Ending a tenancy will depend on the type of tenancy established in the written rental agreement or oral agreement if you do not have a written agreement. If it is a periodic tenancy with no fixed date to end, the landlord has to give a written notice that includes the full name and address of the tenant and the specific date when the tenancy is to end. It is important to remember that notices have to be given in the appropriate time, and this will vary according to many variables. The best is to have a proper and professional lawyer to guide the landlord in the legal process before starting the eviction.
If the tenancy was for a specific period of time, for example, six months, and it comes to the end of that six month period, a notice is not necessary. In that case, the lease agreement just ended, and there is not an addendum of such a document. If the tenant does not want to leave, even after the lease agreement has expired, an eviction process is then due to start.
Notice Requirements
In many situations, it is not mandatory for the landlord to give his tenants a reason for the notice to quit. There are specific situations in which the landlord may have retaliatory motives, and this is entirely illegal, this is different from a simple notice to vacate. In most cases the tenant is given 30 or 60 days to move and leave the property; this will vary according to the length of time the tenant has already lived in the property.
If the lease agreement has not ended, and it is the tenant is the one that wants to begin Terminating a Tenancy, the landlord has to be notified. This notification can be done 30-days before moving. In some other situations, the tenant can just leave the place without telling the landlord in advance. This is usually the result of a violation of the rental agreement from the landlord. Maybe the incident was a threat to the tenant, or maybe the landlord did not follow his part of the contract.
When can a landlord terminate a tenancy?
The landlord, on the other hand, has a shorter period for notices for the tenant. There is a three-day notice that is given to the tenants that have done any of the following:
*Did not pay rent
*Used the property to use, cultivate, import or sell drugs or any other illegal substance.
*Caused nuisance to neighbors or other tenants
*Violated the lease agreement
*Damaged the property
All of these are clear and substantial reasons to serve an eviction notice and ask for the termination of the tenancy.
Types of notices
30-day or 60-day notices
These are the ones that do not need a reason from the landlord. They give enough time to the tenant to find another place or to solve his home situation. It is essential to check that according to local jurisdiction the notice is being used properly. With this type of notice, there is the possibility of negotiation with the owner to continue to occupy the rental unit. A new lease agreement could be written with the consent of the landlord.
3-day notice
With this type of notice, as mentioned before, some violation of the lease agreement has occurred, and most of the times there is not possible negotiation. When filing this complaint to court, the landlord must have all the necessary evidence to support the case. These documents may include bank statements, text messages, videos where the tenant is seen misbehaving, records that prove the lack of payment, witnesses if the cause of the eviction includes nuisance to others.
It is important to note that to count the days a tenant or a landlord have to perform an action, these days cannot include court holidays. If, for example, the third of a 3-day notice falls on Saturday, Sunday, or court holiday, it will be necessary to wait until the following Monday.
In some cases, the tenant leaves the property and rent is still due. It will be necessary to file another complaint to obtain that money back after the whole eviction process is over. In most cases, the landlord will file a Small Claims case. This means that those two complaints cannot be filed at the same time and under the same process in court. A professional lawyer can properly guide the landlord in the steps that need to be taken.