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  1. #1
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    Default Can You Extend a Lease if the Landlord Broke a Promise to Sell You the Property

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: CA

    It's a long story but basically the landlord agreed to sell the unit to us, but has now changed her mind and wants us out for her daughter to move in. It's just a normal lease. Is there any way we can stay past the expiration of the lease?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Landlord Said They Would Sell, Changed Mind, Wants Us Out

    Quote Quoting evdryst
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    Is there any way we can stay past the expiration of the lease?
    Not without serious financial consequences and an eviction on your record.

    Your landlord's "agreement" to sell it to you is worthless as agreements for the sale of real estate have to be in writing to be enforceable.

    What you should have done when he made that agreement was to put a contract and a check in front of him to seal the deal. You didn't do that so you are out of luck.

    If there is some question as to whether he properly notified you of non-renewal of the lease you are free to push that issue past the expiration date but I can guarantee you that you'll end up in court over it.

    You have until the expiration of the lease to find another place to live. Use the time wisely.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Landlord Said They Would Sell, Changed Mind, Wants Us Out

    Quote Quoting adjusterjack
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    Your landlord's "agreement" to sell it to you is worthless as agreements for the sale of real estate have to be in writing to be enforceable.

    What you should have done when he made that agreement was to put a contract and a check in front of him to seal the deal. You didn't do that so you are out of luck.
    Hi there, thanks for the reply. As I mentioned it's a long story, and part of it is that we tried to get a loan but Fanny Mae rejected it because the HOA was being sued. Because the sellers were bleeding money (vacant property) and we'd already given notice where we were living we agreed to lease the place for 6 months while applying for a 2nd loan with a direct lender. Now they've changed their minds, but they still have my $22k earnest money in escrow. I also have numerous emails where we talk about the 2nd loan attempt etc, but I suspect I'm still SOL regarding the sale without a formal contract? (This might be a post for another board - sorry.)

    (I'm sure they will release the escrow money so that's not a problem.)

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Landlord Said They Would Sell, Changed Mind, Wants Us Out

    Why is there any money in escrow? Without an enforceable contract there would be no reason to pay such a deposit.

    What will defeat all the supporting evidence you list is that all contracts for the sale of real estate must be in writing. Do you have a signed purchase agreement? (That's rhetorical).

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Landlord Said They Would Sell, Changed Mind, Wants Us Out

    GIGO - Garbage in, garbage out.

    It means the information you get here is only as good as the information you give.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_in,_garbage_out

    Your second post doesn't even remotely resemble your first post so you can forget anything I wrote in response to your first post.

    Even in your follow up you have omitted any mention of whether you have a written real estate purchase contract.

    Do you? (Not rhetorical.)

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Landlord Said They Would Sell, Changed Mind, Wants Us Out

    adjusterjack, your reply wasn't garbage out; it answered my question regarding staying beyond the end of the lease (thank you). I was hoping to tell them 'we're staying put until we can buy the unit' but I do not want to be evicted.

    As for my followup question, there was an abortive attempt at buying the condo, with accompanying earnest money put in escrow. That contract has since been cancelled, but the realtor extended escrow so that we can use it for the 2nd attempt at a loan (for which we do NOT have an accepted offer from them, and now it looks like they will change their minds.)

    In reply to jk, yes, I think we're out of luck; not only with the lease, but also with the sale.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Landlord Said They Would Sell, Changed Mind, Wants Us Out

    Why was the initial contract terminated? Given you left the earnest money in the escrow account it appears all parties intended on the sale eventually going through.

    Why would you have had to present a new offer?

    your situation isn't making a lot of sense.


    But you know how you attract more bees? More honey.

    Maybe sweetening the pot may make them realizing supporting adult daughter isn't in their best interest.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Landlord Said They Would Sell, Changed Mind, Wants Us Out

    Hi jk, our loan didn't get approved (our financials were approved, but Fanny Mae didn't like that the HOA of the condo was being sued.) I'm not sure if the initial contract was ever cancelled/terminated (I checked my emails and don't see a docusign with anything like that), but we're way past all the deadline dates on it. If it wasn't cancelled I guess it's good to show that everybody intended to continue with it, but what other implications would it have considering we missed all the deadlines?

    The closest I get to any sort of commitment from them is an email from the agent that says: "Here is the fully executed [lease] contract for <address>. This lease is the Buyers and Sellers of <address> while we can figure out the loan on the unit in this complex."

    I am keeping everything extremely civil and even friendly with the sellers. As for the parenting, don't even get me started. The daughter gets anything she wants. But the parents are older and the wife gets really anxious. I might be mistaken but I don't think she'd want to go to court over this, so if we let it be known that we won't go easy she might back down. She does tend to run to her lawyer about anything though (eg she wanted to sue the HOA for not being forthcoming about the lawsuit against them), so who knows.

    As an additional wrinkle I've fired the agent since she withheld information from us. I'll get another agent but for now we're on our own.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Landlord Said They Would Sell, Changed Mind, Wants Us Out

    Instead of another realtor I suggest you consult an attorney and have all this reviewed so you know where you stand.

    You've got $22,000 at stake.

    You risk losing it if you don't handle this right.

    You are making too many assumptions and relying on people who will put their own interests first and throw you under the bus in a heartbeat.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Landlord Said They Would Sell, Changed Mind, Wants Us Out

    Absolutely. Take the original purchase contract and any follow up
    amendments or even just plain communications and let an attorney read the stuff. For all you know the contract might still have something keeping it alive.

    I just find it implausible the money would be left in escrow "just in case"

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