Search Q&A
Tenancy notice period
Dear All,
Our landlord is selling up our property to a property developer who is planning to demolish the building.
The sale of the property is in progress and should go through in the next few weeks but the landlord has said that the developer hopes to demolish the building in October.
How long can we remain within the property after receiving notice?
Responses and feedback from anyone who has gone through a similar experience would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance
First of all, what kind of lease do you have? When did it start? When does it expire?
The rights of tenants in Belgium are extremely well protected. If your landlord truly thinks that he can just sell a building with sitting tenants in May and the new landlord can demolish the building in October just light that, he is sorely mistaken.
But, as said, so much depends on your lease.
when we were looking to buy a flat, the agent showed us one flat with tenants. he told us if we bought the flat, we would have to give the tenants 6 months notice - we the new owners, would have to give the notice when the flat was ours.
we have a friend who bought a house, part of which was rented out. the tenants were happy to be given notice as they would end up homeless and go to the head of the queue for social housing. my fried and the tenants went before a judge who granted my friend permission to evict the tenants
In your situation I would take advice from a notaris.
Their advice is generally free; you only pay when you ask them to do something for you but, even if you have to pay, knowing your legal situation is worth the outlay.
When I was renting, the owner had to give 6 month's notice OR 6 month's rent in lieu or a mixture of the two if you were to have to leave.
I don't understand the first response. If the owner sells a property it is nothing to do with him what the new owner then does with it. It seems that the current owner is aware of the new owner's PLANS and has given you advance warning - which he has no obligation to have done. However the plans may never happen.
The new owner MUST give you 6 months notice.
You can then give a 1 month counter notice.
IF the sale goes through AND you get notice by registered letter before the end of this month, you could effectively block the demolition of the building until 1st December.
Yes, the new owner must give a notice of minimum of six months. But if Buster has a standard nine-year contract, the new owner can ONLY do this six months before the end of each three-year period of the contract (i.e. at the end of the third year, and at the end of the sixth year), since the reason for the notice is that he wants to demolish the building. He cannot give the six-month notice at any other time!
In order to give notice at any other time, he would need to be moving into the property himself (or move in a close relative), which blatantly is not the case. That's why it is so essential to know what kind of contract Buster has, and when it has started. Giving any kind of reliable advice is impossible without knowing this fact.
RPPKN is probably right - I've not checked. If (s)he is, I'd see a lawyer about negitoating a buy-out. Something like 1 year's rent if you move out within 3 months?
Just start looking for a new place to live. You know you are going to have to move at some point. Why get into some sort of argument and possible legal action. Just move. Don't make your own pig misery.
If you are pregnant, they have to give you more notice than 6 months. No idea how much more exactly. But a pregnant friend got an extension for this reason.
I'm not advocating arguing just for the sake of arguing, but if the laws to protect the tenant are in place, why not benefit from them? For example, if Buster has a lease which would allow him to stay in the property let's say until March 2017 (and no judge in Belgium would ever break a lease like that just because the purchaser of the property wants to tear the place down), and he agrees to move out in September 2015, surely he is doing a massive favour for the property developer and should be compensated for this.
Any sane property developer will just pay up to make the tenant shut up and leave voluntatarily - and not have the danger of future legal action hanging around his neck. For example, if the new owner gives Buster notice because he wants to demolish the house, and he does not actually carry out this demolition within a relatively short time frame, he is liable to pay Buster compensation equal to the rent of 18 months.
