I'm renting a house with my family. I have a legal residential lease for two years. My land lord is in the process of selling the house, and the new potential owner just told me that I can't stay for the entire term of the lease, because he needs the house for personal use. Am I protected by the law or I do have to seek legal advice?

Thank you..

Sally

Unless your lease states otherwise, your new owner MUST honor your lease. Often when a new owner wants to occupy the property... he/she could offer you a buy out of your lease... like say 2 month rent and moving expenses. This is totally up to you to accept or not. Bottom line... You can stay put for the entire term.

In some parts of the country, he may be able to legally evict you. Los Angeles has provisions for evictions "if the landlord is permanently removing the rental unit from rental use" and "for use and occupancy by the landlord, his spouse, family" and a few other close relatives. If there is a local tenant/landlord mediating service, or tenant advocacy group in your area, you should be able to check in with them and see if what the new owner says is true or not.

And something to consider is that, even if they can't evict you, they obviously do NOT want to be landlords. Which means that if you stay they will probably do the minimum of what is required by the law, and possibly not even that. Depending on how much time is left on your lease, it may be to your benefit to approach them with some sort of buy-out offer, so that you can move to a spot where the landlord is not just counting down the days until you move.

Where do you live?

I live in NJ.
Sally

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Originally Posted by erminia

Am I protected by the law or I do have to seek legal advice?

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Hello Sally:

You are protected by law.

excon

There are links to state laws in the sticky note at the top of this forum. While some states do allow for termination of the lease when the premises will be used for personal use, I'm not sure if that applies to early termination or just non-renewal.

However, if they want you out, they can make life difficult for you if you don't move. What I would do is tell them you are willing to move early, if they give you enough time to fnd a new place and pay for your moving expenses.