lease automatically renewed?

by the way this is a rent stabilized building. on the renewal form it only states that if the tenant fails to respond within 60 days it could be used by the landlord as a ground to evict the tenant. did not see anything about automatic lease renewal. can landlords do that?

I believe the general rule is that a tenant who holds over an expired lease may be liable only for the period of time during which payments were due under the prior lease (a month typically). By holding over 1 day, you don't somehow "renew" for an entire year or two. That is the general rule. I can't say what wrinkles rent control or the terms of your particular lease add to this. Oral agreements or changes are not binding either, as a general rule, in real estate.

My question is why would you have waited until last week to follow up on a lease renewal you received three MONTHS ago?? Informing the landlord you plan to vacate only three weeks before your lease ends is, at best, discourteous.

Check your lease--perhaps there is an automatic renewal clause that kicks in if you fail to reply in a timely fashion (which is exactly what you have done). Would seem odd, but stranger things have happened... Either way, you were remiss in waiting til the 11th hour to handle this.

kylewest and squid, thanks for the input. I don't see how one could inform the landlord well ahead of the expiration of the lease, as only at the end of march/beginning of april did various leasing offices/brokers start to show us apartment for may 1 occupancy. we informed the management last week because we just put in an application.