Owner selling home with renter inside

[Winsor_Pilates]

I just listed 3 properties with this exact same situation.
I'm in BC, but would imagine the tenancy act in AB has similar tenant protections.

A fixed term lease cannot be broken without permission of both parties. If the new buyer wants to move in and your sister says no, they new buyer is SOL.

The landlord and Realtor don't sound competent in knowing the tenants rights here, and it could bite them in the ass for liability if they sell it to someone with the expectation that person can move in, and then they can't. Not your sisters problem.

As far as the staging and show home bit goes, that's way out of line by the Realtor.
I'm very careful when listing a rented property to get on the good side of the tenant and be accommodating to them.
It should start with a good sit down chat to establish reasonable notice and showing times, and reasonable condition the home will be in while shown.

This is an inconvenience to the tenant for no personal benefit of theirs and the seller/realtor should be acting accordingly. Requesting a fairly clean house is reasonable; asking someone to pack up their stuff and stage it is nonsense.

Showing should have at least 24 hours notice, and I usually get the tenant some Starbucks giftcards so they can at least enjoy a free coffee on me while they're having to leave their home for our showings.
Even better if majority of showings can be done during the tenants work hours so they don't have to do that.

[cam_wmh]

Who's the realtor?

[Skyceman]

Never realized this thread was still going. Thanks again to all of you for providing advice for my sis and to anyone else on here who might be in this situation.

A quick update on my sis:

She did refuse the realtors stager to come over. The realtor tried to persuade her on the phone to just listen to what the stager had to say but she stood her ground.

She has had to deal with about 30 viewings since the property was listed. Many of them were under 24hrs notice but my sister was still accomodating for most of them (despite what I told her). According to the realtor's assistant, the home never had any bites and never had any price reductions made by the owners even though the assistant felt it was priced too high. They never put up a for sale sign on the property (not sure why). I got a hold of the listing and it did have a 3 month posession term in it.

Now the bad news.....yesterday she was called and told that the owners are planning to live in it again and she has 3 months to move. I thought to myself that they would likely not be selling it anymore and so at least no more viewings for her to deal with. Turns out they are STILL listing it so now she has to accomodate more viewings up until she has to move out! Why would they be trying to sell it if they are "planning to live in it" again???

I cannot believe how people can do this. She is a responsible tenant and even has it in writing that she is an AWESOME tenant from them but yet has really been taken advantage of. I'm going to call around and get some backing on this as I dont think the act is being followed here. As according to many of you (who know a lot more on the legalities than I) she should be compensated or they need to honor that year lease until it is exhausted.

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by Skyceman

Never realized this thread was still going. Thanks again to all of you for providing advice for my sis and to anyone else on here who might be in this situation.

A quick update on my sis:

She did refuse the realtors stager to come over. The realtor tried to persuade her on the phone to just listen to what the stager had to say but she stood her ground.

She has had to deal with about 30 viewings since the property was listed. Many of them were under 24hrs notice but my sister was still accomodating for most of them (despite what I told her). According to the realtor's assistant, the home never had any bites and never had any price reductions made by the owners even though the assistant felt it was priced too high. They never put up a for sale sign on the property (not sure why). I got a hold of the listing and it did have a 3 month posession term in it.

Now the bad news.....yesterday she was called and told that the owners are planning to live in it again and she has 3 months to move. I thought to myself that they would likely not be selling it anymore and so at least no more viewings for her to deal with. Turns out they are STILL listing it so now she has to accomodate more viewings up until she has to move out! Why would they be trying to sell it if they are "planning to live in it" again???

I cannot believe how people can do this. She is a responsible tenant and even has it in writing that she is an AWESOME tenant from them but yet has really been taken advantage of. I'm going to call around and get some backing on this as I dont think the act is being followed here. As according to many of you (who know a lot more on the legalities than I) she should be compensated or they need to honor that year lease until it is exhausted.

Sounds like their bluffing, trying to play the "owner or relative moving back in" card while leaving it on the market. My guess is they have no intention of making it a primary residents for themselves and their trying to weasel your sister out.

I'd say call the bluff, it's either "you're moving back in, or you're still attempting to sell, it can not be both".

The bad news they'll probably continue to put the gears to her because they want to nicely stage an empty home. I'm not sure what your sister can do to keep them from making her life difficult, but likewise she doesn't have to help them sell their home. It's fair for your sister to say "ok, you want an empty home, but it's at the expense of my moving. What are you prepared to offer to make this easier on both of us?"

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Skyceman

Never realized this thread was still going. Thanks again to all of you for providing advice for my sis and to anyone else on here who might be in this situation.

A quick update on my sis:

She did refuse the realtors stager to come over. The realtor tried to persuade her on the phone to just listen to what the stager had to say but she stood her ground.

She has had to deal with about 30 viewings since the property was listed. Many of them were under 24hrs notice but my sister was still accomodating for most of them (despite what I told her). According to the realtor's assistant, the home never had any bites and never had any price reductions made by the owners even though the assistant felt it was priced too high. They never put up a for sale sign on the property (not sure why). I got a hold of the listing and it did have a 3 month posession term in it.

Now the bad news.....yesterday she was called and told that the owners are planning to live in it again and she has 3 months to move. I thought to myself that they would likely not be selling it anymore and so at least no more viewings for her to deal with. Turns out they are STILL listing it so now she has to accomodate more viewings up until she has to move out! Why would they be trying to sell it if they are "planning to live in it" again???

I cannot believe how people can do this. She is a responsible tenant and even has it in writing that she is an AWESOME tenant from them but yet has really been taken advantage of. I'm going to call around and get some backing on this as I dont think the act is being followed here. As according to many of you (who know a lot more on the legalities than I) she should be compensated or they need to honor that year lease until it is exhausted.

If she has a year lease they can't kick her out to move back in. That's the whole point of a lease.

At this point I would start insisting on 24 hours written notice for showings. The type of written notice should be specified in the lease, usually it's delivered to the property. So everytime they want to show it I'd make them drive down there and post the notice. I also wouldn't leave during the showings, and they can't make you.

[Prairiefire]

30 showings in this time frame is intrusive. Your sister should put her foot down and demand the 24 hour notices be given in writing and send the landlord a cleaning and staging bill for the unreasonable amount of showings.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Prairiefire

30 showings in this time frame is intrusive. Your sister should put her foot down and demand the 24 hour notices be given in writing and send the landlord a cleaning and staging bill for the unreasonable amount of showings.

Use the words "interfering with my quiet enjoyment" of the property.

http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictiona...Enjoyment.aspx

[Bigtime]

Hmm, saw this thread bumped and thought to myself "If you buy a home with a renter in it you should own them too.".

[normtwofinger]

Your sister needs to put her foot down. Some landlords need to be put in their place, the world does not revolve around them. She has a 1 year lease, stick to it. Ask for 24 hour written notice of showings. Ask to be reimbursed for extra cleaning and inconvenience of vacating the premises with 3 small children every time there is a showing. If they say no to that, then leave the house a mess, not overboard, but a mess. It's not her responsibility to sell the house.

[You Need a Thneed]

At this point, if she's on a lease, I would just tell them to get lost. I think, under a lease, showings can only happen in the last month of the lease.

But definitely demand written 24 hour notice, and don't bother to leave.


If she was under a periodic tenancy, the three months notice could only be given as of Aug 1 at this point, meaning that she would have until Nov 1 to be out.

[Locke]

You could always burn it to the ground.....

[alan21]

Address of home and pictures of your sister please.

Finally I can use the line "do YOU come with the house?"

[Locke]

Originally Posted by alan21

Address of home and pictures of your sister please.

Finally I can use the line "do YOU come with the house?"

I think shes got kids man. That might be a deal-breaker.

Unless you can leave them in the car. Then that might be okay.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by normtwofinger

Your sister needs to put her foot down. Some landlords need to be put in their place, the world does not revolve around them. She has a 1 year lease, stick to it. Ask for 24 hour written notice of showings. Ask to be reimbursed for extra cleaning and inconvenience of vacating the premises with 3 small children every time there is a showing. If they say no to that, then leave the house a mess, not overboard, but a mess. It's not her responsibility to sell the house.

She's not obligated to leave during showings, and I wouldn't bother if they're doing 30 showings.

[cal_guy]

Also written notice means that the landlord must personally bring over the notice or via registered mail with at least 24 hour notice. It's clear that the landlord is violating your sister's rights as a tenant and it's clear that he wants her out on the cheap. Your sister needs to put her foot down and start making the owner work. If your sister is amendable to leaving then she should ask for financial compensation and given how much a dick the owner has been I would start at the remainder of the rents owed and negotiate down from there.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by fotze

I would decide to become a 'problem tenant'. Don't even answer the phone. Tell her to take a dump in the kitchen sink during viewings.

If it was me and I would be moving out on the last day I would mistake each of the heating vents for the toilet.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Reaper

If it was me and I would be moving out on the last day I would mistake each of the heating vents for the toilet.

Well, unless it was Taco Tuesday, you might need to start a few days in advance to get solid coverage on that particular task.

[Bill Bumface]

Was it on here I heard about the hunters that pulled the drywall down, filled the space between the studs with waste meat/guts, put the drywall back up, patched and painted everything perfectly, then left.

[photon]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

At this point, if she's on a lease, I would just tell them to get lost. I think, under a lease, showings can only happen in the last month of the lease.

I think that's only for showing to prospective tenants, showing to purchasers isn't limited like that, that would make selling a property nearly impossible. I can only sell when bad tenants are moving out, I can't sell with good tenants because I never want to get to the last month of the lease

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Was it on here I heard about the hunters that pulled the drywall down, filled the space between the studs with waste meat/guts, put the drywall back up, patched and painted everything perfectly, then left.

if that is true i can only imagine the smell.........