do subletters have rights?
April 12, 2010 3:18 PM Subscribe
We're subletting, and our landlord is selling. Do we have any rights in this process?
Three of us are subletting an apartment in a two-apartment house. In our apartment, none of the original tenants lives here anymore - the landlord has known this, and while not the ideal situation for him, we've been great tenants for the past few months.
Current lease expires at the end of June. One of my roommates inquired about renewing the lease (or signing a new one) once the current one is up, and the landlord informed us last Friday that he is selling the house. Incidentally, over the weekend, we ended up breaking the news to the awesome tenants below us, who had lived there for 7 years and are getting married in August. The landlord never bothered to tell them.
Despite being a bummer that we all have to move, we accept this. It's annoying, but fine.
So I get a call from the real estate agent about taking pictures of the interior of our house this afternoon. I told her this was too soon, possibly Friday or Saturday. I'm also kind of pissed off that the landlord never mentioned any of this to me yet gave the real estate agent my phone number, and am getting calls from her to set up times.
We accept that we have to move, but are unhappy about the real estate agent taking pictures of the house, and taking pictures of our things, which will certainly end up in advertisements for the house. We are also unhappy that potential buyers may be coming through while we still live there.
What are our rights as subletters, when it comes to things like this? Having someone take pictures of the inside of the house, while we are paying rent? To opening up the doors and letting people check out the place? Do we have any say in asking them to wait until we vacate, after June?
FYI, this is in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
Three of us are subletting an apartment in a two-apartment house. In our apartment, none of the original tenants lives here anymore - the landlord has known this, and while not the ideal situation for him, we've been great tenants for the past few months.
Current lease expires at the end of June. One of my roommates inquired about renewing the lease (or signing a new one) once the current one is up, and the landlord informed us last Friday that he is selling the house. Incidentally, over the weekend, we ended up breaking the news to the awesome tenants below us, who had lived there for 7 years and are getting married in August. The landlord never bothered to tell them.
Despite being a bummer that we all have to move, we accept this. It's annoying, but fine.
So I get a call from the real estate agent about taking pictures of the interior of our house this afternoon. I told her this was too soon, possibly Friday or Saturday. I'm also kind of pissed off that the landlord never mentioned any of this to me yet gave the real estate agent my phone number, and am getting calls from her to set up times.
We accept that we have to move, but are unhappy about the real estate agent taking pictures of the house, and taking pictures of our things, which will certainly end up in advertisements for the house. We are also unhappy that potential buyers may be coming through while we still live there.
What are our rights as subletters, when it comes to things like this? Having someone take pictures of the inside of the house, while we are paying rent? To opening up the doors and letting people check out the place? Do we have any say in asking them to wait until we vacate, after June?
FYI, this is in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
Yeah, I don't know about MA, but here in Australia - 1) you're shit outta luck regarding photos
2) They can show people through, but how much and how much notice is governed by tenancy laws - once a week for half an hour w/ 48 hours is the general idea.
More broadly, though, don't piss off your landlord too much with the whole moving out process, you don't want them to get adversarial and go looking for a reason to keep your bond. Don't worry as much about the real estate agent, except insofar as they might influence the landlord's opinion of you.
posted by smoke at 4:29 PM on April 12, 2010
2) They can show people through, but how much and how much notice is governed by tenancy laws - once a week for half an hour w/ 48 hours is the general idea.
More broadly, though, don't piss off your landlord too much with the whole moving out process, you don't want them to get adversarial and go looking for a reason to keep your bond. Don't worry as much about the real estate agent, except insofar as they might influence the landlord's opinion of you.
posted by smoke at 4:29 PM on April 12, 2010
Why do you think you have to move? If it's a duplex, it's very likely being marketed as an investment property and thus the new owners would continue to want to rent it out. I think you and the downstairs tenants should talk with the real estate agent about your desire to continue living there. Already having tenants in place will help her market the place, and thus she'll have more incentive to be sensitive about your needs while showing it so she doesn't run you off.
Talk with you landlord about renting on a month-to-month basis until the place sells. Then see if you can sign a new lease with the new owners.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:52 PM on April 12, 2010
Talk with you landlord about renting on a month-to-month basis until the place sells. Then see if you can sign a new lease with the new owners.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:52 PM on April 12, 2010
I would contact your local tenant's advocate office or similar, to inquire as to your rights. Where I live, for example (Washington, DC), listing a property for sale is not sufficient reason to evict a tenant. The property has to actually sell and the buyer has to want to actually live there (if they're buying it to rent out, they can't evict you). Further, if the landlords do want to sell it to someone to live there, they have to offer it for sale to the tenants first, and the tenants have 180 days to either decide to buy or not. Even if the tenant doesn't want to buy, and the buyer wants to live in the place, the seller still has to serve notice of eviction in person to the tenant, with 90 days' warning to vacate, and take them to housing court and get a decision from a judge.
Granted, DC housing laws are freakishly pro-tenant, but you may have more rights than you realize, and even if you are willing to leave and the landlord meets all the requirements to boot you, you probably have sufficient leverage in terms of the how much of a pain in the ass you'll be to negotiate for the landlord to be less irritating.
posted by andrewpendleton at 5:12 PM on April 12, 2010 [1 favorite]
Granted, DC housing laws are freakishly pro-tenant, but you may have more rights than you realize, and even if you are willing to leave and the landlord meets all the requirements to boot you, you probably have sufficient leverage in terms of the how much of a pain in the ass you'll be to negotiate for the landlord to be less irritating.
posted by andrewpendleton at 5:12 PM on April 12, 2010 [1 favorite]
Expect to have people in your house pretty regularly. The only way to keep stuff out of the photos is to move it out of the house.
posted by bluedaisy at 8:51 PM on April 12, 2010
posted by bluedaisy at 8:51 PM on April 12, 2010
From the first hit on Googling for "MA tenants rights":
Rights Against Unlawful Entry
Your landlord, or an agent for your landlord, may only enter your apartment for the following reasons:
* To inspect the premises;
* To make repairs;
* To show the apartment to a prospective tenant, purchaser, mortgagee or its agents;
* In accordance with a court order;
* If the premises appear to be abandoned; or
* To inspect the premises within the last 30 days of tenancy in order to determine the amount of damage to be deducted from the security deposit.
The landlord should be reasonable and attempt to arrange a mutually convenient time to visit the apartment. If the landlord insists on entering your apartment in an unreasonable fashion, you may file for a temporary restraining order at your local district court (M.G.L. c. 186, ยงยง 14 and 15B).
The definition of "reasonable" seems subjective, but I think at least a day's notice and not handing out your phone number to third parties should be fair.
posted by randomstriker at 12:19 AM on April 13, 2010
Rights Against Unlawful Entry
Your landlord, or an agent for your landlord, may only enter your apartment for the following reasons:
* To inspect the premises;
* To make repairs;
* To show the apartment to a prospective tenant, purchaser, mortgagee or its agents;
* In accordance with a court order;
* If the premises appear to be abandoned; or
* To inspect the premises within the last 30 days of tenancy in order to determine the amount of damage to be deducted from the security deposit.
The landlord should be reasonable and attempt to arrange a mutually convenient time to visit the apartment. If the landlord insists on entering your apartment in an unreasonable fashion, you may file for a temporary restraining order at your local district court (M.G.L. c. 186, ยงยง 14 and 15B).
The definition of "reasonable" seems subjective, but I think at least a day's notice and not handing out your phone number to third parties should be fair.
posted by randomstriker at 12:19 AM on April 13, 2010
Andrew P. gives good advice.
It might be worth your time to see if the house will be advertised as a rented property. While house shopping where I live in Florida I came across a couple properties that were being sold contingent on an agreement to continue to rent to the current tenants.
posted by Gainesvillain at 7:54 AM on April 13, 2010
It might be worth your time to see if the house will be advertised as a rented property. While house shopping where I live in Florida I came across a couple properties that were being sold contingent on an agreement to continue to rent to the current tenants.
posted by Gainesvillain at 7:54 AM on April 13, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
You should be able to get out of your lease early though, it's been my experience that it's much easier to show empty.
posted by Oktober at 3:34 PM on April 12, 2010