Tenant has any rights when house being sold?

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#1234654 11-Feb-2015 12:50

the below is not legal advice or what i would personally do, but "reasonable" means one thing to one and to another a totally different concept. just like morals.

well they have to give u 48 hours notice for inspection. which they can only do once a month. they did that 2 weeks back.

so i would assume if you deny them weekly inspections at best case they can show the house once a month. outside this i think it would have to go to court. which could take months. im no lawyer so would be interested to here what is the law.

Jase2985

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#1235800 11-Feb-2015 16:56

what?

an inspection on the property is different to letting people look round it because its on the market

Geese

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#1236748 12-Feb-2015 18:40

2 questions...

The place I'm looking to rent has in the agreement "tenant acknowledges that this property is on the market for sale"... so by that being in the agreement before I move in, what is the notice required if it sells? Is it still 42 days notice?

Another clause is that property must have professional carpet cleaners in - if its a small studio - so a single carpeted room, whats the average going rate for that? Never had it done so I got no idea whatsoever.

Andib

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#1236750 12-Feb-2015 18:50

IlDuce: 2 questions...

The place I'm looking to rent has in the agreement "tenant acknowledges that this property is on the market for sale"... so by that being in the agreement before I move in, what is the notice required if it sells? Is it still 42 days notice?

Depends on the agreement, If you sign a fixed agreement the landlord has to sell it tennanted and your term stays.

Another clause is that property must have professional carpet cleaners in - if its a small studio - so a single carpeted room, whats the average going rate for that? Never had it done so I got no idea whatsoever.

Landlords can't enforce this clause. A family member went to and won at Tennancy tribunal as the law states a tennant only has to leave the property in a 'resonable' condition, Even though it was in her original agreement the conclusion was that unless there are specific marks on the carpet (e.g red wine or you've walked mud into it), carpets are there to be walked on and hence will get dirty and worn after an extended period of use.

See here

http://www.cab.org.nz/vat/hle/rt/Pages/Othercosts.aspx#5

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Geese

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#1236752 12-Feb-2015 19:00

Andib: Depends on the agreement, If you sign a fixed agreement the landlord has to sell it tennanted and your term stays.

I have the choice, any length term fixed, or periodic. But I'm taking it sight unseen, no specific photos. In this case probably safer its periodic. Sorry missed that key piece of information out. So periodic would be 42 days notice?

Andib

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#1236753 12-Feb-2015 19:05

IlDuce:
Andib: Depends on the agreement, If you sign a fixed agreement the landlord has to sell it tennanted and your term stays.

I have the choice, any length term fixed, or periodic. But I'm taking it sight unseen, no specific photos. In this case probably safer its periodic. Sorry missed that key piece of information out. So periodic would be 42 days notice?

Go with Periodic then, Personally wouldn't take a place without seeing it in person.

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Geese

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#1236755 12-Feb-2015 19:14

Andib:Go with Periodic then, Personally wouldn't take a place without seeing it in person.

And 42 days notice required under my scenario?

Yeah my only other rental (in Dunedin) was such a shocker, I took it sight unseen, and the agent went on about how good it was, and they used old photos and none inside... turned out to be as bad/worse as those "bad renter" type programs you see on TV, it was left in such a state, I handed my 3 weeks notice in immediately.

So I could be in for a repeat here. I'm just really hoping for better this time.

But to view will cost travel same as about 6 weeks rent, so I'd rather take my chances, and bail like above if its diabolical. But if its as clean and tidy as generic photos show should be ok.

Do you have any idea of carpet cleaning cost anyway? I presume its per room they charge? I figure it will be fairly minimal might just do it to save the drama... I'm having a terrible time with communication, and the back and forth has soaked up 2 days now so I just really want to get on with it.

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#1239198 15-Feb-2015 00:40

IlDuce: 2 questions...

The place I'm looking to rent has in the agreement "tenant acknowledges that this property is on the market for sale"... so by that being in the agreement before I move in, what is the notice required if it sells? Is it still 42 days notice?

Another clause is that property must have professional carpet cleaners in - if its a small studio - so a single carpeted room, whats the average going rate for that? Never had it done so I got no idea whatsoever.

You can leave it in the same condition as the day you moved in - take photos on the day you move in to prove this. A clause in the contract can't say that you have to provide professional cleaners as you are allowed to leave it in the same condition as you moved in.

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#1239232 15-Feb-2015 08:50

take lots of photos, as many as you can. then send them all to the agent to prove the condition it is in when you move in.

otherwise when it's time to move out nobody "remembers" any verbal or written descriptions. since i got caught out like that i now take pictures, so easy to do with iphones nowadays, i the days of future past it wasn't so easy step wise, but nowadays no excuse for not taking pictures of every single defect.

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#1239518 15-Feb-2015 18:17

dacraka:
IlDuce: 2 questions...

The place I'm looking to rent has in the agreement "tenant acknowledges that this property is on the market for sale"... so by that being in the agreement before I move in, what is the notice required if it sells? Is it still 42 days notice?

Another clause is that property must have professional carpet cleaners in - if its a small studio - so a single carpeted room, whats the average going rate for that? Never had it done so I got no idea whatsoever.

You can leave it in the same condition as the day you moved in - take photos on the day you move in to prove this. A clause in the contract can't say that you have to provide professional cleaners as you are allowed to leave it in the same condition as you moved in.

Legally this is true, however morally leave it the way you would expect to find it.

networkn

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#1239519 15-Feb-2015 18:19

Ask for CURRENT photos of the property, easily solves your sight unseen situation. Tell them you reserve the right to leave immediately if the property doesn't reflect the photos.

TeaLeaf

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#1240248 16-Feb-2015 17:44

Jase2985: what?

an inspection on the property is different to letting people look round it because its on the market

haha sorry i was jaded writing that. please totally disregard my previous post.

what i meant is, is there a separate section, i cant see it in the lease agreement for sales access vs inspections?

networkn

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#1240255 16-Feb-2015 17:50

TeaLeaf:
Jase2985: what?

an inspection on the property is different to letting people look round it because its on the market

haha sorry i was jaded writing that. please totally disregard my previous post.

what i meant is, is there a separate section, i cant see it in the lease agreement for sales access vs inspections?

In the absence of a clause covering said matters, the default tenancy document is the standard, unless there is documentation which invalidates it, which it can only do if the new clause is legal in the first place (IE you can't sign away your basic legal rights).

TeaLeaf

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#1240353 16-Feb-2015 20:10

i think i know what you are saying ;-)

ive read all the tenancy act.

i can only find information for access that suggests reasonable. it sounds ambiguous to me. 24 hours 7 days a week to me is not reasonable but might be to the next person.

my whole thing now is defining reasonable and having reasonable clauses around this, ie certain things we may want done during a showing.

ultimately what happens if you refuse what you believe is unreasonable, it goes to tenancy tribunal?

also does one have to hand over the tenants keys for the owner or agents to access the home? it may leave the tenant short of keys and is it right for an agent to have separate access to tenanted home?

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#1240364 16-Feb-2015 20:23

TeaLeaf: i think i know what you are saying ;-)

ive read all the tenancy act.

i can only find information for access that suggests reasonable. it sounds ambiguous to me. 24 hours 7 days a week to me is not reasonable but might be to the next person.

my whole thing now is defining reasonable and having reasonable clauses around this, ie certain things we may want done during a showing.

ultimately what happens if you refuse what you believe is unreasonable, it goes to tenancy tribunal?

also does one have to hand over the tenants keys for the owner or agents to access the home? it may leave the tenant short of keys and is it right for an agent to have separate access to tenanted home?

I don't think a single person in their sane mind would believe access 24/7 is "reasonable" and I am not sure why this wouldn't occur to you in the first instance.

One of the times we been in a house being sold the terms were agreed, and the landlord called us up at 9pm one night saying he had a buy who was very close to buying, but wanted to see the place at night.

He had made no concessions to us and we were not his biggest fans, but they wanted access for 30 minutes and he asked and we agreed. The house sold and the landlord came around the day after with a huge gift basket worth probably $300.

I am a big believer in what goes around comes around, and whilst I was inconvenienced, I knew it would be a cold day in hell a normal landlord would have made a request like that unless they felt it was truly worth it. He was polite and apologetic and willing to accept
no as an answer, it was all in the attitude.

Interestingly, about 5 years later, I tendered for a companies business and he was a consultant on the periphery who made his opinion of us pretty clear to the owner, resulting in us winning a valuable client.

Very few cases where agreements can't be met in simple and easy situations like this one end up at TT, as usually one party caves even if they are in the right. The time taken to get a TT hearing the issue is usually past.

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