NWR: Rental Agreement and house sale

doublenn

Hi E!

I'm not a reg, but you guys always seem to have great advice about renting/leasing/etc, and so much experience.

Fi and I have been renting a house for the past 2 years, a little over a month ago we signed a lease for another year. Friday the landlord contacted us saying that he might want to sell the house, and needs our cooperation. He also proposed that if he sells, he'd give us 30 day notice to leave, and give us those 30 days rent-free.

At first we freaked out, but I started doing some research, and it seems like he actually can't force us to leave/break the lease if he sells the house. If the house is sold, the new owners become our landlords. So we now believe we have this huge bargaining chip, since we could force his hand into giving in, or he'd have to tell any potential buyers that they can't actually move in to the house before our lease is over.

I have a few questions:

1. Do we actually have this bargaining chip? I don't see anything in the contract about canceling the lease in case of a sale (there's a line about heirs and assigns, but it's in legalese, and I can't understand much of it, but it seems to relate just to his heirs take over the lease)

2. What should we ask for? We've come up with a plan with my dad's help of what to ask, and maybe we can negotiate and meet a middle ground. Here's what we've come up with:

    - 90 days where we're locked in, can't move at all, etc

    - After the 90 days, we would have 60 days notice to leave once the house gets sold (last 30 being rent-free)

    - We have the ability to leave at any point, with 60 day notice (after the 90 day lockdown period), without being charged penalties for breaking the lease

3. How have you/would you deal with prospective buyers coming to see the home? I feel really icky knowing people are going through my closets, possibly touching/sitting my furnitute. It seems like such an invasion of privacy, though I completely understand we can't stop him from showing the house. Can we prevent him from doing open houses though? Can he demand that we keep the house cleaner than usual (I'm thinking no dirty dishes in the sink, no magazines on the floor, etc)

The reason we're asking for the 90 day lockdown period is because we're getting married on September 29th. We have a bunch of other stuff going on right now (health and wedding wise) that it'd just be super difficult having to find a new place, and move before the wedding. Also, we're considering buying a house since we're being practically kicked out of this one, and we're concerned with how long it might take to find one that we like, without compromising or feeling rushed.

Anyway, this is probably incredibly long, I hope you make through it. Thanks!

CN: Landlord wants to sell the house, is he allowed to break the lease? Can we demand that we be allowed to break the lease without penalty as well?  How to deal with prospective buyers seeing the house, touching your stuff, looking through closets?

adamar15

This is something I'd discuss with a real estate attorney.  I don't mean that in a snotty way, I just wouldn't take anything for granted that I read from a bunch of internet strangers.  Especially not when it's your home that we're talking about.

PhoneCardLady

My parents leased a house and landlord wanted to sell it.  Could you possibly as that you put in an offer first, before anyone else?  That's what my parents did, especially since they were good tentants.

ahhhitsshannyn

Hmm I don't know much about this stuff, but I think that would be between you and him. If he did sell the house, the new owners wouldn't have any obligation to you, that was not their lease that they gave you ,KWIM? I would think they would be able to evict you fairly easily.

If he did break your lease, I am sure legally you can make a claim against him, but I highly doubt you could say anything g like "Nope, I'm staying put and you can't make me go," especially after the property has changed hands.

But I do think you are definitely within your rights to say "Okay, we will work with you, but if we find something better there won't be any penalties for us leaving and only have to give x amount of notice."

doublenn

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_nwr-rental-agreement-and-house-sale?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:f9171af3-b54d-461d-ae67-03fc9a7a53eePost:78fff76b-34c1-4083-9b99-77b715163917">Re: NWR: Rental Agreement and house sale</a>:
[QUOTE]My parents leased a house and landlord wanted to sell it.  Could you possibly as that you put in an offer first, before anyone else?  That's what my parents did, especially since they were good tentants.
Posted by PhoneCardLady[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>He offered the house to us first (about 6 months ago), but we're really not interested in buying it. :(</div>

NicoleSahara

I agree with adamar's advice, and all I have to add is I had a similar situation come up before, only the new landlord raised our rent $150 immediately after she bought it, and there was no contract in place protecting us from having that happen. So if he sells it to someone who wants to rent it out, make sure you have paperwork in place protecting yourself.

doublenn

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_nwr-rental-agreement-and-house-sale?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:f9171af3-b54d-461d-ae67-03fc9a7a53eePost:ddb324b2-68da-4383-8a77-e15fe9bb88f7">Re: NWR: Rental Agreement and house sale</a>:
[QUOTE] <span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:12px;background-color:#ffffff;">This is something I'd discuss with a real estate attorney.  I don't mean that in a snotty way, I just wouldn't take anything for granted that I read from a bunch of internet strangers.  Especially not when it's your home that we're talking about.</span> [/QUOTE] 
<div>
</div><div>[QUOTE]I agree with adamar's advice, and all I have to add is I had a similar situation come up before, only the new landlord raised our rent $150 immediately after she bought it, and there was no contract in place protecting us from having that happen. So if he sells it to someone who wants to rent it out, make sure you have paperwork in place protecting yourself.
Posted by NicoleSahara[/QUOTE]</div><div>
</div><div>Thanks to you both. We're contacting lawyers right now, but we wanted to know in advance if someone had gone through it, and knew more about it than us, so we could start negotiations as we're getting in touch with lawyers.

</div>

StefffiC

This would vary from state to state and you need to talk to an attorney in your state.

In my state the new owners wouldn't have to honor my lease.

Summer2011Bride

I agree to contact a lawyer about it.

As for #3, I get where you are coming from. When I left my previous apartment, the landlord showed it about 4 times. They had to give me a day's notice (it was in the lease that way) so I had time to tidy things up, but I did not take down personal photos or knick knacks like they say you should when trying to sell a house. For one, I wasn't trying to sell a house so I had no real investment in the people who saw it liking it, and for two, they were just renting, not buying. So I tried to keep the apartment within 15 min. of being "show ready" until I moved out. Of course that was only about a month's time and then I was gone.

I would probably just try to vacuum and dust, pick up clutter, etc. before he shows it, but I do think that having 24 hours notice before he shows it is a reasonable thing to ask. I would hate it if I was called by my landlord and they wanted to show my apartment in half an hour.

MyUserName1

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_nwr-rental-agreement-and-house-sale?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:f9171af3-b54d-461d-ae67-03fc9a7a53eePost:ac232c58-62f8-433c-a73a-67382646e964">Re: NWR: Rental Agreement and house sale</a>:
[QUOTE]This would vary from state to state and you need to talk to an attorney in your state. In my state the new owners wouldn't have to honor my lease.
Posted by StefffiC[/QUOTE]

<div>exactly what I was going to say.</div><div>
</div><div>Unfortunately real estate law, like many, many other fields varies from state to state.  The protections that renters have in one state don't apply to another state.  So my experiences with renting won't be of any use whatsoever.</div>

DramaGeek

As an Oregon landlord, our understanding of the law is that everything just transfers and the new owner must honor the contract we've signed with the tenant.  So in Oregon, no, there would be no bargaining chip, but no one would force you to leave either.

Do you have a good relationship with your landlord?  If so, I'd just talk to him.  Explain the situation, let him know that you want to be helpful but that you have things going on that make moving difficult right now and see if you can come to an agreement with him.  I know if we planned to sell right after renewing with our renters we'd do everything in our power to make them comfortable with the situation.

Realisticially, in our market even if we listed today and sold tomorrow, closing wouldn't happen for 60 days anyway, and *nothing* is selling that fast.

jessicabessica

In many states, the legal aid has tenant resources online or clinics where they can answer basic questions.  You might want to see if that is available to you.

Kate61487

I'm no help on the legal side, but as for #3:  Obviously you never know who's going to be going through your place, but I think your typical home buyer isn't going to be going around touching someone else's things.  Open the closets and cabinets? yes - because you want to see what the storage space is like.  Touch all of your personal items? not likely. 

If you're really uncomfortable with it maybe ask him to guarantee that he won't let people in there alone?  that he'll always be with them or if he's using a realtor that you get to meet him/her and they will always be with prospective buyers?

As for him requiring you keep things clean: is there anything about it in your lease?  If not, no he can't force you.  But keeping things tidy and put away will probably reduce the likelihood of someone else touching your stuff (like a realtor trying to tidy up before a showing). 

DramaGeek

Oh - I meant to address the cleaning thing too.

Check your lease.  Ours stipulates 24 hour notice.  By law and by our lease, we are allowed to do open houses, which we do when we need to find new tenants.  We arrange it ahead of time with our renters and take the day or weekend, depending on what their comfortable wtih.  Generally they are out of the house 10-4 and we run the open house 12-4.  This gives us a 2 hour cushion to get things cleaned up if need be, but so far our renters have been great about cleaning up for us.  We never have someone else show the house for us, so we are always there when it's being shown and I've never seen someone just go rifling through our tenants' things.

doublenn

Thanks everyone! We spoke to a lawyer about it, and found out what our rights are.

Hopefully the process will be fine, and no prospective buyers go through my things haha.