In a hot real estate market where many properties are selling within a matter of just hours – some at $20,000 or more above the asking price – it may have crossed your mind to put your rental home(s) or unit(s) up for sale, and (ideally) walk away with a nice lump sum of cash.
But if your property(ies) is occupied by tenants, are you allowed to put it on the market?
In a word – yes.
But there are some items to consider before you move forward with a sale…starting with the rights of the tenants. The best place to start is with the lease. For instance, if the lease is for a fixed term, such as one year, and there is still a considerable amount of time left, the tenants typically have the legal right to stay put, at least until the lease ends. In this case, the new buyer is legally bound to respect the lease contract.
However, if your tenants are renting on a month-to-month basis, you are still required to give them a 30-day written notice to vacate if you sell to a buyer who either plans to use the property as their own primary residence or who does not plan to keep the current tenant(s) in place.
Some leases include a “lease termination due to sale” clause. In this instance, whatever is stated in that wording will stand. So, for example, if there is still six months left to go on the lease, you may only have to provide the tenants with the legal 30-days notice, and then the new owner can take over the property.
Leases can be somewhat complicated, and they oftentimes contain many “moving parts.” If this is something that you don’t want to deal with, you could turn over this task – as well as others, such as finding and screening tenants, responding to emergencies, and taking care of regular maintenance issues – to a professional property manager.
So, if you own one or more rental homes or units in Orlando and/or the Central Florida locale, give us a call and we’ll be happy to provide you with more details on the services that we offer.