-
adjuster jack
Consumer
  - Joined on 10-20-2001
- AZ
- Posts 44,007
|
Re: giving 30 days notice mid-month and prorating
 WiserLL:
You don't find that specifically in NJ statutes. It's common law also known as case law. One of the cases cited at that link gives a comprehensive explanation of how that requirement came about. The case is mostly about proper notice of a rent increase under rent control laws so I'll just quote the part that applies to residential notice of termination:
-
At common law, a full month's notice was required to terminate a monthly tenancy. Steffens v. Earl, supra, 40 N.J.L. at 134. In addition to stating the reason for termination, a notice to quit should inform the tenant that the parties are landlord and tenant, the premises are to be vacated on a certain date, and the right to possession terminates on that date. See
-
Dector v. Phelps, 136 N.J.L. 53, 55 (Sup.Ct. 1947). The traditional common law rule has been that a notice to quit must terminate the tenancy precisely on the anniversary date. Hanks v. Workmaster, 75 N.J.L. 73, 74 (Sup.Ct. 1907); Baker v. Kenny, 69 N.J.L. 180, 182 (Sup.Ct. 1903) (one month's notice to quit on anniversary date that is served on corresponding date in the preceding month is adequate); Waters v. Williamson, 59 N.J.L. 337, 339 (Sup.Ct. 1896); Finklestein v. Herson, 55 N.J.L. 217, 218 (Sup.Ct. 1893); Steffens v. Earl, supra, 40 N.J.L. at 135; McGeary v. Hyde, 3 N.J. Misc. 115, 116 (Sup.Ct. 1925). Those cases demonstrate the common law's penchant for formalism and procedural precision. At times, however, that predilection may undermine the very policies the common law sought to protect. Some courts and scholars recognize that termination only on the anniversary date may not further the policy underlying the notice to quit. That policy, the provision of sufficient time for the parties to adjust their affairs, may be protected adequately by permitting a notice to quit to be effective on the next ensuing anniversary date of the tenancy. See, e.g., T.W.I.W., Inc. v. Rhudy,96 N.M. 354, 357-358, 630 P.2d 753, 756-57 (1981) (notice to quit on date other than anniversary date effective on next ensuing anniversary date); Kester v. Disan Engineering Corp.,591 P.2d 344, 348 (Okla. Ct. App. 1979) (same); Restatement (Second) Property (Landlord and Tenant) § 1.5 Comment f & Illustration 6 (1977).
-
The Appellate Division recently adopted this principle in an analogous situation in which a tenant sought to terminate a commercial tenancy. S.D.G. v. Inventory Control Co.,178 N.J.Super. 411 (1981). In S.D.G., the tenant advised the landlord on November 16 of its intention to quit on November 30. Id. at 414. Although the notice was ineffective to terminate the tenancy on November 30, the Appellate Division determined that it became effective on December 31, the end of the next period of the tenancy. Id. In reaching that conclusion, the Appellate Division noted that the rule adequately protected the landlord's interest in securing a new tenant. Id. at 415-16.
-
Here, the Appellate Division apparently viewed the May 24 notice as invalid because it demanded possession on June 27, instead of the anniversary date of the tenancies, July 1, 1979. In this case, the active participation of the tenants association, represented at all times by counsel, renders overly protective the common law requirement that a notice to quit must state that the tenant quit the premises on the precise renewal date. We conclude that, where a landlord has substantially complied with the requirements of a notice to quit and inadvertently failed to give notice on the precise anniversary date, a notice to quit may be effective on the next anniversary date after receipt of the notice. Although the next ensuing anniversary date is more than one rental period later, that result is both fair and reasonable. The notice informs the tenant that the landlord wishes him to vacate the premises and provides the tenant with more than one rental period to find alternative housing. For example, in a month-to-month tenancy beginning on the first of the month, if the notice to quit is given on May 15, one month could not elapse before June 1, and the tenancy will terminate on July 1. See T.W.I.W., Inc. v. Rhudy, supra, 96 N.M. at 357-358, 630 P.2d at 756-757; Kester v. Disan Engineering Corp., 591 P.2d at 348.
http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=198266589NJ576_1347.xml&docbase=CSLWAR1-1950-1985
Bottom line: you don't get to prorate till the middle of next month.
- The right of the people
- to keep and bear arms,
- shall not be infringed.
|
|
