Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
HELP!!! Owner is selling, we have a lease.
The owners of the townhouse we are living in and have a lease with until feb. of 2004 have put it up for sale three months after we moved in. We found out that an offer has been put in and accepted two weeks ago but we were not notified by anyone. We found out when a real estate agent knocked on the door and said ''you do know you have a termite inspection this morning dont you?, our offer has been accepted two weeks ago''. We informed him we had not been notified and allowed the inspection to take place any way. There have been many violations on our privacy and our rights including we were never notified that the property was going up for sale in writing (which we understand is a law). The escrow is expected to close around the third week of August and the new owner is expecting to move in. According to the new owners agent the people selling the townhouse is responsible for making sure the property is delivered empty yet we have a lease that says we can stay until February. Who is responsible and how can we get this settled?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: HELP!!! Owner is selling, we have a lease.
Take a look at your lease. If there is a term that states that the tenancy is terminated upon sale of the property, you would need to move upon 30 days WRITTEN notice that the tenancy is terminated.
If there is no such term, you are not required to move until the end of the lease. You should contact the landlord and ask him how he intends to compensate you if you agree to move prior to the end of the lease. If he won't provide you with sufficient compensation, don't move. Iwill be a problem between your landlord and the buyers.
Re: HELP!!! Owner is selling, we have a lease.
If you have a firm lease through February, 2004, the new buyer would take ownership subject to the lease, meaning they could not move in by the end of August. However, you need to be sure that there is no provision in your lease calling for early termination of the lease in the event of the sale of the property. If it does, you should personally consult a lawyer to see if you have some recourse. If it clearly has no such clause, you should notify your landlord that you have a lease until Feb., 2004, and you will not be willing to surrender the premises early to facilitate his sale. You should also notify the buyer, if you know who it is, that you have a lease and will not be moving in August. If your lease does not include a clause providing for early termination in the event of a sale of the property, you might want to consider asking your outgoing landlord to buy you out if he wants you out early to facilitate the sale. But, if you have received no notice from anybody purporting to terminate your lease and ordering you to move, you can just stay put.
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