Lease Renewal
I am currently renting (4 years now) and have renewed my lease every year. Typically every year in the past the rent has increased as well as the sec. deposit. This year I did not receive a lease renewal form. I have continued paying the regular rent (without the increase) for 4 months now. I now need to terminate my lease (I am buying a house.) The housing assoc. admitted that I did not receive a renewal form and said I could do a ”buy out” (2 extra months rent for terminating the lease). Is this a trick? Am I on a month to month lease with them now? The lease says that if the renter does not return the lease renewal form (which I did not return because I never received it), it is automatically renewed for an additional year. Does this mean that I am on a yearly lease with them? Can I leave at any time with a months notice and avoid the buy out? I would think that I am on a month to month with them, but since the lease says that it’s an automatic renewal, where does that put me? Should I consider myself lucky to get a buyout? Thanks.
Re: Lease Renewal
Automatic renewal provisions are valid, so you have a 1 year lease. I would need to see the rest of your lease to see what the provisions are for terminating prior to the expiration of the term. A two month buyout does not seem like a bad deal, since your exposure would be higher if you left and the landlord, after reasonable efforts, could not re-rent the property within that time.
Jeffrey Weinstein
Jeffrey L. Weinstein, Attorney at Law
1 Quarry Street
Lambertville, NJ 08530