Landlord selling our rental house

[Michelle23]

Hello all. Our landlord is selling the house that we rent. We expect the sale to be a done deal within the next month. Our original lease is up on May 20 of 2000. We have heard mixed things about our legal options. Our landlord has told us that our lease will just continue but with the new landlord. Another person has told us that we have the option to get out of our lease with no penalty and not have to rent from the new landlord. Does anyone really know what our legal rights are? We'd planned to move when our lease was up anyway, and we'd really like to move now if we can. Thanks for any help. Michelle

 

[LorettaL]

The general rule is that when a landlord sells a property to a new owner the new owner is bound by the terms of the lease (as if he had signed it). What that means is your (the renter's) obligations do not change; you merely pay rent to the new owner. Now, if you want to get out of the lease it is possible that either the old or new owner would be happy to let you out of the contract. Talk to them if you are interested in getting out of the lease. If both parties agree, the lease can be cancelled without any problems.