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I came home from work to find a "For Sale sign in my front yard. What do I do?

We've been renting our home for 2.5 years from a property management company. The home is owned by a woman I have only met once. Today, with no notice from the owner or property management company, there is a "For Sale" sign in my front yard. It was after 5pm when I saw the sign, so there was no way to contact the property management company. Obviously, I'm completely shocked. We still have 6 months on our lease. This isn't the first time the owner has done something crazy without telling us. She had our roof redone without telling us and didn't bother to get any permits, so we lived in a home with no roof for 4 days while that mess got sorted out. She refinanced our home as owner-occupied 6 months after we moved in. (I took down all our family pictures and took a full day off of work to accommodate her.) Right now, I just want to cry. Legally, what are my options? Just talked to the property manager, who tells me it looks like she's trying to short-sell the home to avoid a foreclosure. He made it sound like she's already received a notice of default. He also said she wants to give me 60-days notice. With our leave being through June '08, do I have to accept her 60-days?

Public Comments

stop paying rent
If the landlord sells the house while you are covered by the lease, the new buyer will step into her place as your landlord. You are not going to be kicked out unless you break one of the conditions in the lease or unless you agree to leave. A landlord is not generally entitled to break a lease to sell a property unless the lease includes a provision explicitly allowing her to do so. Sometimes, a tenant in such a situation can choose to have the landlord pay for relocation and/or have the landlord provide a financial inducement to move. The landlord does generally have certain rights related to being able to enter the property to show it to prospective purchasers and brokers, which can occasionally make living in the premises uncomfortable.
Now is an excellent time to buy real estate. It is a buyer's market in most parts of the country. If you like the property where you are living you might consider making your landlord an offer on the property. I recommend that you get preapproved for a mortgage by your credit union if you are a member of one or your bank where you have your checking and savings accounts. If you decide to purchase the property I recommend that you hire your own real estate appraiser to determine the true fair market value of the property. Your appraiser should be a Member of The Appraisal Institute. (MAI designation). Make your offer equal to the fair market value less the 3% that your landlord would have to pay to a real estate agent or REALTOR. Or if you prefer, make your offer contingent upon the appraised value by your appraiser, not the lender or what the listing agent says it is. Do not forget to also deduct the 3% that you are saving your landlord by not using a real estate agent. Hire an attorney to write the language of your offer. Your atorney will protect your interests much better than a real estate agent. Have your attorney also make the contract contingent upon inspection reports of the roof, the structure, the plumbing, heating and electrical system and the foundation. Also, you should have a termite report and and inspection for water damage and dry rot. Get estimates for the cost of the recommended repairs and deduct that also from the contract price. With respect to the roof, I would also include language in your contract that all work that requires permits must have permits.. This will force your landlord to make the contractor who did the work to get a permit for that roof since the contractor failed to get a permit. In most jurisdictions the contractor has to do whatever is nedessary to get the permit at no additional cost to the property owner, even if that means installing a new roof at the contractor's expense. You will get your own home at fair market value if you follow this procedure. If you decide that you are not ready to buy a house, the new owner cannot break your lease. They must buy subject to your lease. The only exception to this is if your landlord is in financial difficulty (which I suspect may be the case because of the recent refinance followed by listing the property for sale with no notice to you). If the property is foreclosed by the lender and sold at a trustee sale, then the new owner who buys the property can break the lease. If the lender buys the property back at the trustee sale the bank can break your lease. If that happens, I recommend that you be ready to make an offer to the bank to buy the property from the bank. With respect to showing the property, you must be given at least 24 hour notice to show the property to prospective buyers. I would object to the owner or listing agent placing a lockbox on the property. That just invites real estate agents and REALTORS to break the rules and enter your property without notice. (In my experience, real estate agents and REALTORS are notorious for breaking the rules) If the owner or listing agent tries to place a lockbox on the property I would have your attorney contact them and tell them that they cannot do that. That the property is to be shown by appointment only and with proper notice. In your jurisdiction I suspect that you can probably legally prevent the listing agent from putting a lockbox on the property. I would also request that you not be required to show the property at all until there is an accepted offer. The agents can make offers subject to inspection. That is one possibility that I recommend that you discuss with yuor attorney.
If you have a standard contract then the situation can work for you, rather than against you. It the very least you will have the 6 month lease, but if the home is sold the new owner has to keep you with the lease unless you break some of the rules. If the new owner is motivated to see you leave, offer then a deal, say 3 or so months of rent for you to move out. Helping pay for the move and some free rent money as well.
It's legally none of your business if the landlord decides to sell and they are under no obligation to inform you. Your lease survives the sale and should not affect you at all until your lease expires in 6 months.
Well let's see. First off, any potential buyer cannot evict you just because they bought the property. Your lease supercedes the sale of the property. So rest assured, you probably have 6 months left in the home. Unless the owner has defaulted on the loan and foreclosure proceedings have begun. But even so, in most states, it will take more than 6 months to get that sorted out. As for her refinancing the home on an owner-occupied loan, that's loan fraud, and she may have gotten caught with that. But that's not your problem unless the foreclosure process has been going on for a while. As for Mike's advice - he's correct on some points, but WAY off base on others. It is a great time to buy, if you're ready to do so. Don't let anyone pressure you into buying until you are ready and are able to do so. There's no reason to buy a home unless you can continue to pay for it. As for a lockbox on the home, there's no reason for you to refuse this. It makes it easier for showings to occur on the home. You do have protections, by law, as to when showings can occur and how much notice you must be given. Realtors are not "notorious for breaking the rules" as Mike says. Maybe they're notorious for breaking his rules, but his rules are not laws. Besides, if a Realtor or real estate agent enters your property without notice, you can call the police and have them arrested for trespassing. That's what the electronic lockboxes are for - keeping track of who enters your home. When an agent does go into a home I have listed without notice, whether occupied or not, there will be a complaint filed against him/her with the Board of Realtors, which can take the license of the person if the offense is eggregious enough. Sorry, but he sounds like a crotchedy old coot who's not working anymore so needs to give his advice to anyone who will listen, whether or not it's correct. He doesn't seem to realize that many people can't afford their own attorney to give them advice at $500.00 per hour. Oh yeah, you can offer any price you want for the home, but if you reduce your offer by 3% solely because you're not using a Realtor, your offer will likely be rejected. The reason for this is that the Realtor has a contract with the Seller for a set percentage of the sale to be paid upon closing - whether or not there is a cooperating broker in the transaction. In plain English, the listing agent will get paid double if you make an offer without another agent. And, you will not have any representation for your best interests. An attorney can draw up the contracts, but you have to pay up front for that work, also. All in all, if you're worried, just write me and I'll answer any questions you may have, for NO FEE. Realtors will do that for you. Lastly, if you do decide to buy this home, or any other, make sure you use a Realtor with the ABR (Accredited Buyer's Representative) designation - this agent has gone through extensive training to be able to help buyers get the best possible deal when purchasing a property. Best of luck to you, and feel free to write if you have questions!
they are obviously acting illegally with respect to their refinancing and roofing permit (lack of), but there's no law they can't sell the house and the new owner may want to live in it and there's nothing you can do, so be prepared to start packing and looking for a new place - but...in today's real estate market - it may take many months to sell the house and they do have to make arrangements with you when showing it - they just can't show up at anytime with potential buyers without calling you in advance