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Can you sell if you have tenants in a lease?

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moomoo72

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? California

Hi. We have renters that have a lease until December/05. Can we legally sell the house before then? I thought I heard somewhere that this is the only way out of a lease contract, but I'm not sure.

Please help with any advise!
 


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seniorjudge

Guest
Q: Can we legally sell the house before then?

A: Certainly; your real estate agent will tell you how to do this.


Q: I thought I heard somewhere that this is the only way out of a lease contract, but I'm not sure.

A: Me neither since I do not understand what this question means.
 

divgradcurl

Senior Member
I thought I heard somewhere that this is the only way out of a lease contract, but I'm not sure.
Is the house in a rent-controlled city (San Francisco, Berkeley, Glendale, Santa Monica, etc.)?

Thue general rule is that you can sell a house that has renters in it -- but the new owners take subject to the existing lease, so either the new owners have to continue renting to the tenants, or they have to buy out the tenants. Selling the house does not "break the lease."

In addition, certain cities with rent control may have further limitations on the transfer of rental properties, and may restrict the transfer of rental properties to only buyers who are willing to continue to rent the properties. If you have rent control, check with you local rent control board to find out if your city has such restrictions.
 
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nextwife

Senior Member
If it is just a standard lease (not leased under subsidized housing), and you are NOT dealing with rent control, you certainly may sell. However, the lease will be unaffected by the sale, and any buyer will need to be willing to buy subject to the terms of the existing lease. Which MAY mean a discount in sales price, IF the rent is well under what the payments at current market value would be, as it certainly cannot be owner occupied until after lease end.
 

nextwife

Senior Member
Yup. Actually, when we sold hubby's place, we "bought out" the tenants to vacate before lease end. And paid their moving costs.
 

nextwife

Senior Member
BelizeBreeze said:
Whoa there. Knowing Nexie it was a block of cheese and two tickets to an Ice Fishing tourney :D
And boy were those Florida tenants mad when their ice shanty wouldn't stay up on the lake!
 

adamflorida

Junior Member
moomoo72 said:
What is the name of your state? California

Hi. We have renters that have a lease until December/05. Can we legally sell the house before then? I thought I heard somewhere that this is the only way out of a lease contract, but I'm not sure.

Please help with any advise!
Florida is our state:
Actually I'm in a similar situation, but opposite. My boyfriend and I are the Buyers and the Seller has a Tenant occupying the home we have an offer on. We have been told we would have to honor the lease. Would we be able to make an addendum to the lease?
 
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seniorjudge

Guest
adamflorida said:
Florida is our state:
Actually I'm in a similar situation, but opposite. My boyfriend and I are the Buyers and the Seller has a Tenant occupying the home we have an offer on. We have been told we would have to honor the lease. Would we be able to make an addendum to the lease?
This is a good question and you should start your own thread so we can discuss it.
 

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