Rights of Tenants if Landlord sells

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=rights+of+tenant+if+landlord+sells

Or, more specifically:

http://realestateqa.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/rights-of-tenants-if-a-landlord-sells/

Thanks Jordyn. I had seen that article, and trust me, google is generally the first thing people do these days :)

Anyone have an idea in what section of real estate / housing / contract law I can find that?

in the standard lease para 17 gives landlord right to give you 30 days notice to end lease if he wants to sell. while many tenants cross this out i'm told most do not.

@ opheus12: Yep.

I would not only cross out that paragraph and any others that allow the owner/landlord to ask you to leave. I would specifically put into the lease or lease rider that your lease will remain in full effect should the owner/landlord decide to sell. If you have an attorney, they should come up with the language for you.

I just assisted a friend with their lease out in Brooklyn with an owner who was renting her apartment directly to them (from Craigslist). The woman didn't know anything about how to rent her apartment and used some random lease from the internet where you checked boxes and it essentially made your lease. I'm not an attorney, but I told them to at the very least make sure that, as I said above, the lease would remain in effect regardless if the apartment is sold. I then told them to write a paragraph about limiting the access that the owner or broker would have should they want to sell. (You don't really want people entering your house 5 times a week just so the owner can sell their apartment.)

Good luck.

(Matthew Russell - Brown Harris Stevens)

If tenant agrees to leave on 30 days notice, tenant should get a more favorable rent than if the lease were a standard 2 year lease.
OTOH, can also try for a longer notice period (60-90 days or more) if LL insists on that termination clause.
And many tenants WILL insist on crossing out that paragraph - it's all part of the negotiation.

Opheus12, Matthew,

Thanks for the answers. I am preparing a Rider to the Lease Agreement to include some of your very good suggestions.

It all depends on your lease. Standard boilerplate states that the lease is void in case of a sale, but as other pointed above, you can cross that out. If the owner has no intention to sell, he won't mind. If the owner wants to keep his options opened, he will negotiate: lower rent/higher flexibility, full rent/new owner has to honor the lease, or somewhere in between ie. full rent/higher flexibility but moving expenses paid for if sold < 10 months? It's a private contract, so the modalities are whatever the two parties negotiate.

If you want legal advice, you should speak to a lawyer. Particular facts matter and general principles may not apply in your situation.

The general background rule, however, is that a lease is a transfer of property rights (not a mere contract). Therefore, the tenant's rights are superior to the property rights of the reversion-holder (the landlord). Sale of the reversion -- the landlord's remaining rights -- must be subject to the superior rights of the tenant. That's been basic common law for several hundred years and most legislatures have left it alone.

The text of the lease determines the property rights transferred, subject to legal restrictions such as RS/RC, zoning and housing law restrictions, the warranty of habitability and other judicial and legislative glosses and modifications.

Tf tenancy is not RS/RC, and the lease is for a term, the lease is for a term. If the tenant agrees to a cancellation clause in a non-RS/RC tenancy, the tenancy expires according to the terms of the cancellation clause. RS/RC tenants have additional property rights.