Landlord selling

Bacchus

First. AGGHHHHH!
Just found out (through our agent) that the landlord is selling the apartment we are renting and wants us out. We've been living there (3 of us) for 9 months now so legally we have 5 weeks notice. This sucks because I'm currently writing up my phd and will be leaving the area by the end of the year. Now I have to move out and find somewhere decent that's happy with me only being around for a few more months. This is just such a headache right now.

Also, there's an appraiser supposed to be calling around next week. We all work during the day. I'm not a big fan of randomers walking into my home while I'm not there. Do we have any say in this? What about viewings?? Do we have to accommodate the sale of the apartment while we're still living there?

Victor

Your home is your castle. Visitors by appointment only please. If the landlord wants flexilibity, he needs to give you flexibility.

Do you have a minimum period on your lease?

Glenbhoy

As it's highly unlikely that he'll sell anything in the current climate (even less so an apartment) and viewers aren't going to be knocking down your door in a rush to view, I suggest you take Victor's advice and expand a little. Suggest to the landlord that you'll be happy to move as soon as he's found a buyer and that in the meantime you'll be happy to accommodate viewings with say 24hrs notice but maybe at a reduced rent (that's being cheeky, but....).

Afuera

First of all you need to check that your landlord is keeping to the terms of the lease. If you have a fixed term lease without any breakout clauses, it's quite possible that you won't have to move out until the lease is up.
Any calls to inspect your home need to be made by appointment and you are allowed make sure they are set at times that are convenient to you.

Glenbhoy

Afuera wrote: »

First of all you need to check that your landlord is keeping to the terms of the lease. If you have a fixed term lease without any breakout clauses, it's quite possible that you won't have to move out until the lease is up.
Any calls to inspect your home need to be made by appointment and you are allowed make sure they are set at times that are convenient to you.

OP have a look at this old thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055093488

Teddi

The very same thing happened to me...unfortuntantly he has you by the short and curleys..

If he wants to sell what is rightfully his..you dont have much say it in.....getting some time to find a new place is your right though..

Being able to stay until the end of your lease unfortunatantly wouldnt be an option ( I had to look into this as it was also my situation)...

The minimum he can give is 2 weeks....

I know it sucks...I had to find a place pretty quickly also... :rolleyes:

useruser

Teddi wrote: »

The very same thing happened to me...unfortuntantly he has you by the short and curleys..
If he wants to sell what is rightfully his..you dont have much say it in.....getting some time to find a new place is your right though..
Being able to stay until the end of your lease unfortunatantly wouldnt be an option ( I had to look into this as it was also my situation)...
The minimum he can give is 2 weeks....
I know it sucks...I had to find a place pretty quickly also... :rolleyes:

WRONG!

OP, you have some strong protection in law (PRTB). First, check your lease: if it has no clause covering sale then the landlord must sell with you as sitting tenant or come to some agreement with you to leave before sale(i.e. buy you out).

Secondly, the minimum notice is most certainly not 2 weeks, it will depend on the length of your current tenancy but will not be less than a month.

Thirdly, talk to Threshold (www.threshold.ie) if you have any questions, the Irish landlord no longer holds all the cards (just most of them).

dudara

Know your rights in this situation. The landlord is entitled to sell, but he has to show his tenants due consideration. Make sure to read your contract carefully. You are in charge of access to your flats and all visits must be arranged in advance.

Bacchus

Hey,
Thanks all for the replies. Unfortunately we only had a 6 month lease. At the time it was a good thing (a search through the archives for a post I made about the problems with the apartment when we moved in should explain that :-) ). In a nutshell, the apartment needed work done when we moved in, we spent the first month living there while it was going on so we were happy with the 6 month lease in case things went pear shaped and we wanted a quick exit. In the end, we're happy to stay here and it's backfired somewhat . It's now obvious the owner always intended on selling and was just looking for tenants to fill the void until he did.

That's neither here nor there though. The fact is, we're out. We have our notice and we just have to move on.

useruser: Interesting point. I must have a read through the lease later and see. No good though anyway as it was only a 6 month lease though.

Glenbhoy: Good point, we shouldn't have much hassle with viewers so it may not be a problem. The apartments not even going on the market for another week so hopefully we'll be out of there soon.

Thanks for the advice Afuera and Victor. I'll make sure that any appointment is on our terms when it suits us.

One other question. We now have 5 weeks notice and have paid up to the 10th July. If we move out early, say next week, are we entitled to rent back or not? I would normally think "no" but considering we're the ones been told to leave does that mean we are?

seamus

useruser wrote: »

OP, you have some strong protection in law (PRTB). First, check your lease: if it has no clause covering sale then the landlord must sell with you as sitting tenant or come to some agreement with you to leave before sale(i.e. buy you out).

Not strictly true. If the lease says nothing about sale of the property, then the minimum notice applies. The landlord is permitted to terminate a part 4 tenancy if they intend to sell the property.

useruser

seamus wrote: »

Not strictly true. If the lease says nothing about sale of the property, then the minimum notice applies. The landlord is permitted to terminate a part 4 tenancy if they intend to sell the property.

This seems to come up quite regularly. If you have a fixed term lease with no break clause to cover sale of the property then the landlord cannot serve notice until the lease expires. The Part 4 rules apply when there is no fixed term lease in place.