never received new lease... are we under lease?

[BigMuggle]

Hi. Here's the background: We signed an "intent to renew 1-year lease" letter a few months ago, but we were subsequently never sent an updated lease document to sign. Thus, there is no "active" lease document that contains our signatures. (Of course we have been paying rent all along as usual.)

We are planning to move to a house in the next couple months, and so we wonder whether in fact we are currently bound by a lease at all. Is it possible that because we never received the revised 1-year lease for the current period that -- in effect -- we are actually on a month-to-month lease. In other words, did the "letter of intent" have the force of a lease, or was the "letter of intent" just what it sounds like -- an expression of intent rather than legal agreement.

If this is the case, what kind of advanced notice do we need to give to the landlord prior to vacating the premises? Thanks very much for any advice!

[NYHawk]

What you have is known in law as "an agreement to agree" which is NOT a binding contract. It's not even a contract.

Is it possible that because we never received the revised 1-year lease for the current period that -- in effect -- we are actually on a month-to-month lease? Yes

did the "letter of intent" have the force of a lease ? no