Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
We live in California and we have a rental property. Our tenants are currently in a 2-year lease agreement & we are seriously contemplating selling our house very soon. In our lease we have a clause, and I want it reviewed, to make sure we are within our legal rights to sell this property before lease expiration. I believe we are, but need additional verification. Here is our clause, please let us know if we can sell w/ a 60 day written notice served. "TERMINATION UPON SALE OF PREMISES. Notwithstanding any other provision of this
Lease, Landlord may terminate this lease upon 60 days' written notice to Tenant that the
Premises have been sold"
Thank you,
Michelle
2 Answers from Attorneys
The general rule is that leased property can be bought and sold without any effect on the lease or the tenants. That's how giant office buildings change ownership without the need for evicting all the tenants. It's also true of single-family homes. Your particular lease is somewhat unusual in that it gives the landlord an additional right, viz., to terminate the lease after a sale occurs. You might want to consider whether you'll be better off waiting until the lease expires so you can show and sell the house in a vacant, tenant-free and spruced-up condition, or whether you need to sell quickly and go through the hassle of showing an occupied premises and explaining to would-be buyers that they can, after 60 days, boot the tenants out, clean up after them, make repairs, do an eviction process if necessary, and then get possession. In a rising market, I'd let the lease run unless there were some urgency about selling quickly.
I'm not so sure that you can include a term in a contract, which is what a lease is, that states that one party can unilaterally terminate or cancel the contract. It seems to me it makes the contract illusory, and a court would refuse to enforce that provision.