Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

Rental lease
If we buy a two family house and the apartment is rented and that tenant had signed a lease for two years with the previous owner and we want the tenant to move when we become the owners of the house the tenant is living in will the tenant have the right to not move and stick to the lease he signed with the previous owner of the house? I think the lease is no longer binding with us as the new owners. Am I right? A family member wants to live in the apartment the tenant is now in. Thank you

Asked on 6/18/03, 7:57 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

Kenneth J. Ashman Ashman Law Offices, LLC

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Re: Rental lease

A "lease" is a legal "interest" in real property. Therefore, it "runs with the land" rather than with the individual owner of the land. Therefore, when a new owner purchases the land, the new owner's rights are subject the rights of others who have interests in the land.

Thus, if the owner had given an "easement" for someone to use, say, a path on the property to go to a beach, then the new owner would purchase the property subject to the rights of the owner of the easement. The same principle holds true for leases.

-- Kenneth J. Ashman; www.AshmanLawOffices.com

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Answered on 6/19/03, 9:41 pm

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