Canmy landlordterminate my lease and give me 1 month to move out?
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Canmy landlordterminate my lease and give me 1 month to move out?
I rent an apartment with my family. Today I got a notice of lease termination. The letter says that they are giving us 1 month to move out. When Iwent to the office to ask what is the reason, the manager informed me that they don’t have to have a reason, and they don’t have one. I asked my neighbors and no one has gotten a letter like that, so our family is the only one. I don’t even know if I will be able to find another place in 1 month, and don’t know what kind of reference they’re going to give if I will try to rent another apartment. I don’t know my legal rights.
Asked on October 4, 2010 under Real Estate Law, North Carolina
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
If you have a written lease, then during the lease term, it can only be terminated if you breach your obligations in some way, such as by not paying rent, paying rent late, or violating rules of the home/building (e.g. having a pet, if it's no pets allowed)--or for certain limited other reasons involving bad acts, like reckless or deliberate destruction of the landlord's property.
Otherwise, with a written lease, it can only be terminated when it naturally ends; e.g. the landlord does not need to renew it, unless there's a renewal clause in the lease; or he can increase the rent as much as he likes, etc.
If you don't have a written lease, you a month-to-month tenant. That means that either your or the landlord can give the other party one month's notice to terminate the tenancy, for any reason or no reason at all--with one exception: most landlord's can't discriminate against certain protected groups, e.g. racial minorites, in terms of housing. (There is less protection if you're renting one unit or floor in a small, owner-occupied home.)
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