Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
5 months into my two year lease my landlord puts the house up for sale. Does that mean she broke our lease? Do we have the legal right to move out?
2 Answers from Attorneys
No. The new owner will take the property subject to the lease. You might negotiate a buyout with the present owner, though, to break the lease if it would be easier to sell without tenants.
When an apartment building gets sold, the tenants don't all get to declare that the owner broke all their leases. There is no reason for it to be any different for you, and in fact it is not. The new owner just becomes the new landlord under the same lease. You should, however, make very sure that your deposit either gets returned to you, in which case you must deliver it to the new owner, or it gets transferred to the new owner in the escrow. Often that gets lost in the shuffle, and then you have a hassle with the new owner when you go to move out at the end of your lease.
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