Iowa Lease Termination Notice (Sec. 562A.34)

Under Iowa Code Sec. 562A.34, 'the landlord or the tenant may terminate a month-to-month tenancy by a written notice given to the other at least thirty days prior to the periodic rental date specified in the notice.' Subsection 1 allows ending a week-to-week tenancy with 'at least ten days' notice, and subsection 3 requires 'at least thirty days' notice before the end of a term longer than month-to-month. A fixed-term lease ends on its own date and generally needs no separate notice unless the lease requires it. If a tenant holds over without consent and the holdover 'is willful and not in good faith,' the landlord may recover actual damages and reasonable attorney fees in addition to possession.

Ending a tenancy with less than the required 30-day (month-to-month) or 10-day (week-to-week) written notice is ineffective. A willful, bad-faith holdover under Sec. 562A.34(4) exposes the tenant to actual damages plus reasonable attorney fees.