If a person signs a 1 year lease to rent a home, but ends up staying in the house 5 years and never signed another lease after the 1st year,...

Question

If a person signs a 1 year lease to rent a home, but ends up staying in the house 5 years and never signed another lease after the 1st year, is the tenant bound to the original lease or is the lease null and void?

Answer

If the original lease expired after the first year, and no other written lease was ever signed, then there is no operative written lease. The tenant has what is called a tenancy-at-will.