Holdover Tenant

A person who stays on the leased premises after the lease has expired. The landlord normally has the choice of evicting the holdover tenant or permitting the tenant to remain and continue to pay rent. The landlord may also elect to treat the holdover tenant as a tenant whose lease would continue from period to period, with the period to be that of the original lease, and for the same rent. The lease, however, would generally not exceed one year, because most state statutes of fraud require that leases for one year or longer be in writing. A holdover tenant usually has no rights whatsoever to the leased property—being deemed little better than a trespasser.