Hey guys I'm looking for a little help. Here's the situation.

I am renting a house that the owners are trying to sell (although not very hard) and they have somebody that is interested. The guy looking at it wants to buy it to rent it out anyway but so far he is just looking. My lease ends in 2 months and he has said he wants to keep renting to me if he buys it but that I should sign a lease with the current owners. The owners have said they want to rent to me if he doesn't buy it but have been hesitant to sign a lease because they don't know if it will be sold. What I'm beginning to worry is that the current owners are lying and don't want to sign a lease unless they can't sell it by August in case the guy doesn't buy it but somebody else does who doesn't want to rent it or some other course of events which would screw me over occurs.

What I'm wondering is if there is any requirement at all that they allow me to set up a lease in a certain amount of time or if I am just going to have to give up and assume I'm moving out. I like the house and really don't want to move but I also don't want it to come down to August and all of the sudden not have a place to live because they've been telling me I can continue to rent. Particularly since I live in a college town and have dogs. Two things which make it really hard to find a decent place after April/May since most places have already filled up for the next year. Anyhow, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

-Andrew

i believe once your lease is up its no longer their problem, if i were you id definitely keep my options open. did you do a first and last months rent down payment? that woul buy you 30 days to look.

it is easier to sell an income property if it is occupied, so i think you are ok. this happened to me once and the new owners bounced me straight off. keep in touch with the new owner.

Hey guys I'm looking for a little help. Here's the situation.

I am renting a house that the owners are trying to sell (although not very hard) and they have somebody that is interested. The guy looking at it wants to buy it to rent it out anyway but so far he is just looking. My lease ends in 2 months and he has said he wants to keep renting to me if he buys it but that I should sign a lease with the current owners. The owners have said they want to rent to me if he doesn't buy it but have been hesitant to sign a lease because they don't know if it will be sold. What I'm beginning to worry is that the current owners are lying and don't want to sign a lease unless they can't sell it by August in case the guy doesn't buy it but somebody else does who doesn't want to rent it or some other course of events which would screw me over occurs.

What I'm wondering is if there is any requirement at all that they allow me to set up a lease in a certain amount of time or if I am just going to have to give up and assume I'm moving out. I like the house and really don't want to move but I also don't want it to come down to August and all of the sudden not have a place to live because they've been telling me I can continue to rent. Particularly since I live in a college town and have dogs. Two things which make it really hard to find a decent place after April/May since most places have already filled up for the next year. Anyhow, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

-Andrew

Ask them to set you up with a month by month lease. That's what I would do anyway.

If you like the house and the owners are looking to sell it, you should explore the possibility of buying it yourself. :deal

How about signing a lease with a clause that states "if the house is sold to this other guy your lease transfers with the sale of the house to the new owner." And have him sign it too. :shrug

the sellers are trying to have their cake and eat it too. they are marketing the house with a tenant (you), which, as someone said, is attractive to any potential investor since the new buyer won't have to go out and find a new tenant and will start getting rent immediately after the sale. but, on the off chance they find a buyer who doesn't want a tenant, your lease is up in August, so they easily could have you out by the time a closing with that buyer occurred.

a month to month tenancy after your current lease expires is probably what you do NOT want - 30 days notice from the owner and poof - you need to find a new place to live, plus you have dogs, not easy to find a new place that quickly. i think you are looking for a little bit more stability than that, correct?

what you need to do is talk to the current owner(s) and explain your situation. tell them if you do not have a lease extension in place after August (how long of an extension is probably negotiable, what are you looking for?), that includes a clause that the lease is binding on a new owner, you are going to have to protect yourself and assume that August will be your last month (and i think you do have to make that assumption at this point). that is about all the leverage you have right now on the current owner. if owner says no, there is your answer and start looking for another place now, at least you have 90 days to try and find a new place instead of 30 days. if you can't find a place, after August if the house is not sold, in most states the lease automatically reverts to a month to month tenancy, meaning either party can terminate the lease on 30 days' notice.

after talking to you, the owner will then have to make a decision - risk losing you in August if he does not extend the lease - and if house is not sold by then, he stops getting rent. and he cannot market the house to an investor showing a current tenant. that is probably alot of risk for him. you probably will have more luck asking for a shorter extension than a longer one (say, 6 months instead of another year). good luck.

Buying it isn't really feasible. I'm only planning on being here for another year or at most 2. If I buy a house I'm looking at staying for at least 5 or so just to get some equity. I'm actually reaching the point that if I can't get a lease soon I might just say screw it and start selling my crap and looking for a job elsewhere. But then it is 3 months to find a job AND house somewhere else.

The sellers trying to have their cake and eat it too is exactly what I have been thinking. They (and the buyer for that matter) are thinking about it as a business transaction, rather than somebody's (my) home. I sent them an email at the end of last week saying that I need to have a new lease in the next week or two or I'm going to assume I need to find a new place to live. I haven't heard back from them so if I haven't heard back by tonight I'll call them and see if they got it. Then I can also tell them what the buyer said. Hell, maybe the next time I talk to the buyer I should tell him if I don't sign a lease then I'm going to leave. Then maybe he'll light a fire under the owner's asses that he won't pay as much if I leave. I hate having to deal with things this way. I much rather just deal straight on with people but if they are going to try and dick around with me I guess I'm going to have to become an asshole about it and use what little leverage I have. Anyhow, thanks for the tips and sorry for the ranting...

the sellers are trying to have their cake and eat it too. they are marketing the house with a tenant (you), which, as someone said, is attractive to any potential investor since the new buyer won't have to go out and find a new tenant and will start getting rent immediately after the sale. but, on the off chance they find a buyer who doesn't want a tenant, your lease is up in August, so they easily could have you out by the time a closing with that buyer occurred.

a month to month tenancy after your current lease expires is probably what you do NOT want - 30 days notice from the owner and poof - you need to find a new place to live, plus you have dogs, not easy to find a new place that quickly. i think you are looking for a little bit more stability than that, correct?

what you need to do is talk to the current owner(s) and explain your situation. tell them if you do not have a lease extension in place after August (how long of an extension is probably negotiable, what are you looking for?), that includes a clause that the lease is binding on a new owner, you are going to have to protect yourself and assume that August will be your last month (and i think you do have to make that assumption at this point). that is about all the leverage you have right now on the current owner. if owner says no, there is your answer and start looking for another place now, at least you have 90 days to try and find a new place instead of 30 days. if you can't find a place, after August if the house is not sold, in most states the lease automatically reverts to a month to month tenancy, meaning either party can terminate the lease on 30 days' notice.

after talking to you, the owner will then have to make a decision - risk losing you in August if he does not extend the lease - and if house is not sold by then, he stops getting rent. and he cannot market the house to an investor showing a current tenant. that is probably alot of risk for him. you probably will have more luck asking for a shorter extension than a longer one (say, 6 months instead of another year). good luck.

EXACTLY what he said.

Well I emailed them again and explained that I was going to start looking at buying or renting something else if I didn't hear back from them. They sent me an email yesterday saying they want to sign a lease, that they were just busy with their son's wedding and apologized for not getting back sooner. So basically worrying for nothing. I'm just too use to landlords trying to screw me over on top of taking all my money.

Anyhow, thanks for the help.