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Last page edit 12/17/07
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Working For Justice In Housing PROPER NOTICE The
failure to give a proper notice can be a frustrating and painful
experience. Most landlords
will not excuse failure to give a proper notice. “I
have been a good tenant here for over 10 years.
Recently, I gave my landlord an 88-day notice.
My landlord pointed out that my lease requires a 90-day notice and
has renewed for another year. Since
I am buying a house I must now break my lease.
It will most likely cost me over $2,000!” “I
told my landlord when I gave him the rent over a month ago that I was
leaving at the end of the month. He
said okay. Now he tells me
that I will probably owe him a month’s rent because I didn’t give him
the notice in writing”. “My
landlord just informed me that he wants a $50 rent increase with the next
month’s rent which is due in a week. Many
tenants and landlords, especially those involved with month to month oral
tenancies, have no idea that a proper written notice is required to change
the terms of the tenancy, i.e., to end the lease, to raise the rent, etc.
Many tenants and landlords fail to read the lease carefully or have
forgotten the requirements for notice.
Baltimore
City law requires the
landlord to give at least 60 days’ written notice before the end of the
year, month, or week when the tenant is to leave.
The tenant normally has to give only a 30 day written notice.
[For
example, a tenant on a monthly tenancy, deciding in December that he wants
to leave, should give the landlord a written notice by December 31st and
vacate by January 31st.] Outside
of Baltimore City, the
state law requires the landlord to give a minimum written notice of a week
for a weekly tenancy and a month for a monthly tenancy. The tenant is
required to give a minimum written notice which is reasonable.
We presume such a notice would be what the landlord is required to
give. However,
both parties may agree to a longer period, so long as the tenant is not
required to give more notice than the landlord must give. The
day of delivery is not counted as part of the notice time.
Notices should always be given with time to spare, because being
one day late can invalidate the notice.
The notice may be hand delivered or sent by mail early enough to be
delivered in time. Many
people send notices by first class mail and at the time of mailing get
from the post office a “certificate of mailing” at a cost of $.50.
The courts generally presume delivery three days after mailing.
(If a notice is sent by certified mail return receipt and, if the
recipient is not home, and does not go to the post office to pick up the
mail, then it can be argued that the notice has not been delivered). A
landlord may give a written 30-day breach of lease notice which states the
alleged cause, anytime during the tenancy.
In Baltimore City the notice must be given before the end of the
week or month that the landlord wants the tenant to leave.
Outside of Baltimore City, the landlord can give an immediate
written 30-day breach notice. The
tenant, of course can contest the notice.
Click
here to see what Maryland law says about this issue Legally Reviewed - BNI. Last Update - March 2001
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