I speak solely from my experience in California, but I've been renting for like 10 years now (in a variety of places, houses and apartments), and the way its al

I speak solely from my experience in California, but I've been renting for like 10 years now (in a variety of places, houses and apartments), and the way its always worked for me is a 12-year lease followed by month to month. The penalty for breaking the lease was always pretty lenient too. May be different in other places though.