Month-to-Month Rent or Tenancy-at-Will
I rent out a house in Pennsylvania month-to-month. My tenant paid his rent at the beginning of every month, and when collecting rent on the 4th he informed me he was moving out on the 6th. He was renting from me because it was cheaper to rent than live in a motel as he had been doing because he was in town for work, which was supposed to last for a year and a half (instead only lasted 5 months)
He said he got laid off and chose to not stay in town any longer than he had to. I said you know my house rents month-to-month and he said alright and paid his rent for that month, using his security deposit.
After him leaving, he calls and wants money back because he feels he should not have to pay the full month because after talking to his attorney, he was renting "tenancy-at-will". I feel this is unfair because I received absolutely no notice to have someone in there right away and regardless, he was there that month. So, what separates month-to-month rent from tenancy-at-will renting?
Re: Month-to-Month Rent Or Tenancy-at-Will?
Are we to assume that there was no written rental agreement?
Re: Month-to-Month Rent Or Tenancy-at-Will
No written, oral agreement.
Re: Month-to-Month Rent Or Tenancy-at-Will
The Pennsylvania legislature is finally, slowly, putting the statutes online, but they haven't yet gotten around to posting landlord-tenant laws.
As I understand it, Pennsylvania courts will rarely find a "tenancy at will", as they will infer a periodic tenancy based upon the period between rental payments. An oral lease can create a valid periodic tenancy (the term of an oral lease cannot exceed three years, although that's not the same thing as saying that a periodic month-to-month tenancy cannot continue for more than three years).
Normally, notice would be a week for a week-to-week tenancy, a month for a month-to-month tenancy, and three months for an annual tenancy term.