Can our landlord make us leave by original vacancy date?

Question

We recently bought my first house and signed purchase and sales agreement on 7/9/08. Our agent told us that on that date it was safe for us to give our 30 days notice, which we did that night. We had put calls in to our landlord before this to find out what the policy was because our lease agreement said it was according to RI law (though our lease was only for 1 year and we have been month-to-month for the last 2 years). We also left a message for him that night because that would have meant 8/9/08 would be 30 days and wanted to find out if we could pay for just that first week of August.

We found out after repeated messages that we would have to pay for the entire month of August, regardless of when we leave. We then filed a new written notice that if we were to pay for the month of August, we would not be leaving until 8/31/08 (even though we probably will be mid-month anyway). We have also left messages requesting he acknowledge receipt of this second notice and to confirm this.

He has not gotten back to us, so I wanted to know if this has happened to anyone else and if you're allowed to stay the whole month if you're paying for it or if we'll have to be out by our original date given (which will actually be before our house closing because we got royally screwed over by the selling agent in terms of things going in a timely manner since he lied to use repeatedly about different things).

Any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

if the lease expired two years ago  and there was no new lease signed

you  are on a month to month rental agreement. If you pay for a month, and he accepts it, you have the right to be there for a month. do ever thing in writing.

Answer 2

You would normally pay for the entire month, not just 1 week extra that you need to be there. He would be cutting you a huge break if he let you do that. By law you have to pay for each month. Generally you give your notice at the beginning or end of the month, not in the middle.

Answer 3

Your first mistake is the telephone. Notice of this type is best by registered mail. This always amazes me. If you expect people to take you seriously, than you should act serious. For 3 bucks and 10 minutes of your time, you would have a government document of the date your landlord received your notice.

Even if you are on month to month the lease terms still apply. If he requires that you pay for the entire month, than you can stay for the entire month.