@Beerad: Sounds a lot like a "tenacy at will". The landlord can't usually terminate a lease without a cause, but if you are month-to-month or at the end of your lease, the landlord doesn't need a reason.

IANAL, yada yada.

@ROLLA

No, I just wanted to be an ass.

This is some kinda awesome reference project. Well done and a great service to us!

@kJeff: Can I just ask what happened with that Boston situation? Were you under a lease, or was it (as it sounds like) a more informal arrangement that would have been awkward to protest? Eviction on the grounds that "my daughter wants to live in this apartment" doesn't really pass legal muster.

@humphrmi: A quick google search reveals "There is no difference between a commonwealth and a state in the U.S. To Locke, Hobbes, and other 17th-century writers the term "commonwealth" meant an organized political community -- what we today call a "state." Officially Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Massachusetts are all commonwealths. When Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Massachusetts became part of the United States, they merely took the old form of state in their title."

Alabama's law was recently updated and can be found here. [www.legislature.state.al.us] under title 35 chapter 9A.

We went away on a 10 day vacation and came back to an eviction notice, they said they needed a place for their daughter to stay because she was having financial difficulties. We later (years) found out that they had been snooping around the apartment when we were gone. My thought is that they found 1 bed for 2 guys and freaked out... Couldn't stand the thought of the gays invading their home, so they created a reason to get rid of us.

It's all for the best really... who wants to live in a situation like that. We have a way better place now with attentive landlords that aren't nosy.

I also had a bad situation down in Richmond, VA with a landlord that had a self-renewing lease that required 90 days notice. I sent a letter with my rent in time, but the office was closed on the 90th day, so they auto-renewed my lease and didn't give me a copy for 2 months from there (in the meantime I'd found a new place because in my mind the lease was ending). They ended up taking us to court on the basis that we only gave them 89 days notice... The judge called the landlords shady for doing this and apologized to me, but he had to find in their favor. On the way out of the court, the landlord said to call her to make arrangements to pay the amount they were granted. The next day they filed for a judgement and garnished the money from my checking account (the judge had only given them 2 weeks rent, so it wasn't too much). They were into some seriously bad business... I hope in the end it was worth all the bad press I gave them.

damn - no guam - my sister is having some issues with her landlord in Guam.

A good landlord will not only follow statute, he/she will also take into consideration the personal needs of the tenant. Most GOOD landlords want to keep the tenant happy to keep those rent checks coming in on time and keeping the rental unit in good condition and repair.

But for every good landlord out there, there are even more bad tenants. Bad credit, irresponsible behavior, and retaliatory stunts all were things I had to deal with all the time as a landlord. If I chose not to renew the lease, the tenants made sure to leave the place with food on the ceiling or leave some sort of creative exercise in home destruction. One guy poured chlorine bleach directly on the carpet. I've seen body chalk outlines in the middle of the living room floor as a joke. As amusing as it was, it wasn't funny to me. Also not funny are times when police break the door in to execute an arrest warrant for a tenant.

Landlord tenant laws do recognize a tenant's right to live in peace and enjoy quiet comfort, but the laws do also respect the landlord's right to protect his/her investment. If one tenant causes unreasonable damage to a unit, that means that other more responsible tenants who also deserve to live in quiet comfort cannot live in that unit.

Right to inspection -- the landlord busting in whenever he/she feels like it... Unless your landlord is a psychopath, your landlord will only need to come in to treat for bugs or make scheduled repairs or put out a fire. And generally when your lease is about to expire, the landlord will schedule an inspection of the premises to determine if they should renew the lease or if there are any problems on either side that need to be resolved before the lease expires and the tenant moves out. Usually, if the law does not require the landlord to give notice, the lease will generally address how much notice you will be given to enter your home. READ THE LEASE CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU SIGN IT!!! If you enjoy leaving your dirty underwear on the living room floor, lounge around naked 24/7, or run a meth lab out of your kitchen, you may want to ask about the landlord or management company's policies about entering your home BEFORE you sign the lease.

And the part about crops... Farmers lease land all the time to raise all kinds of food. I lease my pasture for hay. Other people in the area lease their acreage to cattle farmers. If you think it's tough to buy your own home, which is one reason why many people rent, think about how difficult it is to make a decent living to buy large enough tracts of land suitable for farming with the necessary equipment just to squeak by. Imagine having your lease run out or your landlord selling the land out from underneath you before you can harvest your crop. You could easily be bankrupted. The landlord can be held liable for things the tenant does on the property, so I want to know if my Hay Man is really growing hay and not illegal plants.

Know your rights afforded to you by statute, but also carefully read your lease. If you don't know your rights first and read that lease BEFORE you sign it, you could wind up being a victim of psycho landlord. Nobody deserves that.

@MonkeySwitch:

Yeah, that seems to be the case for most of the "dirt poor" states of the south. I am in one.

I am suprised at how many states have no laws regarding how much notice a landlord is supposed to give before entering your apartment (in a non-emergency situation). YEP! My landlord can just bust in whenever he pleases according to my state's landlord/tenant laws (or lack thereof). [realestate.findlaw.com]

Thanks for the bunch of dead links under California.

last time i checked, now unless this changed since, oh a few minutes ago...there are 50 states...so unless north dakota sceded from the union and i'm the last one to know (look, i know it's cold and snowy here, but it's really not THAT bad!)...you guys need to check your math.

However, everyone should remember that a lot of municipalities enact their own Landlord Tenant rules. Chicago has a very comprehensive one for the city proper. Also, Lawrence, Kansas (Douglas County) has a specific landlord-tenant ordinance as well. So this list may not even apply if your city has chosen to enact their own. If it's a very heavy rental area, they likely have as the state statutes sometimes are a bit vague.

@sly100100: "Succeeded"? Well, then, what do they have to complain about?

New Mexico please?

@Greasy Thumb Guzik: Wikipedia says 'This designation, which has no constitutional impact, emphasizes that they have a "government based on the common consent of the people" as opposed to one legitimized through their earlier Royal Colony status that was derived from the King of Great Britain.' Pennsylvania sure has some interesting titles! I think it would be cool to call oneself a prothonotary or work in orphan's court.

Liberty?@ptkdude:
Massachusetts, Kentucky, Virginia & one other aren't states, they're commonwealths.
And if you can tell me WTF difference a commonwealth is as opposed to a state, then that and 2 bucks will get you a ride on the bus.

They only have the laws for 1 out of 105 Kansas counties. There are a lot of people in Sedgwick County but what about the other 80+%?