Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

I am renting a guesthouse studio. Now the house is for sale. The realtor said that she might not be able to give me a 30 days notice in case the house sells and the new owner doesn't want me to stay. There is no mentioning in the lease contract that the lease stops when selling the house.

1. Can I just be thrown out - having less than 30 days notice? If yes - do I get any kind of reimbursement for this or is the lease just prorated for the amount of days rented that month.

2. If the new owner wants to keep me as a tenant - can he raise the price immediately?

3. Other things I need to be aware of?

Thank you so very much!


Asked on 7/09/12, 1:34 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

1. No. If you have a lease for a specified period of time that is not yet up, you are entitled to stay until the lease is up, even after the sale. If you have a month to month rental, you are entitled to 30-days notice if you have been there less than a year, and 60 days notice if there a year or more. If they give you notice mid-month, the rent for the last month you are there is pro-rated. So if they give you notice on June 20, you would only owe 20 days rent in July if you are entitled to a 30-day notice, or 19 days in August if you are entitled to a 60-day notice.

2. Notice of rent increases must be given the same as notices to end a lease. So if your lease is for a term, the rent can't go up until the lease is up. If you are on month to month, the 30 or 60 day notice time applies.

3. Lot's. Look here: http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/catenant.pdf

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Answered on 7/09/12, 4:18 pm


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