All arrangements in between a property owner and a tenant are "rental agreements" according to Vermont's Residential Rental Agreements Act (RRAA). 9 V.S.A. § 4451( 8 ). The rental contract does not need to remain in composing. You and the property manager have all the rights and responsibilities in the law despite the fact that there is no written agreement. 9 V.S.A. § 4453.
The RRAA requires that the duties and rights of proprietors and tenants in the law are suggested (made a part of) all rental arrangements. Which ones are indicated in all rental contracts? See this list of rights and tasks of renters and property owners. To learn more on these rights and tasks, visit our Rights and Duties Explained page.
All of the agreements made by you and the proprietor or implied by the RRAA are called the "terms" of the tenancy. 9 V.S.A. § 4454.
The RRAA secures you and requires you to do (or not do) some things. It likewise safeguards property managers and needs them to do (or not do) some things. The law is the same if you have a composed or verbal rental agreement. 9 V.S.A. § 4453.
Any part of a rental contract that attempts to navigate the RRAA isn't legal. 9 V.S.A. § 4454. See the list of rights and tasks in the RRAA for what should be in a rental agreement.
The RRAA never ever utilizes the word "lease." Calling a domestic rental contract a "lease" does not have any special legal significance in Vermont. Other statutes (12 V.S.A. § 4851( ejectment), 10 V.S.A. § 6201( 5 )( mobile home parks)), the courts, subsidized housing landlords and housing authorities do utilize the word "lease."
Rental arrangements can be for a period of time that is specified in the rental arrangement. For instance, the agreement might be six months or a year. During that time, all of the terms (including the amount of lease) of the tenancy stay the same. Or a rental arrangement can be "month-to-month." This means the length of the occupancy or the quantity of lease can be altered as long as you get the notice required by the RRAA.
As far as rental arrangements go, calling it a lease doesn't ensure that the terms can't be altered for a year. If you desire the tenancy to be for a specific time period, you need to get the proprietor to concur.
All of the rights and obligations of the RRAA are part of the agreement even without being documented. 9 V.S.A. § 4453. Any additional terms may not be enforceable unless you and the landlord have actually talked about them and concurred - and then only as long as the RRAA does not restrict the arrangement. 9 V.S.A. § 4454.
If you have only a verbal contract, you may "concur" to something without understanding you have concurred. For instance, if you agree to no holes in the walls thinking that does not keep you from hanging images, the proprietor may charge you for fixing the holes from hanging your pictures.
When you are choosing to rent a house, you need to pay very close attention to what the landlord states.
Because the RRAA sets out numerous rights and responsibilities of tenants and property managers, and due to the fact that written rental contracts can't change what remains in the RRAA, a composed rental arrangement tends to have more advantages for proprietors than for occupants.
Advantages for a proprietor:
- The property manager might shorten the time length of advance notification required to end the tenancy. 9 V.S.A. § 4467( c), (e).
- The landlord could make the time length of advance notification you need to give the proprietor when you desire to move out longer. 9 V.S.A. § 4456( d).
- A written rental agreement could require you to pay your property manager's lawyer's fees if a legal representative is utilized to implement any part of the agreement or to evict you. (Note: If you damage the unit or interrupt your neighbors and your you since of it, the RRAA makes you responsible for the landlord's attorney's charges. 9 V.S.A. § 4456( e).).
- A written rental agreement can name individuals who can live in the unit, and keep you from letting someone relocation in. - Note: It would be discrimination for a property owner to evict you for having an infant. 9 V.S.A. § 4503( a).
- A property owner can keep you from subleasing the place you rent, 9 V.S.A. § 4456b( a)( 1 ), and can evict the person who subleases your location in an "expedited hearing." Expedited means quicker than usual. 12 V.S.A. § 4853b.
A composed rental agreement may assist you as a renter since:
- It may guarantee that the lease will not change until a particular date. - It can restrict the quantity your lease can go up.
- It can say the length of time you can live there.
- If it isn't written in the agreement, the property owner can't state you concurred to it. Verbal arrangements outside the written arrangement may not be enforceable. For example, a written arrangement can say who should pay for heating fuel or electrical power.
Generally, a property manager can not charge late charges.
A late cost is legal only if:
- The rental agreement says a late charge will be charged for late lease, and
- The charge is just the affordable expense to the property owner since of the late payment. See Highgate Associates, Ltd. v. Merryfield, 157 Vt. 313 (1991 ). Reasonable costs to the property owner means the proprietor's actual additional cost since of late lease, like additional cost in keeping the books, driving over to you, making telephone call, or writing you letters.
A late charge is illegal when:
- A flat charge of a certain quantity of money if rent is paid after the lease day is generally not the landlord's reasonable expense, and so is illegal. - Your property owner can not use you a rent "discount rate" for paying by a specific date. In one case, the Windham Superior Court held that incentives for early payments are the exact same as penalties and therefore, they are not legally legitimate. See Shapiro v. Cormier, Docket No. 220-5-12 Wmcv (Windham Super. Ct., Aug. 22, 2012). (If you need an available variation of this PDF file, we will offer it on your request. Please utilize our site feedback kind to do so.)
A rental arrangement can include these terms:
- Only the individuals named in the composed rental contract (and their minor kids, even if they arrive later on) can live in the rental unit. - Subleasing is allowed or not enabled. 9 V.S.A. § 4456b( a)( 1 ).
- Smoking is not enabled.
- Pets are not permitted. But, if you require an animal since of your special needs, see our Reasonable Accommodations page.
- A description of what spaces (home, other locations) are included.
- Rules about using typical areas.
- Who is accountable for paying energy bills.
- The responsibility to pay a set amount of rent, for a set duration of time, even if the occupant decides to vacate early. (The property owner has a task to re-rent the place as quickly as possible, but the occupant might owe lease till somebody else leases it.)
You can accept a modification however you don't need to.
If you or the property owner wishes to alter a term or condition in your rental arrangement, you can ask each other to concur. You or the proprietor can't alter the rights and obligations in the RRAA, but other parts of rental arrangements can be changed. If the rental contract is in composing, modifications must remain in writing.
Generally for things like family pets, enhancements (remodeling or upgrading home appliances or fixtures) if someone asks, and the other concurs, then that regard to the rental agreement is altered. But if the proprietor wants something, and you do not want it, then you can disagree.
The examples below assume that the unit is in excellent repair work, and not being harmed by the occupant:
- Two months after you relocate the property manager states, "I want to take out the bath tub and put in a shower." You say, "No, I like the bathtub." The bath tub becomes part of what you consented to rent, and you do not consent to alter it. Landlord can't renovate the restroom. - Or, property manager says, "I am changing my mind. You can't have an animal." You don't have to accept eliminate your animal.
- Or you state, "I don't like the gas stove in the home. I desire an electrical range." Landlord doesn't have to consent to a brand-new range.
Note: There is a distinction in between contracts to change something and repair work needed by law. The RRAA does not enable you or your animal to cause damage, 9 V.S.A. § 4456( a), (c), and the RRAA needs the proprietor to keep the unit safe and tidy, 9 V.S.A. § 4458. See our page about Repair Problems and Tenant's Right to Repair.
You or the proprietor might desire to end the occupancy if one of you wants a modification and the other does not. If your rental contract is not for a certain amount of time, either of you could offer advance notice to end the tenancy. 9 V.S.A. § 4456( d), 9 V.S.A § 4467( c)( e).
Staying longer than a written contract
Do you have a written rental contract that states the rental agreement was for a certain time period, for example January 1 - December 31? If that time has expired, you may question if there is still a composed rental contract, or exists no written rental arrangement?
It depends on what the written contract states. If it states the dates and does not additional address what happens when it expires, the composed arrangement ends, but the tenancy does not. That is since when you relocate with the arrangement of a landlord, the property owner must send out a notice to end the tenancy, even if there is a composed rental arrangement which expires. Simply put, the expiration of the agreement is not enough notice to end an occupancy.
A composed rental arrangement that ends on a certain date might consist of a stipulation that specifies the length of the tenancy after that date has passed. It might say, for instance, the tenancy continues from month to month. Or it could say if you don't move out, the tenancy continues for another year.
Whatever it states, if the landlord desires you out, they need to provide you a termination notification needed by the occupancy you have.
Find out more on our Rent Increases page.
A Vermont law that took result on July 1, 2018, legislated ownership of as much as an ounce of marijuana and 2 mature and 4 immature plants. If you are a renter, or if you have a rental subsidy from a housing authority, or if you have some other kind of federally helped rental aid, take care. Your lease and program rules may still make it an offense of the rules for you to have marijuana or marijuana plants in your rental. Your lease might also prohibit cigarette smoking, consisting of cigarette smoking cannabis.
The brand-new Vermont law does not change the terms of your lease. The brand-new law does not change the program guidelines for occupants with federal rental assistance. If you are not sure, inspect your lease or program guidelines or speak with your property owner or housing authority. You can likewise contact us for aid. Your info will be sent to Legal Services Vermont, which screens demands for aid for both Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services Vermont.
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