If I texted my landlord I would like to stay for another year, would that text message be considered a new lease?
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If I texted my landlord I would like to stay for another year, would that text message be considered a new lease?
I never signed a new rental lease, but
texted my landlord that we would like to
stay another year. Can I legally move
out before the lease is up?
Asked on September 3, 2017 under Real Estate Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
Generally, if you did not sign a written lease or lease renwal, even if you expressed (even via text) an interest in staying longer, you can move out at the end of the current lease term or, if you have stayed past it already, on a month's notice (when you remain a tenant without a written lease, you do so as a month-to-month tenant on an oral, or unwritten, lease).
That is the general rule. If the lease stated that it would renew if you failed to provide notice of nonrenewal in time, then presumably, by texting that you wanted to stay, you did not provide notice of non-renewal and the lease would therefore have renewed. Double check what, if anything, you lease had said about renewal to confirm your situation.
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