Tenancy at Will in New Jersey

Background

“A tenant at will is one who enters into possession by virtue of permission of the owner or pursuant to a lease for an indefinite time, holding during the joint wills of the parties, either party having the right to terminate the tenancy at any time.” (See Standard Realty Co. v. Gates (1926) 99 N.J. Eq. 271, 275.)

“Where at common law the tenancy has become one at will or from year to year, the common law automatically renews it in the absence of notice of termination by one party or the other.” (See Doepfner v. Snyder (1932) 109 N.J.L. 21, 24.)

General Information for Complaints and Motions

“Ordinarily, if a contract contains no express terms as to its duration, it is terminable at will or after a reasonable time.” (See In re Miller (1982) 90 N.J. 210, 219.)

“A ‘notice to quit’ is required in order to terminate a tenancy when the tenancy is at will, or from month to month or year to year.” (See Schlesinger v. Brown (1971) 116 N.J. Super. 500, 504.)

Standard of Review and Burdens of Proof

“We review a grant of summary judgment using the same standard that governs the trial judge's decision.” (See Kalim v. Urban Outfitters, Inc., No. A-4811-18, at *10 (App. Div. Mar. 4, 2021).)

“Under that standard, summary judgment will be granted when the competent evidential materials submitted by the parties, viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, show that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law." (See id.)

"An issue of material fact is genuine only if, considering the burden of persuasion at trial, the evidence submitted by the parties on the motion, together with all legitimate inferences therefrom favoring the non-moving party, would require submission of the issue to the trier of fact.” (See id.)

“We owe no special deference to the motion judge's legal analysis.” (See id.)

The Court’s Decisions

“It is well settled that when a tenancy for a stated term of a year or more is converted to a holdover month-to-month tenancy by reason of expiration of a written lease without execution of a renewal lease, the holdover tenancy is ordinarily subject to all the terms and conditions of the written lease other than its durational term.” (See Center Ave. Realty, Inc. v. Smith (1993) 264 N.J. Super. 344, 348.)

It is also well settled that “when a written lease expires, it is converted to a month-to-month tenancy, absent any agreement to the contrary.” (See Perlman v. Lee, No. A-5862-12T1, at *10 (App. Div. Oct. 2, 2014).)