DictionaryRenting

Month-to-month tenancy: what it means

A month-to-month tenancy is a rental arrangement with no end date: it continues month after month as long as you pay the rent, until you or the landlord give notice to end it. It can be in writing, but it can also start without a contract, for example if you stay after your lease ends and the landlord accepts your payment.

In Spanish it is

Arrendamiento de mes a mes (month-to-month)

Also written as: month-to-month lease · month-to-month rental · periodic tenancy

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Verified on October 17, 2026

2 official sources

See the whole dictionary

The full explanation

To end it, you must give the notice your state's law requires. In New York, for example, the notice alone does not let the landlord remove you: if you do not leave, the landlord has to go to court.

An example

Fernanda's one-year lease ended, but she kept paying and the landlord accepted the rent. Now she rents month to month. Before she moves, she checks how much written notice her state's law requires.

You will see it in…

A lease that says “month-to-month” or has no end date
A notice to terminate the tenancy
Your state's tenants' rights guide

Words that go with it

You will rarely see this word alone. These are the ones that show up with it on the same papers.

More guides that use “month-to-month tenancy”

Still confused by a paper?

A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk you through it. Agencies usually charge little or nothing, many work in Spanish, and they do not sell you anything.

What a housing counselor does See free help

Official sources

We sum up what these official sources say, in plain words. We add no rules they do not state; when a rule changes, the definition and its date change.

1. Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School) · Month-to-month tenancy (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026
2. New York State Office of the Attorney General · Residential Tenants' Rights Guide: month-to-month tenants (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026