lease michigan
Lease: Rent increase legal?
<p>The sections below are verbatim from the lease. </p>

<p>Paragraph 3.
Lease Term. The initial term of the Lease Contract begins on the 17th day of August, 2015, and ends on the 16th day of November, 2016. This Lease Contract will automatically renew month-to-month unless either party gives at least 60 days written notice to vacate or intent to move out as required by paragraph 37. </p>

<p>Paragraph 37.
Move-Out Notice. Before moving out, you must give our representative advanced notice to vacate as provided below. Your written notice to vacate will not release you from liability for the full term of the Lease Contract. You will still be liable for the entire Lease Contract if you move out early (paragraph 22) except under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (paragraph 23) or the Landlord and Tenant Relationship Act (paragraph 11). Your written notice to vacate must comply with each of the following:
We must receive advanced written notice to vacate. Your written notice to vacate should comply with the terms provided in paragraph 3 of this Lease Contract. Oral move out notice will not be accepted and will not terminate your Lease Contract. 
Your written notice to vacate must not terminate the Lease Contract sooner than the end of the Lease Contract term or renew period. 
Your notice to vacate is not acceptable if it does not comply with all of the above. You must obtain from our representative written acknowledgement that we received your written notice to vacate. </p>

<p>Paragraph 15. 
Rent Increases and Lease Contract Changes. No rent increases or Lease Contract changes are allowed before the initial Lease Contract term ends, except for changes allowed by special provisions in paragraph 10 (Note p. 10 did not pertain to this I can add it if you like) , by a written addendum or amendment signed by you and us, or by reasonable changes of apartment rules allowed under paragraph 18 (community policies and rules, unrelated). If, at least 5 days before the advance notice deadling (they had a typo here -> deadline) referred to in paragraph 3, we give you written notice of rent increases or lease changes effective when the lease term or renew period ends, this Lease Contract will automatically continue month-to-month with the increased rent or lease changes. The new modified Lease Contract will begin on the date stated in the notice without necessity of your signature unless you give us written move out notice under paragraph 37. </p>

<p>My landlord failed to meet the 5 days in advance of the 60 day notice of intent to move out required to increase the rent. More plainly the lease ends on Nov/16/2016, so if I want to move out on that day then I needed to give a notice by Sept/17/2016, which means my landlord needed to give me a notice of increase by Sept 12. I tried in late August to get the rent increase information but they told me it was not available yet. They said typically the don't have it until &lt; 60 days before the lease ends. They also said that in the lease they were not required to give notice > 60 days out. Anyway they notified me of the changes to rent on Sept 14. </p>

<p>My question is this since I have already failed to give a 60 day notice to move out can they charge me month-to-month after November 16 (for the first month) any more than the are currently charging me?</p>

<p>If they had given me the notice 2 days earlier they could have modified the Contract to reflect the monthly charges vs 15 mo. starting Nov 16-Dec 16 but they failed to notify me in time. Also after one month of extension their notice will have been within the 65 days they stipulated so they could increase rent in Dec 16 and on. </p>

<p>Sidebar: they are not required to give a rent increase notice &lt; 60 days out, but in my opinion that means they lose the right to increase they rent for the first month. </p>

<p>Are my thoughts correct here?</p>

<p>There are two relevant sections of law in Michigan, <a href="http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(otw4g1xrkqviiaica3wsjeia))/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&amp;objectName=mcl-chap554" rel="nofollow">554.601 - 554.616 and 554.631 - 554.641</a>, and these do not limit automatic renewal clauses (as they may in some states). So yes, since the landlord failed to give notice 5 days before the 60 day move-out notice deadline, then per paragraph 15 the rent cannot be increased. An interesting side-effect of para 15 is that since they failed to give timely notice of changes in the lease, the conditions for automatic month-to-month continuation (at the same rate) are also not satisfied. </p>
