Tenants in situ and sale of property

Grolschevik

There's a really interesting thread going on in Accommodation & Property that touches on -- but crucially is short on good, definitive answers -- the broad issues of:

• Tenants' rights,
• The status of leases (part 4 or not?),
• Transfer of lease upon sale of property,
• Landlord's obligations to a tenant in a sale of property situation,
• Landlord (as vendor) obligations to purchaser in situation whrere the buyer wasn't aware of tenants in situ,
• Purchaser's obligations to tenants in same situation

This is the thread, for information.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056409528
(worth a read, but the in-fighting and/or disinformation may make your blood boil).

This thread here should be an "inspired by" thread. Obviously, specific advice about the circumstances of the participants in the linked thread is a no-no. But there are a few issues that appear to be confused in the minds of the general public that I think should get a more detailed treatment, including:

1) Can a landlord sell a property without notifying the tenants or the buyer that tenants are in situ?
2) What's the status of the lease? When does a lease become a part 4 tenancy? What if the lease has a clause saying something like "in the event that another lease isn't signed, the terms of this lease will be assumed to apply on a year-to year basis"?
3) Actually, clarity on the whole periodic, part 4, fixed-term lease thing would be good.
4) What are the relevant notice periods?
5) Who to appeal to? PRTB?
6) And any of the claims made in the thread linked to!

odds_on

I am not a legal bod but here is my experienced opinion:

1) Can a landlord sell a property without notifying the tenants or the buyer that tenants are in situ?

Yes; the landlord does not have to inform the tenant he is selling the property. The buyer should be informed (or a good solicitor should find out that there is a tenant in situ). However, the landlord may find it impossible to have viewings without the tenant's approval - the tenant is not obliged to let anyone into the dwelling without their express permission and at an agreed time. Thus, a buyer would find it virtually impossible to view the property and what intelligent buyer would buy without at least one viewing - not to mention having the property surveyed?

2) What's the status of the lease? When does a lease become a part 4 tenancy?

If the lease is a Fixed term lease, it must run until its expiry date (unless this is changed by mutual agreement between the landlord and tenant. A Part 4 tenancy agreement commences after 6 months of continuous occupation by the tenant (subject to limitations). However if the initial Term of a fixed Term lease is more than 6 months, the two leases run concurrently, until the fixed term expires. On expiration of a fixed term lease, if no new fixed term lease is signed, the tenancy becomes a Part 4 tenancy automatically. However, if the tenant has not informed the landlord (between 3 months and 1 month prior to the expiry of the Fixed Term) that he wishes to avail of a Part 4 tenancy, the tenant may be liable for any expenses incurred by the landlord who may have advertized the property.

What if the lease has a clause saying something like "in the event that another lease isn't signed, the terms of this lease will be assumed to apply on a year-to year basis"?

I do not believe that this is legally binding as it is taking away the rights of the tenant.

3) Actually, clarity on the whole periodic, part 4, fixed-term lease thing would be good.

Briefly (and very briefly at that!)
A Periodic lease runs from period of payment to next period of payment (Usually from month to month). A Periodic lease may be verbal or written. Unwritten Periodic leases have all the rights and obligations of a Part 4 agreement plus any other legal clauses which may have been agreed. Furthermore, a when a Part 4 agreement has been assigned, the new tenant's agreement is initially a Periodic agreement until he has been in occupation for 6 months.
A Fixed term agreement last for a fixed time - usually 12 months, but may be shorter or longer. Basically, there is little scope for either landlord or tenant to exit the agreement before its expiry date, should either wish to do so.
A Part 4 agreement is usually acquired at the end of a fixed term agreement, but an agreement may start as a Part 4. A part 4 agreement is not as secure as a Fixed term agreement in that the landlord has a number of options available should he wish to remove the tenants from the property. However, if a tenant wishes to stay for a period longer than 12 months, but is unsure as to how much longer, a Part 4 tenancy may be the better option as the tenant may give notice of the require time at any point during the tenancy and leave, unlike a fixed term lease.

4) What are the relevant notice periods?

Notice periods vary for different types of leases:
With Periodic lease the notice period is usually a rent period (usually a month)
With a fixed term lease, there is no notice period (unless there is a break clause in the lease) because under normal circumstances a Fixed Term lease cannot be broken. Exceptions to this are breaches of obligations by either party and usually 28 days notice is required though shorter periods may be used in the cases of Serious anti-social behaviour and threats to other tenants in the property where 7 days' notice is the norm.
Part 4 leases require notice periods depending on the tenant's length of continuous occupation, start at a minimum of 28 days except for serious anti-social behaviour which may be as short as 7 days.

5) Who to appeal to? PRTB?

Appeals and/or claims can only be made to the PRTB, which has taken over the work of the Irish courts system.

6) And any of the claims made in the thread linked to!

Most of the above information is available in the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 which may be downloaded (pdf format) from the PRTB website.

Both the Citizens Advice and Threshold websites have further information on Periodic tenancies etc. However, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between whether they are referring to Periodic, Fixed term or Part 4 leases. This causes much of the confusion that is found on sites like boards.ie, where posters refer to Part 4 information when the OP is referring to a Fixed Term agreement.