I live in VA. I signed a 2 year lease on a single family home in Nov 2006. In Jan 2007, our landlord talked to my husband and told him that he could not afford to keep renting and had to sell. Our lease agreement has a no listing clause. The home was not listed on the market but his real estate agent did come by and take exterior pictures of the house. She also called our agent to see if we were interested in buying the house. Based on this we started looking for another place to live and now have a purchase contract on a home. We've told the landlord that we want to vacate. We will be happy to rent the place through June. Now he is saying that he still wants to sell the house but wants us to continue to pay rent until it sells. Are we obligated to continue paying? Can we construe his verbal notice to us that he couldn't afford to continue renting as his breaking the lease?

Thanks for any help.

Hmmm, this is an iffy one. Legally I would say you are obligated to pay. Even if he sold it, the new owner would be required to honor the lease. So there was no need for you to move until the end of your lease.

However, I would take my chances in a court. I think if you tell a judge that he said he was going to sell they might not uphold his right to collect on the full term of the lease. You can even maintain that you did him a favor by moving making the house more saleable.

Hello mom:

His verbal notice, if it was one (and I don't think it was) had no bearing on your tenancy. Whether he sells or not, has nothing to do with you. A new owner will simply be obligated to continue your lease. That's all.

excon

Agreeing with the above, it sounds like he was just trying to tell you he was selling the home so you will know you will have a new landlord. You may be able to ask for the lease to be broken since, if he was losing money on the property, the new landlord may want to increase the rent. Though they are bound by the conditions of your surrent lease.

Does the landlord have to sell the property as a rental? This is not his intention. He owned the home and tried to sell it. After almost of year on the market, he rented it to us, I believed at the time because he thought getting some income on it was better than nothing. This is the only home he owns as a rental. I think he was actually trying to bully us into buying it when less than 2 months later he starts saying he has to sell. If a new owner would have to honor the lease agreement, that would actually put us in a good position because our monthly rent is very low for the area and he'd have a terrible time trying to sell with someone else taking on the lease.

Thanks

If there is an existing lease, then a new owner would have to honor that lease. Its not a matter of selling it as a rental, but a buyer would have to wait until the lease was up before they could move in. So its to his advantage that you are moving.

Does the landlord have to sell the property as a rental? This is not his intention. Hello again, mom:

Not exactly... His intention was to lease the property to you. Then he changed his mind. Uhhh, he can't do that. Yes, the property comes encumbered with your lease.

excon

Yes, this is starting to make more sense, if he wanted it as a rental property he could sell with 30 days notice he should not have signed a year lease, he is bound by it now. No matter who owns the building you can live there at your current rent until the lease expires but I'm sure he would like to push you out.

According to your first post, you now have a signed contract to purchase a home. You are still responsible for the payment of the rent, per the lease agreement, until the lease ends. Chances are, the lease specifically mentions that the signed lease takes precedence over any verbal communication. I've never heard of a "no listing clause" not that it doesn't exist, I have just never seen a landlord purposely limit his options.

Ok, you have a valid lease, you can not break it, and the owner can not break it, just because they sell the house. When they sell the house the new owner will have to honor your lease.

The owner can ask you to move and can even offer to buy out your lease if they want you out.

You can not break the lease just because they are sellling, unless the owner will let you out.