Hi there, So my boyfriend and I signed a...

Asked by Danielle Bussy on 24-04-2023 15:20:52
Question posted in the Landlord Tenant Law category relating to KwaZulu-Natal

Hi there, 

So my boyfriend and I signed a 6 month lease on the 1st of September last year (2022). This ended after six months (around the end of February 2023). After that time, I spoke to my landlord verbally to ask whether we should renew the lease. He said we can rather just do a month-to-month lease and that if we want to move out, we must just give a reasonable month's notice (this wasn't clarified in terms of a full calendar month etc., just a 'month' notice).

Now we want to move out, so on the 1st of April 2023, we phoned our landlord to give a month's notice and also sent an email outlining the notice after the phonecall on the 1st. However, he is now saying that we were meant to give notice a day before the 1st (on the 31st of March) so that it would be equal to a full calendar month. We feel this is unreasonable considering that our actual lease expired two months ago (it also contained no specifics on the notice period to be given) and we gave a reasonable month's notice on the 1st of April. Does this seem correct?

If you would like to view the entire answer, you will need to either login or register a FREE account.

Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER: Advice or answers from Lawyers on South African Legal Advice are not substitutes for the proper advice of an Lawyer. South African Legal Advice is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Lawyer who assists with your question is not your Lawyer, and the response above is not to be considered to be legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains. The responses above are from individual Lawyers, not South African Legal Advice. The site and services are provided “as is”. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service.