Hello,

Our landlord is selling the duplex we're renting from him.

He says "the new owner would have to stick to the terms of our lease until it expires."

I was reviewing our lease, and this is what is says:

"Landlord demises the above premises for a term of one year commencing March 1st, 2008 and terminating March 31st, 2009 or sooner as provided herein at the monthly rental of $935 payable by the tenant on the first day of each month for the term of this lease."

What does "or sooner" mean?

I don't know if I'm being paranoid (I don't really trust my landlord these days), but that "or sooner" bit has me concerned.

Then later on in the lease it says: "At any time, Landlord may or may not choose to enforce any part of lease but does not allow that to be construed as acceptance or a waiver."

Now I Google'd rental leases. They are a dime a dozen, and available for free online for landlords to use. His lease looks like an exact copy from some of the Landlord Web Sites I've seen. But still...

It's bad enough this is a revolving door of people coming in/out of here, but I really am not prepared to move before March 2009.

I just want to be sure we're safe till March 2009.

Thanks everyone.

You should be safe until March '09. It's standard procedure that the leases passes on with the property and must be upheld by the new landlord. Not to give you something else to worry about, but you might just double check with the landlord and/or realtor that they know that they are to pass your security deposit on to the new buyer at closing. That way when you DO move out he has it to return to you.

One other thing to try to put your mind at ease... for the most part, people looking to buy a duplex are looking FOR rental property. If it's already up and running with a good tenant, so much better for them. Most buyers wouldn't want you going anywhere.

Yes it does carry from seller to buyer. So it should be safe for you to remain in the lease.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LianaJo

can we be forced to move before lease expires?

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Hello L:

No.

excon