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We recently relocated and rental property is extremely rare. We finally found a place that had been fer sale 7 months. The owner was moving to Texas and signed a 1 year lease with us. He stated that we should take the realty company sign out of the yard and the company would pick it up. We are settling in and I get a call from the realtor wanting to come over and "show" the house. I told her she couldn't that we just signed a 1 year lease and after all we had been through I wasn't moving. She said that he was in a contract to sell until March. I told her I would speak to the owner. Well before I could he e-mails and says that the realtor explained to him that he is in a contract and must abide by it. He said he feels bad and we can buy the house but something needs to be arranged for showing the house. I want to tell him to stick it! Do I have to show the house? What are my rights? I know that he is thinking he might have a buyer so we don't matter even though we have 3 children in school. Why can't he tell the realtor sorry but it is rented?
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(set 15 days ago)
Location: Cary, NC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mutt50
We recently relocated and rental property is extremely rare. We finally found a place that had been fer sale 7 months. The owner was moving to Texas and signed a 1 year lease with us. He stated that we should take the realty company sign out of the yard and the company would pick it up. We are settling in and I get a call from the realtor wanting to come over and "show" the house. I told her she couldn't that we just signed a 1 year lease and after all we had been through I wasn't moving. She said that he was in a contract to sell until March. I told her I would speak to the owner. Well before I could he e-mails and says that the realtor explained to him that he is in a contract and must abide by it. He said he feels bad and we can buy the house but something needs to be arranged for showing the house. I want to tell him to stick it! Do I have to show the house? What are my rights? I know that he is thinking he might have a buyer so we don't matter even though we have 3 children in school. Why can't he tell the realtor sorry but it is rented?
I think you were had.
Read your lease for details of your rights and protections. You might also read your state's landlord/tenant laws, and consult an attorney.
The lease is a standard one that you see for free online all day long. There is not one mention of the house being for sale or of us showing the house.
If there is no mention of showing the house, you probably do not have to. tell the agent and the owner that you will be contacting your attorney. That should have been addressed up front. you have a lease, can it be broken by either party? If not, I would also remind them, that if they get a buyer, you aren't moving until your lease is up.... so good luck with that.
Status:
"Made the Retirement Run in under 12 parsecs!!!"
(set 15 days ago)
Location: Cary, NC
43,160 posts, read 76,741,666 times
Reputation: 45512
Quote:
Originally Posted by mutt50
The lease is a standard one that you see for free online all day long. There is not one mention of the house being for sale or of us showing the house.
Right.
Subject to you having the "lease" vetted by a local attorney, I would as a non-lawyer propose there is no mention of protecting you in the lease you signed.
I would propose there is no restriction in the lease preventing the Owner from Selling.
Unless state law gives you some rights, you may well have none and no protections for your "quiet enjoyment" of the property.
Does the "lease" bind the Sellers assignees or successors to allow you occupancy?
Online forms are a lowest common denominator disaster waiting to happen, and your situation is proof.
Now the horse is out of the barn door, and you may need legal aid to round it up.
Couldn't the owner cancel the contract? I thought sellers had the right to so even if it does come with a fee. IF he feels so badly then maybe he should consider getting out of his selling contract.
Location: Georgia, on the Florida line, right above Tallahassee
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Oh, I'd show the house all right.
I'd show it ....real good.
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And then, I'd send him a bill for my time, every time I was inconvenienced to show it. I value my off time at $100 bucks an hour.,,how about you? Then, if he didn't pay me, I'd sue him in small claims court. And I'd sue for "emotional distress" and I'd sue just because he's an idiot who wants me to do his work and I didn't sign a contract to do his work...nor did he sign a contract to pay me for this additional burden upon my family and finances. I'd send him a worked up bill for all the cleaning supplies I'd need to get to ensure the home was in saleable condition. I'd send him a worked up estimate for childcare or hotel accomodations while the home is being viewed.
His act of stupid does not correlate into your act of charity.
**** him.
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Or another way to handle it would to be all smiles and tell him "Sounds great! So how much are you knocking off the rent for me to do that?"
Check your state's landlord/tenant laws. In most states, the landlord could sell the house to a new owner subject to the lease (unless there are exceptions specifically in the lease). In other words, the new owner would have to honor your lease. You really gain nothing by resisting the process except maybe an expensive attorney bill. The one thing you can do is require a 24 hr notice before showing (this rule is in effect in most states and standard leases). Do not let the landlord or prospective new owner bully you. If they want you out, require them to buy out your lease. In the meantime, do not give the current owner any reason to believe that you have broken your end of the lease. Make sure you document everything, especially payments.
The way I see this is that the landlord decided to rent the house instead of sell, then found out he was still under contract with the REA and would have to pay her off to break the contract. OOOPS! He sure doesn't want to do that so he decides to continue to list show the house for at least the 3 mos. left in the contract w/ the REA. Unless he finds a person who wants to buy a rental investment property or decides to pay you to leave the lease, it is unlikely anyone will want to buy the house subject to the lease. So you should calm down a bit and just keep on top of things.
Thanks for the information and advice so far. {Also, for the chuckles, I really needed those.} Maybe I could open a business as a professional renter/shower! We could just move house to house! The state is Oklahoma and we have been in the house since 2 Sep. Not getting a good feeling for our first time in OK. Thanks again.
Looks to me like you can require 24 hr notice and that your lease would survive any sale.
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