House Sold!?

crrazytock

Myself and the fella moved in on the 6th of October, the house was put up for sale and we have been informed that it has now been sold... What on earth happens now?

I presume our lease is voided, or will be once the sale goes through (which our estate agent isn't being very helpful about letting us know WHEN) - I have a previous thread on my moment of panic due to said sale and said unhelpful estate agent :rolleyes:

Anywho, our rent is due again on the 6th of next month EUR550. We have arranged a bunch of viewings over the next couple of days and I want to know whether we can actually move out before the rent is due again, the extra 550 would be nice to put towards a new deposit! Also where do we stand on getting our previous deposit back? Typical nothing goes straight forward for me first time round all this but hey, what can ya do!

Any info at all would be great!

nibtrix

Do you have a fixed-term lease? If so, they can't force you to leave. They can sell the house with you as a sitting tenant, or alternatively they can ask you to leave. You're entitled to say no, or to ask for compensation (maybe one month rent free while you look for a new place etc).

If you don't have a fixed term lease they can ask you to leave, but the good news is that you've been there over six months and have acquired part 4 tenancy status. There is a minimum amount of notice they must give you - 35 days at the moment.

They have no reason to withold your deposit unless you have caused damage above and beyond normal wear and tear.

EDITED TO ADD: Just looked at your previous thread, looks like you have a fixed-term lease. They CAN NOT force you to leave. You need to contact the landlord/letting agent and tell them that you will not be moving out until the end of your lease unless they are willing to compensate you for the inconvenience. It's up to you to agree reasonable compensation, as I mentioned earlier I would ask for at least one month free while you find new accommodation etc.

fasttalkerchat

If I was you I would stay there and pay nothing more. Get in contact with the estate agent on the day rent is due and ask who you should pay rent to from now on. Get the old deposit transferred over to the new owner and a new contract made out. Then resume paying rent to the new owner.

If the new owner won't agree to let the house to you or wants to move in themselves your rights depend on nibtrix's post.

crrazytock

Yep fixed term 1 year lease.. but we are being told that we will have to sign a new lease with the new landlords if we want to keep living here. Thing is, previous landlord had no problem with us getting a dog at some point (which we started to look into a couple weeks before house was sold) New landlords say they don't want ANY pets or smokers in the house (we don't smoke so not sure where that came up :rolleyes: )

So now we actually WANT to leave because the not ever being able to have any animal what-so-ever here is not something that sits well with me.. Have had a pet since I was born and miss my 2 retrievers something awful!

Can we actually move out now that the house has sold or do we have to wait until the entire process has gone through..? We have no idea when that might be and don't want to miss out on any property we view/decide we would like to move into!

fasttalkerchat

crrazytock wrote: »

Yep fixed term 1 year lease.. but we are being told that we will have to sign a new lease with the new landlords if we want to keep living here. Thing is, previous landlord had no problem with us getting a dog at some point (which we started to look into a couple weeks before house was sold) New landlords say they don't want ANY pets or smokers in the house (we don't smoke so not sure where that came up :rolleyes: )

So now we actually WANT to leave because the not ever being able to have any animal what-so-ever here is not something that sits well with me.. Have had a pet since I was born and miss my 2 retrievers something awful!

Can we actually move out now that the house has sold or do we have to wait until the entire process has gone through..? We have no idea when that might be and don't want to miss out on any property we view/decide we would like to move into!

Tell them that your "brother's" dog stays for a few days every few weeks when he's travelling and that you are thinking on getting a dog yourself. You took all this into consideration when looking for a house and you want the new contract to allow for this.

I don't know if you are legally entitled to it because the previous contract won't have said that you CAN have a dog just that there was nothing against it.

nibtrix

crrazytock wrote: »

So now we actually WANT to leave because the not ever being able to have any animal what-so-ever here is not something that sits well with me.. Have had a pet since I was born and miss my 2 retrievers something awful!

Can we actually move out now that the house has sold or do we have to wait until the entire process has gone through..? We have no idea when that might be and don't want to miss out on any property we view/decide we would like to move into!

Does your current lease say you can have pets? If so you can continue your lease with the new owner, they can't force you to sign a new, different lease.

If you want to move out then you're better off doing so, sounds like it'll be too much hassle. Have you asked whether they'll allow you to move out with little or no notice, without penalty?

djimi

If you are in a fixed term lease and it does not say anything about you being asked to leave when the house is sold then your lease is still valid for the duration of the fixed term, and there is absolutely nothing the new owners can do about it. They bought the house with you as a sitting tenant and the lease that you signed with the previous owner is still valid in its entirely until it expires. They cannot change the terms until it comes time to sign a new lease.

In short tell the new owners to take it up with the person they bought the house from, and if they start making any sort of demands of you to change any aspect of the lease that you signed then you will report them.

fasttalkerchat

djimi wrote: »

In short tell the new owners to take it up with the person they bought the house from, and if they start making any sort of demands of you to change any aspect of the lease that you signed then you will report them.

What if they don't allow pets? That wouldn't be changing anything written in the lease.

El Weirdo

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

What if they don't allow pets? That wouldn't be changing anything written in the lease.

I presume if that wasn't stipulated in the original lease, then there's not much they can do about it, tbh. They can't just make up new rules. The original lease stands as it was the day you and your previous landlord signed it.

It's not your fault if they bought a house and didn't look into the laws regarding sitting tenants and fixed-term leases.

Good luck.

djimi

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

What if they don't allow pets? That wouldn't be changing anything written in the lease.

Tough luck to them. They are not in a position to change any arrangement/rule that you had in place (or didnt have as the case may be) with the original landlord. If they were stupid enough to buy a house with a sitting tenant and not understand what that means then its their own problem; they had better get used to the fact that for the duration of the fixed term lease they have no say over the house beyond what was signed in the original lease.

Tigger

djimi wrote: »

Tough luck to them. They are not in a position to change any arrangement/rule that you had in place (or didnt have as the case may be) with the original landlord. If they were stupid enough to buy a house with a sitting tenant and not understand what that means then its their own problem; they had better get used to the fact that for the duration of the fixed term lease they have no say over the house beyond what was signed in the original lease.

get a really big dog
i was playing with a st bernard yesterday, lovley temperment and really cuddley

The_Conductor

Guys, less of the antagonistic suggestions please.
OP- whatever is in writing stands. Whatever was said in passing- is hearsay. If the previous owner only said it in passing, and it is not expressly provided for in the lease- sorry, no can do.

With respect of moving elsewhere and expecting to keep pets- there are very few properties that do allow people keep pets. The lions share of property built over the past 20 years is leasehold property- with a no-pets rule normally stipulated in the lease- the owner of the property has no say over this- its a simple fact of life. If you are moving and do intend to get a pet at some stage in the future- you need to make this expressly clear from the outset- and get permission in writing as a clause in your lease- not a muttered comment from the owner about he or she not having anything fundamentally against animals.

fasttalkerchat

smccarrick wrote: »

Guys, less of the antagonistic suggestions please.
OP- whatever is in writing stands. Whatever was said in passing- is hearsay. If the previous owner only said it in passing, and it is not expressly provided for in the lease- sorry, no can do.

Would this still be the case if he already had a dog?

The_Conductor

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Would this still be the case if he already had a dog?

If his original lease allows it- fine, if it doesn't- he is in breach of his lease.

fasttalkerchat

smccarrick wrote: »

If his original lease allows it- fine, if it doesn't- he is in breach of his lease.

By allowing it do you mean "the tenant may have pets" or would no mention of pets be deemed allowing it?

The_Conductor

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

By allowing it do you mean "the tenant may have pets" or would no mention of pets be deemed allowing it?

Unless it expressly allows them in the lease, a tenant would need written permission from the landlord stating that it is allowed. If the property is a leasehold property- you can automatically assume that regardless of what is in the lease or permission of the landlord- that the Managment Company rules will prohibit all but a small shortlist of possible pets (e.g. fish, vivarians etc).

It is highly unusual to be allowed keep pets- I don't think people quite 'get' this.

fasttalkerchat

smccarrick wrote: »

Unless it expressly allows them in the lease, a tenant would need written permission from the landlord stating that it is allowed. If the property is a leasehold property- you can automatically assume that regardless of what is in the lease or permission of the landlord- that the Managment Company rules will prohibit all but a small shortlist of possible pets (e.g. fish, vivarians etc).

It is highly unusual to be allowed keep pets- I don't think people quite 'get' this.

I was surprised myself. I assumed that landlords would care more about the condition of the house and not how it got that way. They would be more concerned with how you clean up after the dog than having a dog. Obviously a block of flats is different.

The_Conductor

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

I was surprised myself. I assumed that landlords would care more about the condition of the house and not how it got that way. They would be more concerned with how you clean up after the dog than having a dog. Obviously a block of flats is different.

In an apartment / flats / duplexes / townhouses etc where you are sharing living space with others- you and your comforts (pets etc) have to be viewed in terms of the communal good of all. Leasehold property tends to be this way (leasehold property can also include regular stand-alone housing- so this is by no means definitive).

A landlord should endeavour to nail anything like this in a lease- and if a letting is subject to rules such as 'Any conditions a management company may impose- or are present in the terms of memorandum or lease' they should either be specified explicitly in the tenants lease- or if a question comes up- the landlord goes off, does his or her research and comes back in writing with a definitive yay or nay- and the tenant makes no presumptions until they have a 100% definite answer one way or the other.

Pets are a big deal for lots of people. A clean and tidy tenant who looks after their dog- will still have scratched furniture and walls/doors etc- alongside dog hair in the most unimagineable places. Its nothing against the tenant or their dog- its a fact of life. The next door neighbour may also be allergic to them- and end up a prisoner in their own dwelling- you never know.

When my next door neighbour decided to start holding barbeques every evening when he lost his job- I was locked in my house (I'm allergic to beef- even the smell of it can trigger an attack). You simply never know.

If you have any queries at all- you need to get them nailed down in writing. If you don't- you need to make a working assumption that something *is not* allowed. Pets are very often a contentious issue- you *need* to confirm in advance whether they are allowed- and if so, what rules are attached- and get it in writing.

robd

crrazytock wrote: »

Yep fixed term 1 year lease.. but we are being told that we will have to sign a new lease with the new landlords if we want to keep living here. Thing is, previous landlord had no problem with us getting a dog at some point (which we started to look into a couple weeks before house was sold) New landlords say they don't want ANY pets or smokers in the house (we don't smoke so not sure where that came up :rolleyes: )

That's simply lies by the EA (at least I guess it's the EA said it). If you have a fixed term lease the house is sold with you in situ and the other lease is valid. Once the lease is up standard Tenancy Act applies. You never have to sign a lease again if you do not want to.

EA's (or any sales type person) in general are very good at telling you things to suit their situation in an authoritative way. Always take what they say with a pinch of salt.

djimi

smccarrick wrote: »

If you have any queries at all- you need to get them nailed down in writing. If you don't- you need to make a working assumption that something *is not* allowed. Pets are very often a contentious issue- you *need* to confirm in advance whether they are allowed- and if so, what rules are attached- and get it in writing.

Surely it would work the other way; when it comes to something like pets or smoking in the apartment then if its not in the lease in writing to say that its forbidden then its fair game to assume that it is allowed? Its not up to a tenant to know what agreeement the landlord has signed to say what they can or cannot do in the apartment, and if the landlord is forbidden from doing something then surely its up to them to get that across to their tenant in writing in the lease, or else any consequences that might arise from the rule being broken fall on the landlord, not the tenant?

Any lease that I have signed has expressely forbidden smoking and owning certain types of pets. However, as a tenant, if the lease did not contain such a clause and I wanted to get a pet for example, I would check with the landlord first, and if they say its okay then I would take that as being enough. There is nothing in writing for them to go back to that says that they forbid pets, so they dont have much of a case as far as I can see it.

Newaglish

I would have thought that unless strictly forbidden in the lease or management company rules, the tenants would be allowed to have pets and to smoke in the rented property? The only consideration then would be if the pet was likely to cause damage that would impact on the recoverability of the deposit.

seamus

djimi wrote: »

Surely it would work the other way; when it comes to something like pets or smoking in the apartment then if its not in the lease in writing to say that its forbidden then its fair game to assume that it is allowed?

Correct.
Any lawful activity, including smoking and the keeping of pets, is permitted unless the lease expressly says otherwise.

Any new "rules" are a change in the terms of the lease and do not have to be accepted by the tenant.