Lease Renewal Clause
in Your Lease
How this page is sourced
Statutes verified against primary state sources
Every statute cited here was read in its published text before this page went live: on the state's own site where that site can be reached, otherwise on a republished copy of the code. Court decisions are quoted from the published opinion and linked to it, so you can read the original yourself.
Primary sourcesNot legal advice
Content verified against primary state statutes before publicationLast updated: October 2026
What it actually means, what Utah law says, what's specific to Salt Lake City - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- Month to month: the owner serves notice 15 calendar days or more before a rental period ends.
- Tenancy at will: a notice of not less than five calendar days.
- Fixed term: the lease ends without notice when the term expires, so your renewal paragraph decides what comes next.
- Utah's statute sets no figure for a notice from the tenant. Your lease sets the warning you owe.
- Salt Lake City bars ending a rental agreement because you complained in good faith or asked for required repairs.
Count it for your dates
15 days before: the last day to act
What it means: The owner's notice to end or not renew a month-to-month tenancy must be served at least 15 calendar days before that day. Applies to an owner, the owner's designated agent or a successor in estate ending a month-to-month or other periodic tenancy; a tenancy at will takes not less than five calendar days, and a fixed term ends without notice when it expires (Utah Code § 78B-6-802(1)(b)(i)). Calendar arithmetic only; check how the section counts days before you rely on a date.
Understanding the Lease Renewal Clause
This page is for Salt Lake City renters whose lease is ending and who want to know how much warning they get, or owe, about renewal. The most important thing to know is your tenancy type.
Utah's notice rules cover month-to-month and at-will tenancies. A lease with a set end date, such as a twelve-month lease, simply ends when the term runs out, so the renewal paragraph you signed decides whether it rolls over. Read it early in the term, not in the final weeks.
What renters assume
My Salt Lake City landlord has to give me 15 days' notice before declining to renew my one-year lease.
What is actually true
The 15 calendar days in § 78B-6-802(1)(b)(i) covers a month-to-month or other periodic tenancy. A lease for a specified term “shall be terminated without notice at the expiration of the specified term or period” under § 78B-6-802(1)(a).
Twenty-seven rows sit in the comparison on this page, and 25 carry a day count. Thirteen are drawn at the thirty-day mark: Austin, Chicago, Phoenix, Nashville, Boston, Las Vegas, Columbus, Detroit, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Louisville and Oklahoma City.
Five read 60 days, in Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, Atlanta and Baltimore, and three sit at 90, in New York City, Denver and Portland.
Salt Lake City's bar stands at 15 days, level with Philadelphia's. Milwaukee reads 28 days and Charlotte 7 days, and Washington and Newark draw no bar because their rows require cause.
The Utah figure is a month-to-month count, so it lines up against month-to-month rows such as Austin's and Columbus's at thirty. It does not measure a fixed term, which under § 78B-6-802(1)(a) ends without notice at its expiration.
Lease Renewal Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Salt Lake City, UT
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
If the tenant continues in possession after the expiration of the term granted herein, then this lease is hereby renewed for a further period of one year and the rent during said period shall be increased $420.00 per year payable by the increase of each monthly payment in the sum of $35.00, unless the parties enter into a new written agreement.
Quoted from the published opinion in Renoir House, Inc. v. Solomon, 58 Misc. 2d 994 (N.Y. Civ. Ct. 1968). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“continues in possession after the expiration”
This clause takes the very act Utah's statute is written around and gives it the opposite result. Utah Code § 78B-6-802(1)(a) makes a tenant guilty of unlawful detainer who continues in possession after the expiration of a specified term, a term that “shall be terminated without notice at the expiration of the specified term or period”. Here the same facts renew the lease. The renewal comes from this paragraph, not from the statute's text.
See the example
“further period of one year and the rent during said period shall”
Staying buys a whole further year, not a monthly tenancy, and that choice decides which Utah clock applies when the year runs out. Read as written, a renewal year is another specified term, which § 78B-6-802(1)(a) ends without notice. A tenancy for an indefinite time with monthly or other periodic rent runs instead on § 78B-6-802(1)(b)(i), with notice served 15 calendar days or more before the period ends. Which of the two a court would find under this wording is not something our Utah record settles.
See the example
“by the increase of each monthly”
Rent still falls due each month inside the renewed year, and in Utah the payment interval is part of what defines the shorter tenancy. § 78B-6-802(1)(b)(i) reaches a tenant who leased “for an indefinite time with monthly or other periodic rent reserved”. This clause pairs monthly payments with a stated year, so settle which description fits your tenancy before counting any days back from the end of a period.
See the example
“unless the parties enter into a new written agreement”
The way out of the automatic year is a fresh written agreement. If none is signed and the landlord wants the unit back instead, Salt Lake City's code asks about the reason. Salt Lake City Code § 18.96.130(A) says a property owner “may not terminate a rental agreement or bring or threaten to bring an eviction action” because of a listed good-faith act by the tenant. The list includes complaining of code violations, requesting required repairs, joining a tenants' union and testifying about the premises.
See the example
Read the date first. This is 1968, and a trial-level New York City Civil Court decision, so it carries little precedential weight - one trial judge reading one lease, not a rule laid down by an appellate court. Treat it as an illustration of a clause shape, never as controlling authority, and check current New York law before relying on any part of it. What the court did: it called paragraph 14 “crystal clear and unambiguous” and read it as an option the tenant exercises simply by staying in possession, at a fixed increase the lease itself named. The tenant held over and refused to sign a new agreement, so the lease was extended for a year at $292 a month, and the landlord's written notice raising the rent above that figure was “completely ineffectual.” The court also held that General Obligations Law § 5-905 did not let the landlord negate the option: that statute exists to protect tenants from automatic-renewal clauses that bind them unless they give advance notice to quit, not to defeat a renewal clause that runs the tenant's way. Petition dismissed, final judgment for the tenant.
How this state's law treats this clause
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Utah Law on Lease Renewal Clause
- The periodic-tenancy figure is in § 78B-6-802(1)(b)(i): a tenant who leased "for an indefinite time with monthly or other periodic rent reserved" is guilty of unlawful detainer if the tenant "continues in possession of the property in person or by subtenant after the end of any month or period, in cases where the owner, the owner's designated agent, or any successor in estate of the owner, 15 calendar days or more before the end of that month or period, has served notice requiring the tenant to quit the premises at the expiration of that month or period".
Read the law's words
The notice runs to the end of a rental period, so the 15 days are a minimum counted back from that date. - Two other tenancies are on different clocks.
Read the law's words
Section 78B-6-802(1)(b)(ii) covers tenancies at will, where the tenant is in unlawful detainer after remaining "after the expiration of a notice of not less than five calendar days". Section 78B-6-802(1)(a) covers a lease for a specified term, which "shall be terminated without notice at the expiration of the specified term or period". - Service is set by § 78B-6-805(1): personal delivery; registered mail, certified mail or an equivalent means addressed to the tenant at the residence, leased property or usual place of business; leaving a copy with a person of suitable age and discretion there if the tenant is absent; or, if no such person can be found, affixing a copy in a conspicuous place on the leased property.
- The 2026 Legislature amended § 78B-6-802 in H.B. 591, Nuisance Amendments (Laws of Utah 2026, Chapter 401, effective May 6, 2026).
Read the law's words
The enrolled bill reprints Subsection (1)(b) with the 15 calendar day and five calendar day periods unchanged and changes the nuisance references in Subsections (1)(f) and (4). Check the current text of § 78B-6-802 and the lease before relying on the figure.
Sources include Utah Code § 78B-6-802(1)(b)(i); Utah Code § 78B-6-802(1)(b)(ii); Utah Code § 78B-6-802(1)(a); Utah Code § 78B-6-805(1); Utah Code § 57-22-7(1); Utah Code § 57-20-1; Salt Lake City Code § 18.96.130 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Utah's rule sits in its unlawful detainer statute, Utah Code § 78B-6-802. The section as we read it states periods for the owner's notice and sets no figure for a notice from the tenant, so your lease sets the warning you owe.
- (1)(b)(i) Month to month. For a tenancy “for an indefinite time with monthly or other periodic rent reserved”, the owner, the owner's designated agent or a successor in estate serves notice 15 calendar days or more before the end of a month or period. The notice requires you to leave when that period expires, so the 15 days are a minimum counted back from its last day.
- (1)(b)(ii) Tenancy at will. A notice of not less than five calendar days.
- (1)(a) Fixed term. A lease for a specified term ends without notice when the term expires.
- § 78B-6-805(1) Service. Personal delivery; registered mail, certified mail or an equivalent means; a copy left with a person of suitable age and discretion; or, failing that, a copy affixed in a conspicuous place on the property.
H.B. 591 (Laws of Utah 2026, Chapter 401) amended § 78B-6-802, effective May 6, 2026, and left both day counts unchanged. Read the current text on le.utah.gov before you count a day.
What's Specific to Salt Lake City
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Salt Lake City Code § 18.96.130(A) is a reason rule, not a clock. An owner may not terminate a rental agreement or bring or threaten an eviction action because you in good faith complained of code violations, requested required repairs, joined a tenants' union, testified or exercised a legal right.
No city section we read sets a notice period. § 57-22-7(1) bars city ordinances inconsistent with the Utah Fit Premises Act. We take no position on how it affects this rule, or how a court applies the rule to a refusal to renew.
It should. A fixed term ends without notice (§ 78B-6-802(1)(a)), so the lease says if staying starts a new term or month-to-month tenancy.
Worth having. Utah's statute sets no figure for a notice from the tenant, so the lease sets yours.
Read any count under 15 calendar days before the period ends against § 78B-6-802(1)(b)(i).
§ 18.96.130(A) bars ending a rental agreement because of a good-faith code complaint or repair request. Keep dated copies of what you report.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Utah Code § 78B-6-802(1)(b)(i); Utah Code § 78B-6-802(1)(b)(ii); Utah Code § 78B-6-802(1)(a); Utah Code § 78B-6-805(1); Utah Code § 57-22-7(1); Utah Code § 57-20-1; Salt Lake City Code § 18.96.130, read on web.archive.org. The enrolled copy of H.B. 591 (2026 General Session) on the Utah Legislature's site, saved by the Internet Archive on 30 April 2026, reprints § 78B-6-802 as amended with the effective date May 6, 2026, and the Legislature's Bills Passed list saved on 19 August 2026 records it as Laws of Utah 2026, Chapter 401.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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A 15-day notice on a fixed-term lease
The 15 calendar days is for a month-to-month or other periodic tenancy. If your lease has a set end date, ask in writing what the notice is based on.
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A notice dated to the middle of a rent period
The notice must end the tenancy at the end of a month or period. Check the date it names against your rent cycle.
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A five-day notice on a monthly tenancy
Five calendar days is the tenancy-at-will figure in § 78B-6-802(1)(b)(ii). Settle which kind of tenancy you hold before counting.
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A notice with no clear delivery
§ 78B-6-805(1) lists the ways a notice may be served. Note how yours arrived and keep the envelope or posted copy.
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An ending that follows a complaint
§ 18.96.130(A) bars terminating a rental agreement because you complained in good faith, requested required repairs or joined a tenants' union. Keep the dates.
Your Rights as a Salt Lake City Tenant
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Fifteen days on a month-to-month
§ 78B-6-802(1)(b)(i): notice served 15 calendar days or more before the end of the month or period.
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Five days for a tenancy at will
§ 78B-6-802(1)(b)(ii): a notice of not less than five calendar days.
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Service by a listed method
§ 78B-6-805(1): in person, by registered or certified mail or an equivalent means, with a suitable person, or affixed in a conspicuous place.
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A city bar on retaliation
Salt Lake City Code § 18.96.130(A) bars ending a rental agreement or threatening eviction over a good-faith complaint, repair request, tenants' union or testimony.
What To Do - Step by Step
Name your tenancy type
Fixed term, month to month or at will? § 78B-6-802 treats each one differently, so settle which you hold before counting.
Count back from the end of the period
Write down when your rental periods end. A month-to-month notice must be served at least 15 calendar days before that day.
Check how the notice reached you
Keep the envelope, or note where a posted copy was found and the date (§ 78B-6-805(1)).
Keep your complaint dates
If an ending follows a complaint or repair request, save the dates and copies of what you sent (§ 18.96.130(A)).
Read your renewal paragraph early
On a fixed term, find any opt-out window well before the end date. The term ends without notice, so the lease decides.
Check the statute, then get advice
Read the current text of § 78B-6-802 on le.utah.gov, then take a disputed non-renewal to a Salt Lake City tenant attorney or legal aid office.
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Lease Renewal rules near Utah
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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