Landlord Breaking 3 Year Lease After Only 4 Months

[jakeyboy1027]

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Ohio
So my landlord and I just signed a 3 yr lease at the end of 2010 extending thru the end of 2013. He called me 2 wks ago saying he wants to put the house on the market. There's nothing in our contract about him breaking the lease for any reason other than if I don't honor the terms. I've done nothing to warrant this and have lived here for over 5 yrs. Can he do this?

[jk]

Did he say anything about terminating the lease? A lease remains intact unless the lease has a provision that extinguishes the lease if the property is sold.

[jakeyboy1027]

The only language in our agreement about early termination is on my end. If I break the lease I lose my security deposit. Nothing at all about him being able to terminate if he wants to sell.

[jk]

I asked, "did HE say anything about terminating the lease?"

The rest remains the same.

the point is, you seem to be concerned with him selling the property. If there is no provisions to terminate the lease if he sells the property, why are you concerned?

[SChinFChin]

The only language in our agreement about early termination is on my end. If I break the lease I lose my security deposit. Nothing at all about him being able to terminate if he wants to sell.

I've sold rental properties with leases and tenants in the place, and I simply assigned the lease to the new owner, who will honor the lease provisions. Legally what happens is the buyer requires an "estoppel letter" signed by the tenant confirming the rent and deposit amounts, and the new owner get an assignment plus the security deposit which is normally transferred over to him. Legally you don't have to move unless it says so in the lease.

[jakeyboy1027]

No. He wants to sell the home to a potential home owner. Its not a condo or apartment. Its his mothers old home. Hes not looking to sell to someone so they can rent it out.

[jk]

No. He wants to sell the home to a potential home owner. Its not a condo or apartment. Its his mothers old home. Hes not looking to sell to someone so they can rent it out.

then I guess he is going to have a lot of trouble selling the place since the lease remains through the sale and under the new owner.

[jakeyboy1027]

I certainly appreciate all the feedback. Long story short, my rent basically goes to his mothers bill at the nursing home. Ive repeatedly asked him about his plans for the home in the future and hes always been very adamant that they CANNOT sell the house as long as his mother is still alive. Shes alive and well and now hes saying he wants to sell. Seems rather strange to me. Does the fact that the house is in a life estate change anything? I have no clue how life estates work.

[SChinFChin]

No. He wants to sell the home to a potential home owner. Its not a condo or apartment. Its his mothers old home. Hes not looking to sell to someone so they can rent it out.

What happens in these cases is that the buyer would have to wait till the end of the lease, or offer to "buy you out". The only exception is cases where banks foreclose, and subordination clauses in leases allow leases to be cancelled, but even here, in NJ for instance, even this is prohibited by state law.

[SChinFChin]

I certainly appreciate all the feedback. Long story short, my rent basically goes to his mothers bill at the nursing home. Ive repeatedly asked him about his plans for the home in the future and hes always been very adamant that they CANNOT sell the house as long as his mother is still alive. Shes alive and well and now hes saying he wants to sell. Seems rather strange to me. Does the fact that the house is in a life estate change anything? I have no clue how life estates work.

I'm guessing here, but I suspect that mom and dad owned the house orginally, when dad died, the son inherited the house, but mom has a life estate which basically means she can lived there till she dies if she wanted to, which is why the son is telling you cannot sell it while mom is still around.

My sister and her husband had a very sick mom (his mom), got Alzheimers and ended up in the nursing home. The only asset was the family home of over 50 years, mom went on Medicaid, and the situation was Medicaid paid for her care pending the sale of the home. What happened was the younger son of her's, by now in his 50's never worked, refused to move, so the older brother, got the conservator for his mom, then had to evict his own brother because without selling the home, and satisfying Medicaid, mom might just be thrown out of the nursing home.

The bottom line is, nursing home care runs about $100,000/year or so, and I doubt they are collecting that much rent from you, so they might be $50,000 or more short every year, and if you've been following the news, state governments are broke, and they want to know how her care is going to be taken care off. Legally, if you have the lease, at this point it does not concern you, but I'm telling you all this in case you are wondering what's going on.

If I were you, give them a little sympathy. I'm sure he does not want to sell the family home, but Medicaid may not give him a choice. In the meantime, he may have to make himself the conservator if his mom is incompetent, so he can legally make the decision for her.

Bottomline is, legally your situation is simple, you have the lease. Your landlord has the life estate, his mom's incompetence, the nursing home, Medicaid, possibly going for a conservatorship, so he's got a lot on his plate. And more than likely, he does not know what he's going to do next. He might have to tell Medicaid he's stuck with a 3 year lease, the tenants (you) told him to get lost, and hopefully Medicaid would let mom stay without throwing her out onto the street in the meantime till the lease is finished. You just got to feel sorry for this guy.

And the ironic thing here is with the law protecting you, it may be the cause of his mom being thrown out of the nursing home onto the streets.