Can I sue an ex month-to month tenantif I issued pay or quit notice and she moved out?
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Can I sue an ex month-to month tenantif I issued pay or quit notice and she moved out?
I had a 1 year lease contract with my tenant, which then turned into a month to month lease. After this transition I had to serve her with a pay or quit notice for failure to pay rent (for Aug). She did move out in 3 days (at end of Aug). However, because she breached our contract and did not give me 30 days notice before moving out (I do have an email from “her brother” saying she wanted to give me 30 day’s notice on the date of the email at end of Aug) can I sue her for both the unpaid rent for the month I gave her the notice (Aug) and the rent for the next 30 days (Sep)?
Asked on October 18, 2010 under Real Estate Law, California
Answers:
M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
If the pay or quit notice was a requirement to binging an action for eviction under your state law (which it probably was), and if she had not left you would have been able to start the action and then recover the rent for August and September (which I am sure that you could have for August but not really sure about September) then I would say yes, you can bring the action. If the case had been that she paid the August rent after the notice you would not have had the ability to bring the action for eviction. Landlord tenant law is very particular in that the notices are required to be just so and served just so to be able to maintain a proper action against the tenant. And the law really varies from state to state. I would bring all your paperwork to an attorney in your area to review just to be sure. Good luck.
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