Hi Sandy!
1. The tenant is not giving notice for the lease that ends 12/31/14, so he is not governed by the terms of that lease. He is giving notice for the month to month lease that begins 12/1/15, so he must abide by the terms of that lease, which I understand is for a thirty day notice.
2. In my opinion, you cannot (or maybe "should not") give notice on 12/15 to vacate by 1/15 because of the same logic listed above. You would have missed the deadline (60 days, I presume) to terminate the applicable lease that is in force until 12/31. But, on 1/1 you could give the 30 day notice required to vacate on 1/31.
Just curious, do you sometimes end the lease mid-month? All of our leases run through the end of a month, and I'd be curious to hear the pros and cons of ending mid-month.
Thanks!
To answer the question about my lease expiration dates (by the way, this scenario was not my property, but one I oversee), I only end leases mid-month in November on my property because I do not expire leases Thanksgiving through February 28th of the next year. It has always been my opinion that it is hard to rent leases during this time.
However, I do end them on the last Sunday of the month (not the 31st) to give me enough time to get an apartment ready starting on Monday and ending on Friday to reduce loss to vacancy during make-ready and have them ready for a weekend move-in.
This year, however, I had 4 early terminations in December plus one month to month starting in November that is moving December 31st and one early termination for January 25th. I am not having any trouble renting them at all! :)