Ask Me Help Desk - No Termination Clause

We signed a new lease agreement with our landlords Aug. 1st and was to end May 1, 2008. They added a clause this time that they may choose to sale the home anytime during our lease but probably wouldn't start showing it until next spring. A few weeks later they had a realtor in this subdivision come to see what she thought the home would be worth. A couple of weeks passed and they had a couple come to look at the home. This made us very anxious as we hadn't even started building our own home yet. I happened to find out that a home we had made an offer on late last year was back on the market & preferred it much better than the area where we were going to build. So we made an offer on it. Our lease stated that we were to give a 2 month notice exactly 2 months prior to May 1, 08. So we gave our 2 month notice Oct. 1st. For what our landlords had the home built for last year & what they're selling it for, there's no way the buyers would want to keep us because they'd be losing money. Our landlords can't see it though. There's no termination clause in our lease or what the ramifications would be, but there are telling us that we're to keep paying till May 1st or until someone buys the home. We found out this week that they just put it on the market the 24th(24 days after we gave notice) and are only listing exclusively with the realtors that work out of the sales office for this new subdivision and not on multible listing for maximum coverage. My husband saw on a web site that they have to do everything in their power to get the home sold or re-occupied. We've gone from being a perfect tenant & keeping this home & yard immaculant to the bad guy. I have no doubt that if they got a contract on the home & the buyers wanted us out that they wouldn't of hesitated on getting us out. I guess what's good for the goose is not so good for the gander! Could you please give us some advice?

First, you panicked. You should have started checking things beforereaking the lease. If you have a valid lease it remains an encumbrance on the sale of the home. So the new owners could not terminate your lease until it expired. So you had no reason to panic.

Yes the owners have to make a reasonable effort to sell the home. It sounds like they are. So you are stuck.

Hello Spike:

IF you knew the law, you wouldn't be spouting about the goose and gander crap.

The new owners COULDN'T have gotten you out, as the house would have been encumbered by your lease, which they would have been obligated to honor. So, your residency was safe for the term of your lease.

Yes, you are responsible for the rent until they rent it again, which is NOW going to be hard to do because the house is for sale. Your impatience is going to cost you bigtime.

Of course, you're the bad guy. You broke your promise.

excon

Who's going to buy a home with a 4,000/month payment with renters in it that pay 2500/month! And after May 1st we have th right to go month to month for however long we needed to to finish our home. There's not definite end for the landlords to disclose to any prospective buyer.

Depending on the state, they may be required to attempt to rent the property at fair market value, but in some states they have no such requirement and can merely demand that you continue to pay the lease amount and even keep utilities on in the home.

So you will have to continue to pay till May 1st. A new buyer can not evict you, they have to honor the lease, and can demand that you also honor it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by spike97

And after May 1st we have th right to go month to month for however long we needed to to finish our home. There's not definite end for the landlords to disclose to any prospective buyer.

Hello again, spike:

There's NO definite END?? Dude. With a month to month rental, your rental period ENDS every single month!!

I think you need to review the law -AND YOUR AGREEMENT. On May 1, you THINK you can stay for however long you need...

But you can't, of course. The landlord can have you out in 30 days. That's what month to month means. I think you need to READ the documents you sign and then not make up stuff about what they say.

excon

Quote:

Originally Posted by spike97

Who's going to buy a home with a 4,000/month payment with renters in it that pay 2500/month!

That's not your problem. You have(had?) a lease that said you had the right to rent the house until 5/1/08. If that was a deal breaker for buyers, that's the owner's problem not yours. By law, any new buyer would have to honor your lease.

Quote:

Originally Posted by spike97

And after May 1st we have the right to go month to month for however long we needed to to finish our home. There's not definite end for the landlords to disclose to any prospective buyer.

I doubt if that's what the lease says. The lease probably says that after the lease expires, unless a renewal lease is signed or either party decides to terminate the lease, the lease would be extended on a month to month basis. The bolded text is the key. No landlord in their right mind would give a tenant such an open-ended clause,especially if they had the presence of mind to write in the clause about selling. So the only way you could be extended on a month to month basis would be if the landlord (whoever that might be at the time) was in agreement. If they did not want to extend, then simply had to give you one months notice.

So your lack of understanding of the law caused you to panic. And now you are stuck. Unless you can prove that they are not exercising due diligence, then you are responsible for the lease payments.
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By the way, if you are saying the landlord is paying $4000 a month for the mortgage and you are paying $2500 for the rent, then it certainly is to the landlord's advantage to sell as quickly as possible