Question about my rights as a tenant....?

Question

I have been renting a house for 2 1/2 years. I am not behind on any rent, nor have I been in the past. My husband and I were not required to sign a lease or any kind of agreement to move in, we just paid our first months rent, and a security deposit of $400.00. We are buying a house and plan on moving out. This happened really fast, and we did not expect to have everything move so quickly, but it did. Now we are fising to move out of the rental house and if I tell my landlord today, then it will only be a 6 day notice. Can he hold our deposit for this even if there was no agreement as to a certain length of time we had to give a notice?

Answer 1

Here in Michigan, I believe you need to give a 30 days written notice even without an agreement. I would ask you landlord what he requires.

Answer 2

You are by your own admission a month to month tenant and as such must give 30 days notice on or before the date your rent is due for the next rental period (ie Sep 1) AND owe rent for the next month (Sep)

"Can he hold our deposit for this even if there was no agreement as to a certain length of time we had to give a notice"

There IS an agreement by law

Answer 3

Six days is not enough notice and the landlord won't be thrilled about you moving out mid-month either.  You probably have to give 30 days notice even with a verbal agreement, and the landlord can hold your deposit if you give less.  Furthermore what is the closing gets delayed.  If I were you I'd give them notice today but make it for thru September.  This way you are covered if the closing is delayed, you can take your time moving out, and you give enough notice.  Yeah it'll cost you more but it leaves everything on a good note.  Best luck at the new place.

Answer 4

If the landlord wishes they can hold you to an extra month. But seriously, have you already closed? I find it hard to believe you found a house, got financing, and had a successful closing date and have all the papers and keys for the new place in your pocket, all in a couple weeks.

Either you think this is going to all happen in 6 days or you knew it was coming weeks ago but didn't want to notify the landlord until you had your closing nailed. Either way, just suck it up and pay the extra month rent so you can move without such a deadline.

Answer 5

Seriously...how would you feel if the landlord only gave you 6 days to move out?  You need to look at this in a logical way.  Your failure to provide proper notice is putting your landlord at a financial loss, so by law you would have to pay for the month of September.  

BTW...it's illegal in most states to use your security deposit as rent, so be prepared to pay on Sept. 1st. or face legal action.

Answer 6

Every state had statute on landlord/tenant issues: as such, under state statute/law you most likely have a month to month tenancy, therefore a month notice is required to terminate the lease , not six days,