1 Year Lease Signed - Landlord Selling Question?

Lawros Tache

Hi All,

Looking for some advice if possible please....

Myself & Mrs Tache have been renting a property for the last 11 months.
The lease is up at the end of may but we're away for most of that month so last week we contacted the letting agent to see if we could sign a new lease early.
Letting agent met with the landlord (we have no contact details whatsoever, not even name, all through letting agent) and they agreed a new 12 month lease which we signed on Monday.

Now yesterday herself was fluting around the web looking at places we cant afford and she came accross our property for sale!

I have no idea how long it has been up or if perhaps the landlord was fishing for interest and has now decided to rent again and i will be speaking to the agent today but i just wanted to get some facts on board before doing so...

If the lease is signed and the house is sold do we have any legal rights to stay?
Can the new owner insist on us moving out within the period as they didnt sign the lease?
Can they simply give us a months notice and out we go or are we entitled to more time or compensation?

Many Thanks to all for reading.

djimi

If the house is sold while your fixed term lease is still in effect then the new owners become your landlords and have no legal right to ask you to leave until the lease expires and they can issue you with notice to vacate under the terms of the part 4 tenancy.

It's unlikely however that any sale will I through while you are in the property; from what I can gather the terms of most mortgages state that the property must be vacant at the time of sale. This means either your landlord must wait until your lease has expired before completing a sale, or they will have to try make you an offer to get you to vacate early (which you would be under no obligation to accept).

Lawros Tache

Hi Djimi,

Thank you so much for your reply and advice, really appreciate it and it has put my mind to rest considerably.

Just to clarify one thing you said however -
" the new owners become your landlords and have no legal right to ask you to leave until the lease expires and they can issue you with notice to vacate under the terms of the part 4 tenancy."

Do you mean they can issue me with notice under part 4 ONLY ONCE THE NEW 12 MONTH LEASE EXPIRES? ie May 2014?


I apologise i i seem pedantic, just want to be completely clear before i speak to Letting agent.
From what you say it seems likely that the house was on sale to test the waters and now seems to be happy to let again.

Thanks so much

djimi

When they can actually issue you notice seems to be a bit of a grey area. My personal feeling is that they cannot issue you notice until the lease actually expires, which would mean you would be entitled to 8 weeks notice from the end of your current lease. Others feel that they can issue you with notice to coincide with the end of your lease, ie they can issue you with 6 weeks notice before the lease expires, such that you would be vacating on the day the lease expires. Ive not come across a definitive answer to this; even Threshold dont seem to know which it is. I guess if you wish to plan ahead then take it that you are safe in the tenancy until at the very least the end of your current fixed term lease.

It does sound a bit like the landlord is testing the waters with the sale; either that or the place has been for sale for an extended period of time with little or no interest, such that they are not really expecting to sell in the next 12 months. It would be quite unusual for a landlord to agree to a further fixed term lease if they were expecting to sell the house during the term of the lease.

Lawros Tache

Thank You so much

That's really put my mind at rest and given me some ammo for later on.

I'd say you're bang on with the "testing the waters and finding no real interest" thing, it's pretty much what i had been thinking myself.

Herself has gotten all worked up expecting "heavies" to arrive any day now throwing our bags into the garden!

Once again, thanks so much for your help

odds_on

Furthermore, you are under no obligation to allow viewings of the property while you are living there. The landlord or his agent may only enter the property with your express permission or without your permission in the case of an emergency.

They are also entitled to "inspect" the property from time to time but this must be done at a time convenient to both parties. An inspection cannot be used as a pretense to a viewing - i.e. the landlord or agent only.

However, a new landlord may be better than the present one or he might be worse!

valleyoftheunos

Most likely your Landlord was simply in two minds about either selling or renting the house again, I've been in the exact same situation myself and it was no problem at all.

Now that you have a 12 month lease no one can remove you from the house until the lease is finished (so long as you pay the rent and don't damage it obviously) even if the house is sold. You currently have what is called a part 4 tenancy so once the lease does expire they can only ask you to leave for one of six possible reasons and then they have to give you eight weeks (perhaps more) notice.

It is highly unlikely that the house would be sold with you there, Banks won't give mortgages in those circumstances and there is little reason for the LL to sell as it is making him money with you in it.

Lawros Tache

Hi Guys,

Thanks so much to all for the help and advice.

I got a friend to inquire about the house over the phone (inquired about several to cover the tracks a little) and she was told the house wasn't actually for sale.
I spoke to the Agent and she assured me that the house is still on the website since last year but is not actively being marketed and that she "should really get around to taking it down as the house isn't actually for sale anymore"!!

Anyway, I have my lease and i'm happy with that :-)

Once again, thanks to all, very much appreciated.

The_Conductor

It sounds like the tenancy agreement is a hodge-podge of at least 4 different agreements covering-

1. Month to month tenancies
2. Annual tenancy
3. 4 year tenancy
4. Part 4 tenancies

The landlord probably thought he was being clever by copying and pasting from different lease agreements- without actually understanding what he was doing, and whether the various clauses were in agreement with one another.