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our landlord is selling our apartment and we want to move out
The apartment we rent is now up for sale. We have lived there for 4 years (we originally had a 3 year lease and didn't sign anything new after that). We started looking at places out of curiosity and lo and behold, found a much nicer apartment to rent. I assumed we would need to give 3 months notice but the real estate agent at the new place said that is not necessary if our apartment is for sale. We have a good relationship with our landlord and I will talk to him asap, but I just wanted to know our rights first. Anybody had this experience?
I'm trying to wade through the forum on pim.be but can't seem to find the answer to this question.
Thank you!
You 3-year lease has been automatically converted to a 9-year lease.
The real estate agent is plainly wrong. Regardless of whether the apartment is being sold or not, you have a valid lease and if you want to move, you have to give a standard notice of three full calendar months (so if you give notice today the notice period starts on 1 November.
If and when the apartment gets sold, it is up to the new owner to give you notice (with a notice period of six months minimum) to vacate the apartment IF he wants to move in himself (or if he wants to move in a member of his family). But if he has bought the apartment as an investment, your current lease will continue as is, and is binding both to you and the new owner.
Having said that, it is possible that your current owner is happy to let you leave early (an empty apartment sometimes being easier to sell than one that has tenants). Worth asking him asap.
Also, the notice period only applies if your lease has been registered. If not, you can leave at any time without giving any notice. So worth checking that too.
We had a similar situation - our building was sold in April, and we signed nothing with the new owner.
We found a new apartment and decided to try giving 2 months notice, which they accepted (well, fingers crossed, we are handing back the keys today and signing the forms for getting our deposit back!)
We had a similar situation - our building was sold in April, and we signed nothing with the new owner.
We found a new apartment and decided to try giving 2 months notice, which they accepted (well, fingers crossed, we are handing back the keys today and signing the forms for getting our deposit back!)
The only benefit that you get is that if you leave after the sale is agreed then you can not be responsible for the damage to the apartment at the point that the deal is signed. Buyer always buys as seen so no retention of deposit.
"real estate agent at the new place said that is not necessary if our apartment is for sale"
of course the estate agent is saying that. They want one month rent/fee from the owner of the new place you saw. the sooner they get it the better for them.
in practice you have to give 3 months notice to your old landlord and since he is selling the property I am pretty sure he want to cash in until the last possible day.
Note that to finalize a sale it takes around 3/4 months then only at this stage the new owner has to give you 6 months notice at the condition that he has to do works or move in himself or very close family (check at notaire website for the correct info). So you could in theory stay for another 9/10 months without problems.
was your lease registered?? If not then you can leave when you want. If not then I agree with the 1st poster. Good luck
sorry I meant to say: If it was, then I agree with the 1st poster. Also, if you do end up taking the new apartment, clearly you must NOT trust the agent. She is full of **** and is trying to get you to sign by no matter what means. And if she really doesn't know whats going on then she's useless so watch whatever you agree to or sign. Good luck again!
