Also known as: at will tenancy · tenancy at will · at-will tenancies
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
A leasehold estate that continues only so long as both the landlord and the tenant desire it to continue. The estate arises by implication when parties enter a lease of no stated duration with no periodic rent reserved or paid. Either party may terminate the tenancy upon receipt of notice by the other, with rent apportioned to the termination date.
Alfred Ashford and Atlas Ventures exchanged an oral agreement for a two-year warehouse lease that failed the Statute of Frauds. Atlas took possession of the premises the next week. When Atlas Ventures later refused to vacate on demand, the court treated the occupancy as an at-will tenancy terminable upon notice because possession alone had been taken under the invalid lease.
Anthony Arnold leased a residence to Alice Atkins under a writing that allowed Atkins to end the arrangement at any time of her choosing but gave Arnold no comparable right. After Arnold attempted to evict Atkins without her consent, the court held that the arrangement did not create an at-will tenancy because the termination power rested solely with one party.
Robert Donovan owned a house located in Potsdam, New York in 1977. On April 14 of that year, he leased the premises to Lou Gerrish on a printed form that neither side had counsel for when executing. Donovan filled in the blanks himself, naming the parties, describing the property, and setting the rent at one hundred dollars a month. The lease provided that the term would run from the first day of May 1977 and would end at a date of Lou Gerrish's own choice for termination. It also qualified the landlord's reentry right with a handwritten note granting Lou thirty days grace for payment. Gerrish moved into the house and continued to reside there while paying the rent specified in the lease. Donovan died in November of 1981. At that point David Garner, executor of Donovan's estate, served Gerrish with a notice to quit the premises. When Gerrish refused to leave, Garner commenced this summary proceeding to have him evicted. In his answering affidavit, the tenant alleged that he had always paid the rent and that the lease granted him a tenancy for life unless he elects to surrender possession during his lifetime. The County Court granted summary judgment to the petitioner. The Appellate Division affirmed for the same reasons in a brief memorandum. The Court of Appeals granted the tenant’s motion for leave to appeal.
View caseNotice of termination received by the other party ends the tenancy on the day of receipt unless a later date is specified. Rent is apportioned to the termination date, and the tenant receives a reasonable time after notice to remove goods.
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An attempted assignment by either party terminates the tenancy on the date the other party learns of it unless the assignee and the other party agree otherwise. Approval by both creates a new tenancy at will.
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Yes. The death of either the landlord or the tenant ends the tenancy on the date the survivor learns of the death unless the decedent's successor and the other party agree to continue the arrangement.
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…the agreement at a date of his choice creates a determinable life tenancy on behalf of the tenant or merely establishes a tenancy at will. The courts below held that the lease created a tenancy at will permitting the current landlord to evict the tenant. We granted the tenant’s motion for leave to appeal and now reverse the…