Background: DH and I are renting a house. We have a one year fixed term lease that ends on October 31. The house has been on the market for sale since May. When the house first went on the market, our landlord indicated that an investor would likely buy the place, meaning we could continue living in the house.
Now: last night our landlord told us that she accepted an offer on the house and the buyers want to move in during the 2nd half of August. This is a SFH in a suburban neighborhood, so I fully understand the buyers' desire to be in the house before the school year starts. However, DH and I have been planning on moving out at the end of our lease, which is still three months away.
Our landlord offered us free rent for the month of August plus $500. While this is a good deal, seeing that we are nearing the end of July most of the new rentals for August have already been snapped up. Given this, there is almost nothing available for rental listings for August. (City has a 1% vacancy rate, there is a ton of competition between renters). I feel that there will be less competition for a rental in October because all the students/families will have already moved in.
In addition, DH just accepted an offer for a new job. We will be staying in the same city, but DH won't know where he will be working in the city for another month. If we move in October, we will know where to look for a new place that is a decent commute to DH's new job. If we move in August, we will be picking a location at random and risking DH having an awful commute once he does start at his new job.
Legally, our fixed term lease cannot be terminated in the event of the sale of the house, so we cannot be forced out. However, I want to be cooperative and I don't want to be the reason that my landlord loses a sale. As well, I don't want to deal with 2 more months of showings in the event that this sales falls through.
So, what would you do?
So far, DH and I have discussed (between ourselves) offering to move out September 15, giving us time to find a rental with a September 1 start date. I don't see this working, though, as the buyers will want to be in before then. Otherwise, I am thinking that I can agree to move out August 15 IF our landlord/the real estate office can find us a comparable rental.
My suggestion was going to be the same as @chloe77. I can understand LL really not wanting to lose this sale after being listed for so long, but the existing contract needs to be honored or you need to be made whole. Can you find a decent extended stay place, or even a vrbo or similar with a reasonable rate for the next two months. LL pays for movings/storage of your items plus the difference on the rental plus a small amount for inconvience. .
Yeah no. Free August plus $500 is not such a great deal, especially considering its late July. I agree with the others that he should be working with you to find a place to live until October. And should pay one of your two moving expenses (which is likely more than $500).
Does the new owner automatically take over your lease? How does that work?
I was almost faced with this earlier this year and y4m had some good advice. I don't remember if she was bought out of her old lease or not.
I can tell you that when I was faced with this a few years back the owner was prepared to buy me out of my lease (ie, the remainder of the lease) had they sold the property.
Yes, the existing lease would normally transfer to the new owner. Legally, I don't even have to be informed that the house sells. Theoretically, I could have someone knock on my door and tell me that they are my new landlord.
In this case, though, the buyers are requesting vacant possession, they want to live in the house right away and don't want to be landlords for two/three months.
Tough shit if they don't want to be LLs. I mean, I get it. But they are buying this house knowing there are tenants now right?
You have room to negotiate is what I am saying. $500 and free August is just a total low ball
Thanks. I'm glad to know I'm not being unreasonable.
Yes, the buyers know there are tenants in the house. The house was advertised with a 90 day possession (which is perfect for our situation) but no one is interested in a 90 day possession.
The other concern is that, given the high level of competition for rentals in my city, I will be relying on my current landlord's reference in order to find a new place. So, I can't burn any bridges or I risk being unable to find a new place to live period.
I would ask for the additional amount that it would cost to stay in an extended stay hotel for 3 months and the cost for moving and storing your stuff. It might get expensive, but that's what's most fair for you. Given your circumstances, I would not want to hastily move and sign another 12 month lease right now.
Post by Balki.Bartokomous on Jul 21, 2014 9:32:19 GMT -5
Half a month's rent plus $500 is NOT a good deal, and offering to move out Sept 15 is being too nice because that still doesn't solve your problem.
I'd be straightforward with your LL. "I understand your position, but due to uncertainty with my husband's job location, we cannot sign a new lease until the end of October when we know where he will be located, so we would need temporary housing until Oct 31. Of course, then that means we'd have to move twice & that is SUCH a hassle."
Then if they want you out, I would expect them to pay for anything above and beyond what you had been planning on paying. That means I'd expect them to spring for temporary housing through Oct 31, storage for your belongings & the cost of one of the moves. Technically you would have been planning on paying rent for those three months, but I would not net that against what your LL should pay because I'd call that "money for your troubles".
How much is he selling the house for & what did he buy the house for? This will give you a good idea of how meaningful the $ you are asking for will be to him.
I agree with everyone else that you can and should get more than that. I think it's fine to explain the situation you're in and, assuming you're willing, offer to move to an extended stay or short-term rental with your LL paying the difference in rent plus moving costs plus something for your hassle. They don't want this sale to fall throuh even more than you don't, so you're still doing them a huge favor.
Post by vanillacourage on Jul 21, 2014 13:29:52 GMT -5
I would just tell them that you can't commit to being out before the conclusion of your lease, but you'll be able to start looking in Sept for an Oct move-out, and you will keep them updated. No offers of living out of boxes at a hotel if he just picks up the tab (unless you really need the $$).
Honestly, there is no reason for you to take on the hardship of living in an extended-stay hotel (they are not fun for more than a week or so) or move twice just to make this sale happen for your landlord. It's unfortunate for him that timing has worked out like this, but it's just how it is. I'm a landlord and know that if I don't want to hassle with obligations to a tenant, that I can't list the house more than a month or so before their lease is up.
Yeah no. Free August plus $500 is not such a great deal, especially considering its late July. I agree with the others that he should be working with you to find a place to live until October. And should pay one of your two moving expenses (which is likely more than $500).
This is where I'm at.
I mean, it's NICE of you to want to cooperate with your LL but realistically it's going to be a PITA to find a place to live in less than 1 month.
NOT TO MENTION that if you find short term housing until you know where DH will be working, you'll have to pay 2 moving bills or store a shit ton of crap.
-suck it up and accept this offer -refuse and stay through the end of your lease -compromise by moving out 9/15, which the buyers might be okay with, giving you more time -compromise by moving out in early august, but ask for paid storage for your stuff and additional money to pay the difference between your current rent and what you'd need for a short term rental. Then the house can be vacant when the buyers want it to be vacant and you still have more time to find a rental. Your landlord might also be willing to use this to negotiate a higher price (build the price of your costs into the house costs, or have the buyer pay the costs).
I would ask to be compensated for the following: - moving expenses for 1 of the moves - the price difference between your current rent and a short-term rental (go find a price to compare) fro Aug-Oct. - storage costs for Aug-Oct in a climate-controlled storage facility
I've read all the advice above. I think that tonight, when we talk to our landlord, we will ask if her real estate agent can help find a rental for August. On my own, I cannot find anything with this short notice. If they can find something, I will be open to moving out early. If that doesn't work, I will ask whether the buyers can wait until a week into September, but I expect the answer to that to be no.
Other than that, our option is just to finish out our lease and look for a new place starting in October, as originally planned.
I live in a hot rental market (nice suburb in Silicon Valley) and most of the good rentals are snatched up by real estate agents for their clients before the rental listing ever hits CL or zillow. Using your landlords real estate agent might make finding a rental a whole lot easier.
I live in a hot rental market (nice suburb in Silicon Valley) and most of the good rentals are snatched up by real estate agents for their clients before the rental listing ever hits CL or zillow. Using your landlords real estate agent might make finding a rental a whole lot easier.
That's helpful to hear. It's really frustrating responding to ads knowing that the property owners are likely getting dozens of inquiries.
We went through this on the opposite side (we were the homeowners). It was a little different because we put it in our listing that potential buyers couldn't have possession until the end of August (last year), because that's when our tenants lease was up. However, our REA, unbeknownst to us, told some potential buyers that we could be flexible with the move in date. When the contract came in, they wanted to move in half way through the month, and we're unwilling to do any sort of rent-back to our tenants for the last 2 weeks of their lease. Had our tenants said no, we would have had to not sign the contract. We told our REA she needed to help us rectify the situation since she put us in that position. She found our tenants a new rental, as well as paid for them to store their belongings because there was a 2 day difference between their move out date and their new move in date. We also paid them some extra cash. It was a difficult situation and we lucked out that our tenants were willing to work with us, but I really would have understood if they'd have said no, too.
I wouldn't be doing anything, and the LL was wrong to put you in that position. I am a LL, and I wouldn't have even mentioned to the potential owners anything about letting them move in early.
You can ask for anything you want, but to expect tenants to uproot themselves for the pittance that they're offering for your inconvenience, hell no.
Update: we talked to our landlord last night and said that we are willing to move early if she and/or her real estate agent helps us find a new place to live. She agreed with that and she's starting to check into ads with houses for rent.
Potential landlords would want to talk to our current landlord, anyway, so this saves a step. If we don't find a place, then we'll just stay put until our lease runs out in October.
Update: we talked to our landlord last night and said that we are willing to move early if she and/or her real estate agent helps us find a new place to live. She agreed with that and she's starting to check into ads with houses for rent.
Did I just read through this whole post only to find out that you agreed to your landlord's crappy offer? After all the good advice you've gotten here, and the fact that you don't want to move yet because you don't know where your DH will be working? I don't get it. Why?
Update: we talked to our landlord last night and said that we are willing to move early if she and/or her real estate agent helps us find a new place to live. She agreed with that and she's starting to check into ads with houses for rent.
Did I just read through this whole post only to find out that you agreed to your landlord's crappy offer? After all the good advice you've gotten here, and the fact that you don't want to move yet because you don't know where your DH will be working? I don't get it. Why?
Nope, haven't agreed to anything, yet, just presented an option.
The biggest challenge in this is finding a new place. When I moved to this city last year, I replied to about 30 listings and only got a response with an option to see the place from 2. Either way I'm going to have to move at some point in the next few months. If I can get away with someone else doing all the legwork of contacting rental listings, then that saves me a lot of headache.
In order to minimize commute issues, we've limited our listing of acceptable areas of the city to only about 10 neighbourhoods.
I initially hadn't thought requesting help on finding a place, so reading the responses here helped with that. I also realized that I really don't want to deal with short-term housing. I only want to move once.