As a landlord, what kind of notice are you legally required to give a tenant if the property goes up for sale?

Some useful clarification today on a topic where a lot of us have misunderstood the facts; do landlords have to provide 120 days notice to an existing tenant if they are listing a property for sale? 

Nope, no no, they totally do not. As covered by the linked video above and double clarified by the Monday legal team a landlord can list a property, sell it and entirely change hands of ownership with out ever having whispered a word to the tenant that resides there. 

So where did this 120-day notice come from? It’s a very specific number and it’s thrown around kind of a lot, it has to pertain to something right? 

It does. The 120-day notice number as it turns out, is the number of days notice a landlord is required to give a tenant before they are their agent plans to call, letting the tenant know they will enter the property with the purpose of showing it to prospective buyers. 

There are specific steps the landlord is meant to take in this situation to stay with in the bounds of legality. They are technically supposed to give written notice, stating that they are about to give oral notice. Ummm... okay, paper trails are important, I guess? 

So, 120 days before the agent could be showing the spot, specifically to perspective buyers, definitely not perspective tenants, landlords are expected to 120 days notice written. It should state that they will be showing, and expect a phone call before we do- said showing. Then, it’s chill to only give 24 hours notice when calling with the verbal notification, that we comin in to show the spot. The information should be the date and time, and reason for showing it. So in a way, because the agent would obviously tell the tenant we’re coming in to show your place to someone who might buy it, that would be notifying the tenants the unit was for sale…so there’s that. The oral, we comin over notice could also be a text, email, or a stop by and say it in person communication. 

A main point to repeat is this all goes down, only if a place is for sale. It’s gotta be on the market, people tryin to buy it, in the action type for sale. Otherwise, the landlord cant be takin these steps. 

Also, when the landlord or agent comes into the listed property to show it, they are supposed to leave written evidence that they were inside, showing the place. A professional way to do so, would be to leave a business card. A weird but maybe funny way would be to leave post it notes saying “Jenny was here”. Not everyone would find that funny, some people might think that’s creepy, but I digress. 

Back to the pressing matter at hand;

Actually, let’s undo the 120-notice thing entirely now. If a landlord intends to give a written notice before every showing they don’t have to do the 120 heads up at all. 

The 120-day notice is only a rule for landlords who want to give oral, not written notification that they are comin in for a showing. 

In short- landlords- you gotta deliver written before showings if you’ve got a tenant in the place you are selling. If you aren’t down with delivering written notice ahead of time, every time, you gotta do these 120 notices to let tenants know you gonna call them to let them know you comin. 

Holy moly, this is a weirdly specific thing, no?

But it’s important to know the details of what you can expect from a landlord in this scenario as a tenant or what you gotta do to be correct as a landlord. 

Lastly, to be clear, if a unit changes hands and the tenant never hears anything from the previous owner, the new owner is responsible for saying what up. The new owner is required to notify the existing tenant that their security deposit was transferred and where they should pay rent. But that is all after closing, so you as a tenant could be blissfully unaware of the whole shebang, while living in a unit listed for sale.