Question about apartment lease

[montanafan]

If you're leasing an apartment and the building is sold, does the new owner have to honor the original lease until it expires or can he make new ones with possibly higher rates?

 

[dawnbug]

I found this on a website about California leases-- I couldn't find anything about Virginia. I would think it would be the same across states, though.

A person who buys rental property does so subject to any existing leases with current tenants. This means that the new owner has purchased your lease and must abide by your lease's terms. Any change or modification to the existing leases, which the new owner wishes to make, must be done in accordance with the terms of the existing leases. Unless the existing leases contain provisions allowing the owner to terminate or modify, they may not be changed prior to their expiration. If you want to remain a tenant under your lease, you should notify the new owner in writing that you expect him to honor your current lease.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: montanafan
If you're leasing an apartment and the building is sold, does the new owner have to honor the original lease until it expires or can he make new ones with possibly higher rates?

pretty much. the new owner is the successor in interest, and should be honoring all previous contracts as such.

of course, he can breach the contract or maybe terminate it via a termination provision.

 

[montanafan]

Thanks for the info LadyBuggy. I did a search, but couldn't find anything specific to my area and situation though most did say something similar to what you found so it must be pretty much the norm.

My specific situation is that my current landlord told me in August when my lease was up that he was thinking of selling the apartment building because he is moving to another state, but he wasn't sure about selling yet. He told me I could renew for the normal 1 year or only for 6 months if I didn't want to be locked into a lease not knowing what might happen. I've known the guy a long time so I opted for he 6 month knowing that he would renew me after that if he kept the building.

Then today one of the other tenants told me he talked to another local business owner who told him that he was going to be buying the building. I don't know this potential new owner very well except that his business charges higher prices than most which makes me think that he might want to raise the rent when he gets the chance. I don't know what kind of a landlord he might be otherwise except that he does take good care of the business he owns upkeepwise.

Now I'm not sure what to do. I like my apartment and I have a good deal here paying less in rent than the other tenants for a similar apartment because I rented a different apartment here for several years and I'm a very good tenant. I had to move out because of a job transfer for a couple of years, but when I transferred back and was looking for an apartment he offered me the larger apartment at the lower rent because he really wanted me back. I won't have the same history with the new owner though and so I figure he'll want to raise my rent to match the others.

I'm thinking of going to the current owner and asking him if I can extend or renew my lease (which will expire at the end of February) now at the current rate to lock it in for a while before the new owner takes over. Of course that also means that I'll be obligated long term with a new landlord that I don't know much about.

 

[montanafan]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: montanafan
If you're leasing an apartment and the building is sold, does the new owner have to honor the original lease until it expires or can he make new ones with possibly higher rates?

pretty much. the new owner is the successor in interest, and should be honoring all previous contracts as such.

of course, he can breach the contract or maybe terminate it via a termination provision.

Thanks ElFenix. I doubt that he would breach the contract because of the complications and expense that would cause for him. Also when this other tenant talked to him he said that the potential new owner asked him if he had a lease and he told him yes, until November of next year and he responded with "Well I guess you'll be paying that rent to me real soon." So it sounds like he knows what he's getting into as far as everyone having leases rather than month to month rental agreements.

Also, I checked my lease agreement and there's no termination provision except for the usual non-payment of rent, etc. stuff.