Termination by Landord of Rental Agreement
My lease agreement expires on June 30th, 2002. It is a one year lease. I had a verbal agreement to continue to rent month to month after that time. The landlord notified me on March 14th that she was putting the place on the market for sale on April 1st. She also said that she would give me 60 days notice of the sale to move out. Are the new owners required to acknowledge the lease agreement and continue to rent to me until the lease expires?
Re: Termination by Landord of Rental Agreement
You are entitled to stay until the end of the lease. In practical terms, the sale of the building probably won’t close until June, anyway, so don’t lose much sleep over the sale.
You have no right to hold over after the lease term. Even if you could prove the existence of some “oral agreement,” it probably wouldn’t even be enforceable against the current owner, let alone the purchaser.
The best thing to do is to talk to the purchaser after the contract of sale has been signed. Find out his (or her) intentions with respect to the property. Maybe he’s buying it for an investment and would be delighted to have a tenant in place who wants to stay. If not, then at least you know that you have a deadline of 6/30 to find a new place.
Good luck.
Thomas Luz
Pearce & Luz LLP
1500 Broadway, 21st Floor
New York, NY 10036