By Lane Erickson, Attorney
I have represented both landlords and tenants in Idaho for a number of years. I got to know the area of law so well, that I decided to become a landlord myself about eight years ago. There are a lot of important things to understand in landlord tenant law, but I am always surprised at the number of landlords who don’t truly understand how a month-to-month tenancy works. The thing that is most often misunderstood with a month-to-month lease agreement has to do with terminating the tenancy and getting the tenant out.
The first thing to understand about Idaho landlord/tenant laws is that if there is no written agreement, the tenancy is automatically considered to be month to month. This can be eliminated easily by simply entering into a written lease agreement for a specific period of time, such as 6 months or a year. However, that alone does not eliminate issues with month to month tenants. Often, even a written lease agreement will state that when the specific term comes to the end the tenancy then becomes month to month.
The most important thing to understand about a month to month tenant is how to terminate the agreement. Most people believe that all you are required to do is give a 30-day written notice and the month-to-month tenancy will come to an end. However, this is not true. The applicable laws require that the tenant be given a month’s written notice in order to terminate the lease agreement.
Providing this kind of notice is unique in how it works. The easiest way to explain this is with some examples. Let’s say that you entered into a month-to-month lease agreement with your tenant and that you now want to terminate that agreement. If it happens to be July 15th you can give your written notice of termination to the tenant anytime you would like. However, Idaho law states specifically that the notice of termination will not actually begin until August 1st. The notice ends on August 31st. This is considered a monthly notice of termination under a month-to-month lease agreement.
Here’s another example to illustrate this law. Let’s say that you gave the written notice on August 2nd. Under the applicable law, that notice of termination of the month-to-month lease agreement will not become effective until September 1st and it will end on September 30th.
So if you are a landlord, and you are operating under a month-to-month lease agreement in Idaho, the most important thing you can do is keep track of the date. The actual amount of time that your tenant has after receiving a written notice of termination before they have to get out will depend greatly on your timing in serving that written notice.
Call us toll free at 877-232-6101 or 208-232-6101 for a consultation with Lane Erickson and the Racine Olson team of Landlord and Tenant Law and Real Estate attorneys in Idaho. You can also email Lane Erickson directly at lve@racinelaw.net. We will answer your Idaho Landlord and Tenant Law and Real Estate questions and will help you solve your Idaho Landlord and Tenant Law and Real Estate needs.