Do i still need to give 30 day notice before the lease ends?

[Jessie Niu]

The lease says "If the Tenant remains in possession after the Termination date, and the Landlord accepts rent payment from the Tenant, this Lease Agreement shall become a month-to-month tenancy that renews automatically each month until it is terminated by either the Landlord or the Tenant by providing a written notice to the other party not less than 30 days before the date that tenant’s next rent payment would normally be due". I have a tenant with lease ends on 06/30/2020. I don't want to renew anymore or do MTM, do I still need to send them 30 notice before 06/30/2020? My concern is that I can't get rid of this tenant due to current situations in the country.

[JD Martin]

Technically, if the lease ends on a date and no one does anything to renew or cancel, then the contract concludes and that's that. But that's not what typically happens. It's pretty rare, in my experience with my portfolio, for a tenant to just be gone on 6/30 without saying anything one way or the other. Considering that we would have been in contact with the tenant before that, we would have some idea of their plans.

Conversely, if we don't want to renew or accept a tenant as a MTM, then we send them written notice reminding them that their lease terminates on X date, the process for cleaning and final inspection and getting their deposit back. Then, if they were still in possession on the next date, we would file for eviction and go from there. 

Neither situation has happened to me. We have reasonably good contact with all tenants and as such aren't surprised one way or the other by most anything. 

Bottom line: if you want them gone, make sure they know (in writing) that you want them gone. You can be nice about it, just point to the contract and that you are not going to renew. Where I live, you don't have to give a reason. Maybe you do where you are; check your local laws.