lease question, landlord is selling home i live in.

[uncle ray]

i got a question about my rental situation. i've been renting this house i live in for a year now, i'm in the middle of a two year lease. when i moved in, i asked for a two year lease so i wouldn't have to move for a while. well a month or so ago, my landlord tells me they are filing bankruptcy, and cannot get their ARM which is nearing the end of the term refinanced. i did a little checking, and decided that we did not want to buy this house for a number of reasons.

fast forward to yesterday, i get a call from the landlord out of the blue saying they ran an ad in the previous days paper to sell the house and someone wants to look at it!:mad:

now the question, what rights do i have? i did a little research on my own, and found that with a 12 month lease, they would have to give 30 days notice to evict us. but with our 24 month lease, 90 days is required to evict us. lucky move on my part, i think. is the lease null and void if they sell the house? i was told secondhand, that once they list the house for sale, that we are relieved of our obligation to our end of the lease. true?

i realize that i should get proper legal counsel, but right now i don't see that doing much good. considering my landlords are filing bankruptcy, they have literally probably close to a half million in debt and told me they are not paying their bills now, i don't see much hope of getting my deposit, much less the $500 they are promising me "for the bother", so retaining a lawyer in the matter is likely to be more money thrown away in the matter. if i had real hopes of collecting, i would have no problem getting an attorney to help.

the issue is i have lots of stuff, i'm in this house because of the oversize garage and extra storage sheds at a very good price. so moving will be much effort. i need time to find an appropriate house with the space i need, moving will already be a major inconvenience, but if the house sells quickly i doubt i will be able to find anything with the space i need on short notice. not to mention i don't have a few thousand extra dollars laying around to cover a new deposit, overlapping rent for a month, etc.

just how screwn am i?

[LeftyMom]

1. Landlord/tenant law varies a lot depending on where you live.

You should find out what the rules are where you live and then give your landlord notice in writing of how long you have to move and that you intend to use it. Also, find out what the rules are on showing the property and hold them to them. You can use flexibility on that as a carrot in negotiations and you can be a hardass about it if they try to screw you. It sounds like they want to sell the house ASAP. Work that to your advantage. Finally, your ticking clock does not start until your landlord provides properly served written notice that they intend to sell the house and you need to move out.

Personally, I think talking to a lawyer would be a good idea. If it gets you your deposit back or buys you more time to move it's going to save you a good deal more than a visit and a sternly written letter will cost you.

As a practical matter, it's probably a good idea to go rent a storage unit and start moving the stuff in the sheds and other on-site storage ASAP, in case you wind up with less time to move than you need or it takes you some time to find another suitable property.

[uncle ray]

2. thing is

considering how much debt these people have, and the way they are treating their creditors, i don't expect to get my deposit. even if it were to go to court and i got a judgment, i don't expect to be able to collect. they show no interest in honoring their financial responsibilities. i'm preparing for the worst.

right now they just ran an ad in the paper, not listed with a realtor yet, they said they'll honor the lease terms of 24 hours notice to enter the property. that i can live with, it beats one hour notice, which would make me (more) furious.

i'm on top of the storage situation already, the thing is, i require a LOT of storage! i would need several ordinary storage units, so instead i'm looking at leasing an airplane hanger at a small local airport. i need to make sure that it is clear that THEY are the ones breaking the lease though before i proceed with that. and if i go that route, storing stuff temporarily, it eats up money i need to secure a new house. it's kind of a catch-22. i don't want to force the clock to start ticking if i don't have to.

[crispini]

4. Okay, wow, that is a LOT of storage.

I have to ask: What is it all?

[uncle ray]

6. tools and cars.

my "hobby" is restoring/customizing collector cars, so i have a few projects on hand. i'm in the middle of long term financial recovery myself. the "master plan" is to have a few cars done within the next year or so, so i can sell them to fund a small shop i can work out of without having a huge monthly payment. the plan was going along very smoothly until now!

one project i'm working on for example, is a car that i had completely stripped for paint and bodywork right before i got the news. so it's in limbo, as i don't dare spend money i need for a roof over my head to buy parts to finish the car, but the car is worth little until it's finished. so i just have to sit on it until i can proceed with finishing it.

[uncle ray]

7. oh, and an airplane hanger isn't really THAT big.

only about 2000 square feet. at about half the price of similar "storage" space.

[rug]

3. Normally, the buyer takes the house subject to the existing lease.

In bankruptcy court, your lease is considered an asset of the debtors.

Your local legal services should have some handouts explaing your tenant's rights in plain language.

http://www.coloradolegalservices.org/co/homepage.html

Good luck.

[uncle ray]

5. that's somewhat reassuring.

thanks.

on edit, they are trying to sell the house before they file.

[Lex]

13. Here in NC, the lease must be upheld by the new buyer/new landlord

because your lease works like an emcumbrance to the title. In other words, the new owner of the property takes title subject to your lease.

At the end of the lease, the new landlord may decide not to renew (or maybe he will if he's buying it for a rental anyway).

[Whoa_Nelly]

8. Go to this site to read about your rights under CO law

Oops...am looking for a better link for you....sorry

[Whoa_Nelly]

9. CO doesn't offer much online

http://www.dola.state.co.us/cdh/landlords/index.htm

Here in CA, there's a many-paged .pdf booklet online. And here, as stated in the CO law, a lease is a lock-in that prevents the landlord from abusing your rights of residence use and habitation. In CA, should a landlord sell, the new owner must keep to the terms of the assumed lease, cannot bring about a new lease untill the end of the old one.

Were I you, I would contact the local fair housing department in your area. You may get the answers you seek, and possibly what you need should you go at this without an attorney and take the owner to small claims instead to retrive whatever is owed to you should you have to vacate.

Good luck! :hi:

[yorgatron]

10. NOLO Press has a book about this,maybe your local library has a copy.

http://www.nolo.com/resource.cfm/catID/31250834-6A2E-4970-9EDD4DAF221A0C7E/104/138/

speaking from my own personal experience,this is WAR,and you need to treat it like that.
don't put your stuff in storage until AFTER you've exhausted all the legal resources.
i don't know anything about Colorado law,but here in Cali it would take at least 2 months before they could have Sheriff"s Dept. throw your stuff on the sidewalk.
let me know if i can help doing research etc. and maybe you should post this on that OTHER website we hang out in? :shrug:

[uncle ray]

11. hi yorgatron!

yes, i am treating it as WAR! but being as civil as i can, i was actually on the other side of a similar situation several years back, but it was out of my control, so i understand what it's like to be the other person too. i plan on using all the time i can, but it's a juggling act to coordinate it all without too much additional expense on my part. i may be able to force them to pay my moving expenses, they won't like that one bit!:evilgrin:

i'm sure you understand one of the biggest factors is just not knowing what's next. i'd rather be wrenching on stuff than worrying about finding a place for it all of a sudden. it's just too bad i have no desire to own a house in this town. it's an right-wing evangelical military town with an inflated home market, what's not to love?

i figured i could find more legal knowledge here than the other place, that's why i came here. i'll probably post it over there when i'm gonna unload all my crap cheap! but that ain't gonna happen.

[Kali]

12. IF the rules mentioned for CA are similar and you are entitled

to stay for your lease you would be doing them a HUGE favor by vacating. Make sure you are WELL compensated.