30 days notice disparity

[Franklin Blevins]

Hello,

I have been living here in Monterey California for one year and I am about to move into a bigger home in nearby Marina.

The big problem I am having is the huge disconnect between the owner I am renting from and the new owner that I want to rent from.

Both property owners know that I am required to give 30 days notice of my intent to vacate the premises. Yet every single new property that I want to rent from ignore that requirement when it comes to me moving into their property. In effect what new property owners want you to do is pay dual rents because they will not honor the 30 days that I must give my landlord. They want me in there....now. Not 30 days from now......now.

I am not willing to give 30 days notice when I have not secured a rental property to move into because I can't know in advance that I am going to find a property that suits my needs.

I suppose in the end the reality is this: There is a place that is perfect for us and that place is owned by a person that knows what the rules are and are willing to wait the 30 days for my current rental to expire. But based on my observations I may be a very old man before I find that match.

Anyway, I wanted to hear from both sides of the fence and I guess this forums is a good place to start.

Can you please advise what I should do.

Thank you and best regards,

[Jon Holdman]

If I understand correctly, you want to go out and find a new place to rent and then have the new landlord hold it for a month, without rent, so you can give 30 days notice to your old landlord. This is not going to happen. You're asking the new landlord to give up a full month's rent. There may be areas of the country where landlords might be willing to do that. Mine isn't one of them, and yours probably isn't either. If you looked at my property now, liked it, and I approved you, and you wanted to move in March 1st (so you could give 30 days notice and be out at the end of Feb), I would give you the right of first refusal. I would continue to show the property and if I found another tenant, you would have a chance to sign a lease and take the property. Given its the 21st of Jan, I would expect its very likely I could find someone who wanted to move in on Feb 1. If I did, I'd offer you the chance to sign a lease on Feb 1, and it would be yours. If you chose not to do that, I'd lease it to the other person.

Now if you wanted to move in on Feb 1 and I approved you today, I might agree to that. That's about two weeks out. I would ask you to provide me a non-refundable deposit equal to the amount of the deposit. If you sign a lease on Feb 1, that becomes your deposit. If not, I keep it and find another tenant.

Realistically, what you need to do is give notice to move out on Feb 28. Start watching craigslist and looking in your area. As the end of the month approaches, be ready to sign a lease. You may well have to pay for some overlap. If its Feb 5 and you want my place on March 1, I might be willing to lease it to you starting on Feb 15. You would have to give me a non-refundable deposit and start paying rent Feb 15 (I require a full months rent to move in, so you would then owe half a month on Mar 1).

But I would not hold a unit for you for a full month. That's the same as you not wanting to pay overlapped rent. I don't want to miss a month's rent. You don't want to pay twice. So, you're going to have to take a chance, given notice, then take what you can get by the end of the month. Or, if you want to be picky about what property you choose, plan to pay double rent one month.