{"id":19055,"date":"2013-04-04T10:29:55","date_gmt":"2013-04-04T08:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/the-danger-of-an-open-ended-rental-period\/"},"modified":"2013-04-04T10:29:55","modified_gmt":"2013-04-04T08:29:55","slug":"the-danger-of-an-open-ended-rental-period","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/the-danger-of-an-open-ended-rental-period\/","title":{"rendered":"The danger of an open-ended rental period"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

This week the Property Poser experts assist a reader who has been given notice to vacate her rented garden cottage, as her landlord wants to make large-scale alterations.<\/p>\n

The reader says she has been renting for a number of years without a formal or written lease agreement between the two parties.<\/p>\n

The notice was given on the seventh day of the month. Despite mentioning that it was for \u201ca month\u201d, the reader has not specified whether it was intended to expire at the end of the month in which it was given or on the seventh day of the subsequent month.<\/p>\n

In a rental scenario, the parties typically agree on a lease period, says Susan Chapman from Rawson Properties Port Elizabeth Platinum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is usually confirmed by the parties in writing and in a lease agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chapman says such an agreement would also cover aspects such as renewal of the lease period and the like.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, the parties could also agree to address the lease period on a month-to-month basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

This arrangement could also have arisen following the expiration of an agreed period, says Chapman.<\/p>\n

\u201cEither way, this appears to be the situation our reader found herself in before the notice to vacate was given.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where the lease runs from month to month, Chapman says it is generally accepted that the notice period is commensurate with the lease period.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this instance, the lease runs from one month to the next, so notice should also be given so as to coincide with and terminate over the same period.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would be unusual for the lease period to run from the seventh of one month to the seventh of the next, but this would not be legally problematic, says Stiaan Jonker of Smith Tabata Attorneys in PE.<\/p>\n

If this was the case here, the notice to vacate was given correctly. If not, then it would be considered as premature notice to vacate by the last day of the following month, thus allowing for a full calendar month\u2019s notice, says Jonker.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the danger of an open-ended rental period. The tenant runs the risk of being forced to leave before he or she is ready to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the plus side, says Jonker, should the tenant wish to leave, he or she merely has to give the landlord a calendar month\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf our reader needs more time to find a new residence, she could try to negotiate a longer notice period.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week the Property Poser experts assist a reader who has been given notice to vacate her rented garden cottage, as her landlord wants to make large-scale alterations. The reader says she has been renting for a number of years without a formal or written lease agreement between the two parties. The notice was given […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1289,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-19055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-mype","8":"tag-port-elizabeth-2","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}