How much notice do you have to give tenant in order to raise the rent?

How much notice to you have to give tenant in order to raise the rent? Can a landlord raise the rent without notice to the tenant? Watch as Attorney Tom Olsen answers these questions and more!

Greg: I’m a landlord and I want to raise my tenant’s rent.  How much notice must I give my tenant in order to raise his rent?  What’s the length of time I have to give the tenant to raise their rent?

Attorney Tom Olsen: Has their lease term expired or are they on a month-to-month basis?

Greg: They had a lease but it expired. The tenant is on a month-to-month lease.

Attorney Tom Olsen: On a month-to-month lease, either the landlord or the tenant can terminate the lease by giving the other 15 day notice. What the landlord could do is tell the tenant, “Look, starting February one, you’re rent’s going to be X amount of dollars, and if you don’t want to pay it, then this  is my notice to you that we’re going to terminate the lease and we’ll go our separate way.”

Greg: Okay, all right. So it’s 15 days or-- I gave them 45 days and they just sent me a letter and said that I could not raise the rent.

Attorney Tom Olsen: They would be wrong

Greg: Right, okay.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Why Greg? Tell me why they said.

Greg: Well, they said that in the original lease, which I don’t have in front of me, it does state that there is a holdover period which is on a month-to-month basis.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Greg, they’re pretending to be lawyers and they’re not. So Greg, I feel, Greg, you’ve been generous with them from what you’ve told me, and I find it hard to believe that this is their reaction to it. So Greg, I would say that they are wrong. Now Greg, if you want some more detailed information about this, Rob Solomon, is our landlord-tenant attorney. He is at our office right now, Greg. If you want to talk further, you can talk to Rob Solomon at our office right now. 407-423-5561.