Ask Me Help Desk - The house we have been renting has been sold. Now what?

Okay, I searched for a similar topic before I post this and found one that is very close to
Our case ("the house in which i am renting is being forclosed on!" by krysmoma, on Jul 31, 2007 05:15 PM.)
However, my question goes on. Please bear with me.

My two roommates and I have been renting a house on month-to-month basis. On 7/24,
We were informed that the house had been sold and we would need to move out by 8/24.
We are tying hard to find new places, and at the same time, we would like to talk to our
Landlady, but she is no longer talking to us.

Q1. Do we have to pay August rent, and if so, how much?
We are trying to figure this out, but the landlady is not responding to our call anymore.
In the answer to krysmoma's question, I found that after foreclosure, the lease is considered to be terminated.
I assume this means we can stay until 8/24 but do not have to pay rent. Am I correct?

Q2. Is our landlady still responsible for us (tenants)?
As I said, we are all trying hard to find new places to move in, but we have found we need some help from
The landlady. She is not talking to us, she is, of course, not helping us.
She just left a message in our voice mail that we need to move out by 8/24.

Q3. Can we move out on 8/24 or the house needs to be empty in the morning of 8/24?

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

I would take a look at your lease agreement with your landlord... see weather it specifics how much notice she is suppose to give you to vacate. Most leases simply require a 30-day notice (which she gave you) but I have been in some that say anywhere from 30-60 days. So I would double check your lease and make sure your landlord has done everything according to the lease.

You would be responsible for the month of August since you are living there... but not the entire month since you are moving the 24th. Take your rent per month divide it by 4 and that will tell you how much you pay a week for rent... ONLY PAY 3 WEEKS. Then again, since this all came out of the blue and you are having to come up with money to move, and she is not giving you the courtesy of a return phone call, she made notbe concerned since she is selling the place and you may be able to get away with not paying and her taking no action... but she will have the right to take action if she chooses to.

She has no responsibility to help you as the tenants. You were on a month-to-month lease and that pretty much ends her obligation to you.

Your 30day notice is up to and includes the 24th. So as long as you are out by midnight on the 24th you should be fine.

Your situation sucks, and she was not a very good landlord, she should have at least informed you that she was planning on selling, that way you all could have been expecting it and been prepared. It sucks, but like I said, look at your lease and make sure she is doing everything by the book.

Good luck!

Hi macksmom, thank you for your quick reply. Yes, I asked her if she could prorate
August rent, but since we have not heard back from her yet, we have not paid yet.
Now I understand that the landlady is not responsible for us but we still have to pay...
What a mess... Unfortunately, there is no paperwork done between the landlady and
Us. No lease, no agreement. Nothing. We cannot go by the book. We cleaned the house,
We fixed the house, she never showed up for anything. But it was not a problem until
Now. This is so disappointing. We will keep trying to catch her, though.

Thank you, mackmom.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayact

Unfortunately, there is no paperwork done between the landlady and
us. No lease, no agreement. Nothing. We cannot go by the book.

Actually, since you have no written lease, "the book" would be your state's Property Codes/Laws. I believe if you check the first couple of posts in this forum all of the various states' laws are listed, or links to them. The law will state how much notice she had to give you. Also, the law will state how the notice must be given. I can't remember if you said she gave it to you in writing?

A couple of things you could try if you feel the need to talk with her...

-leave her a message saying that you have the rent ready and want her to come by and get it. If she's at all interested in getting paid I would think that would get a rise out of her. Since you have no written lease there's no formal agreement that you have to mail it to her or anything...

-also, was the house listed? Did someone come look at it prior to the purchase? Is there a realtor involved? Do you know who is purchasing it? If there's a way for you to contact the buyer or their agent you may be able to extend your tenancy. If they don't plan to actually move into the property themselves, or at least not right away, they may be interested in some rent income in the mean time.

And, I'm sure you've figured this out by now, in the future always get a written lease. If the landlord doesn't have one they use you can present them with one and ask them to sign it. There are standard/generic leases available where you just fill in the blanks. Most leases state that when the initial term of the lease expires (a year usually)it will automatically become a month-to-month tenancy following all of the same provisions in the lease. If you're living somewhere that you want to stay and you want to lock in your rental rate, again, ask the landlord to re-sign for whatever length you're after. That should either protect you, or if they won't sign it you may have a clue that something may be up. When a property sells and the tenant is under lease (say 2 months into a year lease) the new buyer has to honor any existing leases.

Sorry if I'm rambling... hope something in there helped.

Karla in TX

Hi rockinmommy,

Well, A few months ago, the landlady called us to tell that a realtor was coming to see the house. We asked her if she was selling the house. She said she was not sure yet.
Two weeks prior to the phone call from the landlady on 7/24, we found a sign on the front fence. That was when we found the house was on the market. A few days later, the realtor called us and said that she was bringing some people (potential buyers) to the house. We started looking for new places to move in. Then, on 7/24, the landlady left a message to tell that the house had gotten sold. Therefore, there was a realtor involved, and the house was on the list. Two weeks after we found a sign on the fence, the house was in someone else's hand.

We send rent checks to the landlady at the end of month. She does not come to the house.
I am from MA, and I found an article.
"The agreement for the Tenancy at Will may be either written or verbal. Either the landlord or you may terminate this arrangement at any time by giving written notice of 30 days or one full rental period in advance, whichever is longer." (under Types of Tenancy")

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocatermi...1=Consumer&L2=
Housing+Information&L3=Tenant+%26+Landlord&sid=Eoc a&b=terminalcontent&f=
tenants_rights_and_responsibilities&csid=Eocasayin g

If I believe this, one full rental period is longer than 30days with our case (the notice was given on 7/24.) I am going to mail a copy of this article to the landlady, though I am not sure if this would make any difference. The new owner is moving into the house (they are interested in living here) and they are the people who want us to vacate the house by 8/24.

I agree with you... from now on, I will definitely ask for paparwork to be done.

Thank you for your input.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayact

Hi rockinmommy,

We send rent checks to the landlady at the end of month. She does not come to the house.

I am from MA, and I found an article.
"The agreement for the Tenancy at Will may be either written or verbal. Either the landlord or you may terminate this arrangement at any time by giving written notice of 30 days or one full rental period in advance, whichever is longer." (under Types of Tenancy")

OK, please keep in mind that this is just my opinion/my interpretation of what you've said so far. I'm a landlord, but I'm not a lawyer.

If you want to talk to the landlord about this further I would not mail her anything. Call her, tell her you can't find her address, and that you have the rent ready if she wants to come by to get it. My only reason for suggesting this is that the motivation of getting paid would be a way to actually make contact with her. Then you could discuss whatever issues you need to in person.

OR, probably a better way to go so that you'd have documentation of everything...
Send her the rent for August. Also send a letter stating that based on MA law (assuming what you quoted from the "article" is law)you actually have not been given notice to move yet. (since it was verbal and not written.) Once you are given the proper, legal notice, you'll be happy to acknowledge it and vacate by the end of the notice period.

Finally, since she hasn't technically given you notice you could do nothing and just pay your rent and stay put. Once the closing has occurred it will start all over with the new owners. It will then be their responsibility to give you the required written 30 day notice.

As long as your rent is paid you definitely have a case at this point. Just make sure you have documentation of everything. If you're just trying to buy more time to find a place this should do it. Just keep in mind that once the owner (whoever that may be at the time that someone does finally get their act together and realize that they need to give you WRITTEN notice) gives you a written notice you do legally have to move out in the 30 days, or whatever the legal time frame is in your state.

This could get really stressful for you - you'll likely have a lot of people getting really upset with you - even though it's actually the original owner who has handled it incorrectly. I'd recommend finding something as quickly as possible. As soon as you have a move-in date for your new place send a letter to the realtor explaining everything (stressing the fact that you were not given the proper (WRITTEN)notice)). At this point you have a legal right to not acknowledge the notice, but digging in your heels is only going to complicate things. Keep in mind that the new owners are probably packing, getting ready to move in on the 25th or something close to it and there's going to be a whole chain reaction of problems here. Just be prepared for tempers and emotions to flare.

Karla