Chapter XV: Month to Month Tenancies

Some oral rental agreements do not run for a year, but rather go from month to month. This type of contract is a month to month tenancy. In the absence of any other evidence, a court will presume that a rental agreement is a month to month tenancy. Month to month tenancies can be terminated at the will of either the landlord or the tenant, for any reason (that isn’t discriminatory or retaliatory) or no reason at all, so long as the proper notice is given.

In the case of a month to month tenancy, Ohio Revised Code Section 5321.17 has spoken on the amount of notice that must be given to the other side, and it is reprinted directly below:

PAGE’S OHIO REVISED CODE ANNOTATED
Copyright (c) 1998 Anderson Publishing Company
*** THIS DOCUMENT REFLECTS CHANGES RECEIVED THROUGH
NOVEMBER 1, 1998 ***
TITLE LIII [53] REAL PROPERTY
CHAPTER 5321: LANDLORDS AND TENANTS
ORC Ann. 5321.17 (1998)§ 5321.17 Termination of periodic tenancies.(A) Except as provided in division (C) of this section, the landlord or the tenant may terminate or fail to renew a week-to-week tenancy by notice given the other at least seven days prior to the termination date specified in the notice.(B) Except as provided in division (C) of this section, the landlord or the tenant may terminate or fail to renew a month-to-month tenancy by notice given the other at least thirty days prior to the periodic rental date.

(C ) If a tenant violates division (A)(9) of section 5321.05 of the Revised Code and if the landlord has actual knowledge of or has reasonable cause to believe that the tenant, any person in the tenant’s household, or any person on the residential premises with the consent of the tenant previously has or presently is engaged in a violation as described in division (A)(6)(a)(I) of section 1923.02 of the Revised Code, the landlord shall terminate the week-to-week tenancy, month-to-month tenancy, or other rental agreement with the tenant by giving a notice of termination to the tenant in accordance with this division. The notice shall specify that the tenancy or other rental agreement is terminated three days after the giving of the notice, and the landlord may give the notice whether or not the tenant or other person has been charged with, has pleaded guilty to or been convicted of, or has been determined to be a delinquent child for an act that, if committed by an adult, would be a violation as described in division (A)(6)(a)(I) of section 1923.02 of the Revised Code. If the tenant fails to vacate the premises within three days after the giving of that notice, then the landlord promptly shall comply with division (A)(9) of section 5321.04 of the Revised Code. For purposes of this division, actual knowledge or reasonable cause to believe as described in this division shall be determined in accordance with
division (A)(6)(a)(I) of section 1923.02 of the Revised Code.

(D) This section does not apply to a termination based on the breach of a condition of a rental agreement or the breach of a duty and obligation imposed by law, except that it does apply to a breach of the obligation imposed upon a tenant by division (A)(9) of
section 5321.05 of the Revised Code.

The notice requirement is thirty days. But the thirty days does not start to run except from the beginning of a rental term. Let’s say that you moved into your apartment on a month to month tenancy on May 1, and that your rent is due by the first of each month. A Court is then very likely to find that the rental term starts at the beginning of each month. On July 15, the landlord decides that he wants you out of the apartment and he gives you notice of this on that same day. His thirty days of notice will not start to run until August 1. This means that you will have until August 30 to leave the apartment (of course, you will have to pay rent for the
month of August).

The same is true for a tenant wanting to vacate. Let’s say that you moved into the apartment on May 15, and that your rent is due on the Fifteenth day of each month. A Court will probably find that the rental period goes from the middle of each month to the middle of the next. This means that if the tenant gives notice that he wants to terminate the month to month tenancy on July 18, then the thirty days notice does not start to run until August 15, and the tenant will be responsible for paying rent at the apartment until September 15.

If your landlord wishes to raise the rent on your apartment for a month to month tenancy, what he is in effect doing is seeking to destroy your previous tenancy, and begin an entirely new one with you at the higher rental rate. To destroy a month to month tenancy, the landlord must give thirty days notice, from the beginning of the rental term before he can start to demand the higher rental price. This means that if your rent is One Thousand per month and your landlord wants to increase it to One Thousand Five Hundred per month, then he must give you thirty days notice. If he tells you about the rental increase on August 4, and your
rental term starts at the beginning of each month, then you will pay your regular rent for September and you will then pay the higher rent starting in October.

A. Rent Control Statutes

At the time of the writing of this work, there are no rent control statutes in Ohio that I know of on a state wide basis. This means the landlord is free to triple the rent if he wishes. Nothing prevents him from gouging you for whatever you or the market is willing to pay. Your only protection is if you can prove that the rental increase is actually a retaliation against you in violation of 5321.02, which I get into in another part of this work. If your landlord jacks up the rent on a month to month tenancy to a foolish level that no one in his right mind would pay, your only remedy is to move out and let the landlord learn that he is an idiot the hard way as he stares at vacant property for month after month. The law will not protect him (or you) from his own idiocy. It is important to note though that the landlord cannot jack up your rent in retaliation for you complaining about conditions at the apartment (although rental increases have been allowed by courts to mitigate the reasonable expenses of complying with the repairs). There
are decisions going both ways on the issue of whether the rental increase is retaliatory or simply to defray legitimate expenses. This is because it is a factual determination and each case will be treated on its own facts.

B. Out of State Employment Termination Laws

Some states say that if you get a letter from your employer stating that you have been hired at or transferred to a place of employment beyond a certain mile radius of your present apartment, you can get out of your rental agreement. This is not the case in Ohio. The only way that you can get the protection of such a rule is by asking the landlord to include a provision to that effect in your rental agreement. If your landlord refuses to include such a provision, your only remedy is to find some other landlord who will.