A month-to-month rental agreement is a rental contract that renews automatically every month until the landlord or tenant gives written notice to end it. It suits landlords and tenants who want flexibility over a fixed one-year term. This free rental agreement form comes in Word and PDF, with plain-English clauses and blanks wherever state law usually sets the rules.

When do you need a month-to-month rental agreement?

Use one when neither side wants to be locked in for a year. A few common situations:

  • A tenant has a job that might move them in the spring, and you’d rather have someone month to month than an empty unit.
  • You plan to sell or move back in at some point, but not on a fixed date.
  • A fixed-term lease is ending and the tenant wants to stay a while longer without signing another full year.

Say you own a hypothetical duplex and your tenant, a traveling nurse, wants to stay “until the contract ends, probably four to seven months.” A month-to-month agreement at $1,400 a month fits that far better than a 12-month lease that one of you would have to break.

The trade-off is stability. The tenant can leave with a month’s notice (or whatever your state says), and in many places the landlord can end it with notice too, although that second part varies a lot. If you both want certainty, use the residential lease agreement instead. If you’re renting a single bedroom in a home you live in, the room rental agreement is a better fit.

What should a month-to-month rental agreement include?

Here’s what each part of our template does.

Parties and property. Names of the landlord and every adult tenant, and the full address. Everyone who signs is responsible for the whole rent, which protects the landlord if one roommate stops paying. There are signature blocks for two tenants, and you can copy the block for anyone else.

Term and renewal. The start date, and a sentence saying the tenancy runs month to month and renews automatically. This is the heart of the document.

Ending the tenancy. How much written notice each side has to give. We left these as blanks, because notice periods are set by state and sometimes city law. We also made the notice run to the end of a rental period by default, which avoids arguments about a half month of rent.

Rent and rent changes. The monthly rent, due date, payment method, and a clause saying the landlord can change the rent or other terms only with advance written notice as required by law.

Security deposit. Amount, and a promise to return it with an itemized list of deductions within the legal deadline. Deadlines differ. California, for instance, gives landlords 21 days after move-out to return the deposit or send an itemized statement.

Utilities, occupants, pets, maintenance, entry. The same everyday terms you’d find in a longer lease, with checkboxes so you can mark who pays for what.

Lead paint and boilerplate. A checkbox for the lead disclosure, notices, governing law, and permission to sign electronically.

What do you need to check for your state?

Notice to end is the big one. In California, a landlord generally uses a 30-day notice to end a month-to-month tenancy if the tenant has rented for less than a year, and a 60-day notice if they’ve rented for a year or more. California’s courts also point out that tenant protection laws require many landlords to have a just cause to end a rental agreement. Other states have their own periods, and some cities go further. Look up your state’s rule before you fill in the blanks, and remember the agreement can’t shorten a notice period the law requires.

Lead paint rules apply here too. If the home was built before 1978, the landlord must give the tenant the EPA lead pamphlet, disclose any known lead-based paint or hazards, and include a Lead Warning Statement. The EPA lists leases of 100 days or less among the exemptions, but only where no renewal or extension can occur. A month-to-month tenancy renews by design, so for older homes it’s simplest to do the disclosure up front.

Deposit limits and late fee caps also vary by state, and the template has blanks for both.

How do you fill it in and get it signed?

  1. Fill in the names, address, rent, deposit, and both notice periods.
  2. Tick the utility and pet boxes, and mark “N/A” on anything that doesn’t apply rather than deleting it.
  3. Attach the lead-based paint disclosure if the home is pre-1978.
  4. Have every adult tenant sign, then the landlord. Give everyone a copy of the fully signed version.

You can sign the agreement electronically. The federal ESIGN Act covers ordinary contracts like this one. The exception to watch for is later: notices of default, eviction or the right to cure under a rental agreement for a primary residence are carved out of ESIGN, so the notice you send to end the tenancy or to cure unpaid rent should follow your state’s delivery rules. See which documents can’t be signed electronically for the full list.

Download it, fill in the blanks, and send it for e-signature with any tool you like. (If you’d like to try SignWren when it launches, join the waitlist.)

This template and guide are general information, not legal advice. For a specific rental or dispute, talk to a lawyer licensed where the property is.