last month rent. I would really really like to not have to pay an extra half month rent for a place I won't need to live in as my new lease starts March 1st.

Thanks! I'm new to the area and much more used to NYC real estate.

[SamShuehRealtor]

Best is show this to your landlord asking him to reconsider. What page is it on?  

Hint that the rent is going up and he can get more rent out of next guy. Also you need to take photos of key rental area(kitchen, oven), bath making sure the landlord knows the condition of the property at the time of moving in because he can ding you for damages. Perhaps you can hint you will cooperate by letting prospects in etc to get him change the lease. 

60 days is fairly long notice knowing he can find tenants in a few days. That is just my opinion.

[buyinghouse]

  Did you sign the "cross-out" number? It's your way out if you didn't.

[swimfiend]

I did initial the cross out. 

I'm going to tell him my timeframe and see what he says, since he can rent it for more $ once I'm gone so the sooner the better I think for him.

[swimfiend]

It's page 49.

"You must give the landlord the same amount
of notice as there are days between rent
payments.193 This means that if you pay rent
monthly, you must give the landlord written notice
at least 30 days before you move. If you pay rent
every week, you must give the landlord written
notice at least seven days before you move.194
This is true even if the landlord has given you a
60-day notice to end the rental agreement and
you want to leave sooner (see discussion, page
48).195"

I think the issue is he wants to move back and this might not be in his time frame. But if I have legal grounds to move earlier I want to.

[Fishmarty]

If you are in good BA area, sure rental market is good and available homes go out fast.

I usually require only 30 days notice and my SF houses rent out fast like 15-20 days.

If you make the home available (keep your expensive and valuable away, tidy the house, etc) for landlord to show it in the last week, that helps the landlord to play favorable terms on you.

Just a suggestion.

[sheriff]

---

Fishmarty wrote:

If you are in good BA area, sure rental market is good and available homes go out fast.

I usually require only 30 days notice and my SF houses rent out fast like 15-20 days.

If you make the home available (keep your expensive and valuable away, tidy the house, etc) for landlord to show it in the last week, that helps the landlord to play favorable terms on you.

Just a suggestion.

---

Even if you don't honor the lease and leave early, if you leave it in good condition, the landlord has a legal duty to mitigate damages.  That means he must make a good faith effort to rent it quickly and can only charge you for the money he lost.

He can't leave it vacant without trying to rent it or rent it out and still charge you.

[buyinghouse]

   Be aware of those dishonest managers or landlords. We sent out letter 30 days in advance according to the contract. I painted the whole apartment, I put the paint. I did clean the old cabinetry set, the cupboards, the old and beat up oven, the carpets. I did the paint job based on that they would charge me the whole "enchilada" because of some art work my kids had on the walls.

   Just the paint job was at least $1,200 for an 1,100 sq. ft. apartment. The final bill came, they paid $150 to somebody to clean the cupboards, the same ones we cleaned. $20 to replace a bulb, $10 to clean each blind, the old ones when they could have bought a new one for $7.00 each. They nickeled and dimed us big time. Even, they "needed" to install a new GFI in the kitchen so we were charged $150 for that.  

  I did the paint job so I could earn point with them but they didn't care. So, my wife calls the lady and tells her that she is going to court for those excessive and unnecessary charges.  She knew that if she didn't change "her mind", we would win and even get some extra money back. Next bill came with a $350 deduction. Still, $800 to leave an apartment brand new is too much.

  Now you know why owning is better still today.