Full question:
My customer has a lease with Wells Fargo. There lease says customer must notify them between 120 and 189 days. The customers notification went out at approximately 110 days. They received a letter talking about an automatic evergreen till May 2010. I have attached a copy of New York State law which is contrary to Well's Fargo lease contract. The lease is up 5/19/08. Is the New York state law an override to the lease? The existing New York law requires that lessor send lessee a written notice of any automatic lease renewal for any period greater than 30 days. The notice must be given at least 15 days but not more than 30 days before lease end. <br/> Following is a summary of the existing law: New York State Consolidated Laws General Obligations TITLE 9REQUIREMENTS OF NOTICE FOR EFFECTIVENESS OR ENFORCEABILITY Section 5-901. Certain provisions of leases of personal property inoperative unless notice thereof given to lessee. No provision of a lease of any personal property which states that the term thereof shall be deemed renewed for a specified additional period unless the lessee gives notice to the lessor of his intention to release the property at the expiration of such term, shall be operative unless the lessor, at least fifteen days and not more than thirty days previous to the time specified for the furnishing of such notice to him, shall give to the lessee written notice, served personally or by mail, calling the attention of the lessee to the existence of such provision in the lease. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to apply to a contract in which the automatic renewal period specified is one month or less.
- Category: Landlord Tenant
- Subcategory: Lease Termination
- Date:
- State: New York
Answer:
The statute you cited applies to a lease of personal property, not real property. Assuming the lease is one for personal property, if an automatic renewal clause is included it the lease, it will be upheld as long as it complies with the statute below. I am unclear about the facts in the case you are describing and am prohibited from giving a legal opinion, as this service provides information of a general legal nature.
The statute requires that the lessee be given a reminder notice by the lessor calling attention to the automatic renewal between 15 and 30 days before the required notice not to renew must be given. This is the only restriction of the enforceability of the automatic renewal clause in the statute. The statute won't apply to leases requiring one month's or less notice of intent not to renew. Therefore, as long as the lessor who requires more than a month's not of an intent not to renew gives the lessee a reminder notice of this requirement between 15 and 30 days before the notice to terminate must be given by the lessee, the lease's notice of termination terms will be enforced. As an example, if the personal property lease requires a minimum of 120 days' notice to terminate the lease and prevent automatic renewal, and the required reminder notice was sent at least 15 days before period the notice to terminate may be given, a notice to terminate by the lessee given with 110 days' notice could be deemed invalid.
§ 5-901 Gen. Oblig. Certain provisions of leases of personal property
inoperative unless notice thereof given to lessee.
No provision of a lease of any personal property which states that the
term thereof shall be deemed renewed for a specified additional period
unless the lessee gives notice to the lessor of his intention to release
the property at the expiration of such term, shall be operative unless the
lessor, at least fifteen days and not more than thirty days previous to the
time specified for the furnishing of such notice to him, shall give to the
lessee written notice, served personally or by mail, calling the attention
of the lessee to the existence of such provision in the lease. Nothing
herein contained shall be construed to apply to a contract in which the
automatic renewal period specified is one month or less.
This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Legal statutes mentioned reflect the law at the time the content was written and may no longer be current. Always verify the latest version of the law before relying on it.
