Every lease agreement will specify a time period required for a tenant to give notice to the landlord of his intention to renew the lease. Before we get into the time frames necessary to provide notice in California it’s important to point out a distinction in California residential leases. California has an automatic extension provision that states that the failure of the tenant to provide proper notice of tenant’s intent to renew the lease will obligate the tenant to pay the next month’s rent, unless the property is rented to another tenant.

Landlord's Notice To End A Periodic Tenancy

A tenancy without a fixed end date, such as month-to-month, is considered a periodic tenancy. When your property is leased on a periodic basis the landlord must provide either 30 or 60 days notice to the tenant of the intent to terminate the tenancy. The landlord must provide proper written notice to the tenant of at least 60 days to end the tenancy if every tenant and resident in the unit have lived there continuously for the past 12 months. However, for tenants and residents that have been in the unit for less than 12 months, the landlord must provide only 30 days’ advanced written notice. In addition, the 30 days’ written notice is available to landlords who have contracted to sell the rental unit to another person who intends to occupy it for at least a year after the tenancy ends. There are some other requirements of the landlord in the property sale scenario, so make sure to review California Civil Code §1946.1 for all of the specifications.

Tenant's Notice To End A Tenancy

Tenants must provide notice of their intent to vacate the premises in an amount of time equal to the number of days between rent payments.

As stated previously, a tenant must provide proper written notice of their intent to vacate the leased premises in order to avoid triggering the automatic extension clause in a California lease. Tenants must provide notice of their intent to vacate the premises in an amount of time equal to the number of days between rent payments. So, whether the lease is a lease with a fixed end date or is a month-to-month lease, if a tenant pays rent every 30 days then they are required to provide 30 days’ written notice. It behooves the landlord to make sure the tenant understands this important requirement when signing the lease.

Tenant’s notice to terminate if a victim of domestic violence or stalking

The tenant has the right to terminate the tenancy early.

If a tenant is the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, they have the right to end the tenancy early. The notice to end the tenancy must be in writing and must include a copy of a temporary restraining order, emergency protective order, or protective order lawfully issued that protects the tenant from further abuse, or police report dated within the last 60 days. The tenant is responsible for the payment of rent for 30 days following the notice to terminate.