Deciding The Term Of Your Lease

Lease agreement, rental lease termination, landlord tenant lease

Lease terms are of two types, fixed-term lease and month-to-month rental agreement. You can expect a landlord to offer both to you. Each has its advantages as well as disadvantages. And while one type may be favorable for you, the other may be favorable for someone else.

Here's an overview on them both:

* A fixed-term lease: It's surely the most common as well as well-known among rental agreements. This manner of lease will state a fixed duration of tenancy, not of a monthly nature. The terms are typically whole years e.g. One year, two years etc. but may also be something like 15 months, 18 months etc. for organizational purposes e.g. to ensure the termination of the lease coincides with that of other tenants' leases during a peak period for apartment hunting. Its obvious advantage is that you are having the apartment leased for your own uses as you may see fit, bound to the terms and conditions of the lease agreement of course, for the whole period of the lease. The disadvantage is the fact that you may have to vacate the apartment during the middle of your lease period due to an emergency or some other unavoidable situation, in which case you may be penalized or may be forced to use your time searching for an appropriate sub-tenant who meets all requirements of your landlord and vice-versa. A typical situation when you may choose to have a fixed-term lease would be if you are staying at a particular place for more than a few months.

* A month-to-month rental agreement: The duration of such a lease agreement implies what its name states - the agreement is renewed every month i.e. the lease period is one month. Though this may seem to be a short period of time, rather a 'miniature' version of the fixed-term lease, there is one major difference between the two types of agreements. The lease term will automatically get renewed if neither you, nor your landlord, have given appropriate notice to the contrary. This also means that you will not suffer from having to pay a penalty if you break your lease before completing a whole year. You will simply have to give proper notice to the landlord, usually 30 days in advance, that you wish to vacate the apartment. There is also the other side to consider, though. The big disadvantage here is that the landlord too has the right to serve you notice to vacate the premises, usually 30 days in advance. In such a case, you will have only about a month or so left to find out a new apartment that suits your needs. A typical situation when you may choose to have a month-to-month rental agreement would be if you are staying at a particular place for only a month or two i.e. a rather short duration of time.

To sum up, ensure you choose the right kind of lease term agreement. Various factors determine which one would be more suitable for your needs and you must take them all into consideration. Most of these factors depend on you, what you are really looking for, and what is possibly the best for your requirements. Choose wisely.