A one-year lease expires, the tenant remains, and the landlord accepts and deposits the next monthly rent check. The tenancy is now most likely:

A month-to-month periodic tenancy

A renewed estate for years of one year

An estate at will terminable without notice

A tenancy continues from month to month until properly terminated. Which feature distinguishes it from a fixed-term leasehold?

Successive recurring periods without a single fixed final date

Continuation solely through wrongful possession after a fixed term

Ownership continuing for the tenant's lifetime

A definite final expiration date established at inception

Exam vocabulary · leasehold estate

What Is Periodic Tenancy in Real Estate?

Definition

A periodic tenancy is a leasehold that runs for successive intervals of the same length and renews automatically until one party gives notice. A month-to-month rental is the everyday example, and because there is no fixed end date, ending it requires notice rather than simply waiting for expiry.

How the exam tests periodic tenancy

These mirror the phrasing you will see on test day. Answer them, then read the explanation whether or not you got it right.

Periodic Tenancy: exam questions1/4

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A tenant remains in possession after the lease expires, without the landlord’s consent. This creates a(n):

score 0/0

Every periodic tenancy question, answered

Every question above with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Read the explanations for the ones you answered correctly too. A lucky guess and knowing the rule look identical on a score report. These are sample questions from our larger bank.

1. A tenant remains in possession after the lease expires, without the landlord’s consent. This creates a(n):
- AEstate for years
- BPeriodic tenancy
- CEstate at will
- DEstate at sufferancecorrect
Why: Holding over without consent creates an estate at sufferance — the lowest form of leasehold. If the landlord then accepts rent, it typically converts to a periodic tenancy.
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2. A written lease runs from January 1 through December 31 and contains no renewal clause. Which leasehold estate does the tenant hold?
- AEstate at sufferance
- BPeriodic tenancy
- CEstate at will
- DEstate for yearscorrect
Why: A lease with a fixed beginning and a fixed ending date creates an estate for years, which expires on its own without notice from either party. A periodic tenancy has no stated end date and renews until someone gives notice.
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3. A one-year lease expires, the tenant remains, and the landlord accepts and deposits the next monthly rent check. The tenancy is now most likely:
- AA renewed estate for years of one year
- BAn estate at will terminable without notice
- CA month-to-month periodic tenancycorrect
- DAn estate at sufferance
Why: Accepting rent from a holdover converts the occupancy into a periodic tenancy, usually month to month, continuing until proper notice ends it. The tenancy at sufferance ends the moment the landlord accepts the rent.
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4. A tenancy continues from month to month until properly terminated. Which feature distinguishes it from a fixed-term leasehold?
- AContinuation solely through wrongful possession after a fixed term
- BOwnership continuing for the tenant's lifetime
- CSuccessive recurring periods without a single fixed final datecorrect
- DA definite final expiration date established at inception
Why: A periodic tenancy renews by recurring periods. Termination requirements depend on applicable law and the agreement.
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Where periodic tenancy sits in the exam vocabulary

Periodic Tenancy is a leasehold estate, and so are estate for years, estate at will and estate at sufferance. That matters more than it sounds: a multiple-choice item builds its wrong answers out of siblings like these, because they are the options that look plausible to someone who has learned the category but not the distinction. If periodic tenancy appears as the correct answer, expect to see estate for years and estate at will on the same screen.

Periodic Tenancy does not stand on its own: it assumes you already know leasehold estate. Questions that look like they are testing periodic tenancy are often really testing whether that idea is solid underneath it.

The exam most often tries to catch you by putting periodic tenancy next to estate for years and estate at will. Each of those is a real concept sitting close enough to be tempting, and the question usually turns on the single feature that separates them rather than on the definition of either one. Read the contrast, not the term.

Words that mean periodic tenancy, but only sometimes

These are conditional synonyms. Each one is interchangeable with periodic tenancy in the context stated beside it and misleading everywhere else, which is precisely the kind of distinction an exam item is built on.

month-to-month tenancy: equivalent to periodic tenancy in residential renting, the most common interval of a periodic tenancy.
holdover tenancy: equivalent to periodic tenancy in where a landlord accepts rent after a fixed term expires, converting the holdover into a periodic tenancy.

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leasehold estate

Periodic Tenancy belongs to the leasehold estate family of exam concepts. When it is solid, take the free real estate exam prep or browse the full real estate exam vocabulary.