THIS QUESTION IS FOR CALIFORNIA CODE ONLY:

My lease for my apartment was for 1 year, starting February 1, 2005 and ending January 31, 2006. After January passed, I just continued making monthly payments on the 1st of the month. I assume from then on I have been on a month-to-month lease.

I just gave 30 days notice on February 19th, explaining that I would be out by the 19th of March, and to please let me know what the prorated amount would be for the 19 days into march.

She wrote me that, “in order to terminate a lease where rent is paid on the first day of the month every 30 days, notice to terminate must be given 30-days before the end of the last month. Therefore, in order to terminate effective April
1st, you would have had to give notice on March 1st. This law protects everyone. I am going to have to evoke it's protection in my case, and require that the last month's rent be paid in full."

I found information on the Department of Consumer Affairs website which says that in a periodic tenancy (month-to-month) I could give notice at anytime and basically would be required to pay for the next 30 days no matter what day it landed on.

She replied to me quite harshly: "we do not have a periodic tenancy. We have a month to month tenancy, and the terms of the lease govern. Call a lawyer and ask them. I don’t have time and I can not give you legal advice in this situation."

The lease says, "Expiration/Holding Over: Upon expiration of this Agreement, Renter shall vacate the Premises without further notice. Any holding over after expiration of the Lease, with the consent of the Owner, shall be construed as a month-to-month tenancy in accordance with the terms herewith."

If I'm wrong, and I am missing something here, then I won't fight her and will pay. But it appears that she's wrong. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

You are on month to month, in accordance with the terms herewith ( terms of the prior lease) normally you are obligated by the prior lease rules the only difference is there is no longer a lease obligation to time, but the other terms and conditions of the lease are binding.

But this is it, even if they are wrong are you willing to move out without paying the balance and see what they do, it will end up in court either by them withholding the deposiit and you sueing for that, or them sueing ofr the rent.

You agreed to the notice of termination timing and delivery and should have abided by it. Providing notice BEFORE the next "hiring period" is common and you should have done it SOONER rather than later.