Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Pennsylvania

My lease ends 01/31/2011. My landlord has not contacted me in regards to signing a new lease. There is an indication that there is a holdover clause and am not sure if that is indicating another full year or if I just become a month to month tenant since there is not a new lease in place. The clause I'm referring to is as follows: "If tenant should holdover beyond the expiration of this lease, and landlord accepts any rental for any part of the holdover period, then the holdover, and each sucessive holdover shall be for the same period of time as the initial term of this lease subject to landlords right to teminate the lease at any time by giving tenant ten days written notice of the earlier date of termination. The provisions of this lease shall each and all apply to and be considered a part of the first and any subsequent holdover terms. Landlord and tenant agree that, in the absence of a new lease or written agreement of lease, no prior or subsequent verbal agreement to vary this provision shall be enforceable". I've found a new place to live that isn't available until 03/01/2011. Where do I stand on this??


Asked on 1/30/11, 5:09 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Andrew Solomon Law Office of Andrew A. Solomon

Wow! That clause is really ambiguous. On the one hand, if you hold over and the landlord accepts any rental for the holdover, the lease automatically renews for another year. On the other hand, even if this occurs, the landlord can terminate the lease at into the new term simply by giving 10 days written notice. Doesn't seem fair to me, and who knows how a court would look at this.

I would immediately contact the landlord and try to work something out. By terminating thelease early, you obviously risk the possibility of being responsibility for a full years rent, while the landlord does have an affirmative duty to rent the apartment to someone else, in which case you would not have to pay any rent once a new tenant moves in.

If the landlord is willing to come to some type of accomadation with you, I would see lawyer immediately. Its an usual lease provision, but no one wants to go to court to test its validity if the problem can be worked out.

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Answered on 2/02/11, 8:08 pm


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