Posted by John Merchant on March 24, 2010 at 16:04:41:
Every state has specific statutes stating the requirements for long-term lease and generally these days they’re all pretty much tenant friendly.
So look in CCCs online, find Landlord/Tenant law, then Lease requirements, and you’ll see what CA requires to form a valid longterm lease.
Also in most states today the LL has to be mucho careful in holding any T’s deposit without following his state’s law in detail so I’d guess the LL here is probably in violation of CCCs.
Posted by Alexander on March 23, 2010 at 13:44:49:
Hello Everyone!
My parents gave notice that they are moving out of their apartment. They finally bought a house. They thought they were renting month to month because their 1 year lease ended last October. Apparantly in the “small print” the 1 year lease renews automatically so they are stuck in a lease with a $2,000 penalty + missed rent while empty. The lease also says that there should have been a 5% increase which was never implemented and now the landlord, who is being very rude to my parents in his language, wants over $500 to make up for it.
I was wondering if the contract is not valid because there was zero mention of it and the landlord failed to follow his own contract for the 5% increase, which would have red flagged the situation and the landlord somehow pierced a veil of the contract. The landlord is holding $3000 deposit and rent is $2000. This is in California. Can the landlord force my parents to pay if we went to small claims?