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A lease is a binding contract and if your management company has sold the property you rent you have asked the question, ‘Can a landlord break a lease to sell the property?’ The law says that the rights of the tenant do not change because a sale has taken place. There is no law that says that the owner cannot sell the property, but the treatment of the tenant is addressed. When the owner sells the rental unit to another, he is selling the lease as well as the property. The new owner then becomes obligated to fulfill the terms of the agreement. The tenant rights do not change after the sale.

When you rent an apartment or a house or even a place to do business, the length of the lease is for a one year term. Sometimes you can sign a six month lease by paying a higher per month rental amount. There are even rental units that rent by the week or by the month. In any event, you will have to sign a rental agreement. When the terms of the lease expire, most of the time you will have to sign a new rental agreement with the management. Occasionally the management allows the tenant to remain on a month by month agreement after the term has expired. No matter which of these type agreements you have on your rental unit, you can safely assume that the new manager will not be able to evict you unless you have not met the terms of your agreement. Can a landlord break a lease to sell the property is answered no and the new landlord cannot either.

Can a landlord break a lease to sell the property if you have a month by month agreement? The landlord cannot break a lease. If you have no lease and you are living in the rental unit month by month, then the buyer of the property can give you notice to move. The new buyer will not have to give you a reason unless the state you live in requires him to do so. Also, your state will have rules about the amount of time you must be given to vacate. Sometimes you have 30 days and sometimes you have 60 days.

When you hear that the manager is selling and you do not have a lease agreement or you are in the rental on a month by month basis and you want to continue to live there, you can ask the manager to sign a year lease. If he is unwilling to negotiate a new lease with you, then when the new manager takes over ask for a one year lease. Neither manager is obligated to offer you the one year lease. However, the new manager will have more incentive to sign the lease because his goal will be to maintain 100% occupancy of his rental units. You may have a lease and the lease may state that in the event the property is sold the lease will terminate under certain circumstances.

A lot of cities and states have rent control regulations that issue guidelines for the manager and the tenant. It doesn’t make any difference what the law says or what your lease says if you fail to make the payments timely. The manager can give you notice to evict for failure to keep your part of the lease agreement. Be sure that you know the terms of the contract that you signed for the rental unit. Neither the new manager nor the current owner can break a lease to sell the property.