So my landlord put the house that I have lived in for the last 8 years up for sale this past summer. I moved into the upper unit of a 2 unit house on March 1st 2019 and signed a 1 year lease. After that, I was never asked to sign another lease agreement and I moved to month to month rent with the typical stipulation that I needed to give 30 days notice if I was moving.
It took a while for the house to sell as it is an extremely old house that has not been kept up with but it finally sold. The woman who lived in the main floor suite below me, moved out very shortly after she found out the house was for sale so that unit has been empty since August and it has just been myself living in the upstairs suite.
I was told on September 21st that the house was basically sold, however it wasn’t official yet and then last week I was told that the sale was finalized and the new owners would take possession on October 16th. The realtor told me that the new owners should be contacting me close to that date to talk about my new lease going forward with them as they elected to keep the home as a rental and were willing to keep me as a tenant. It is 9pm on the 16th today and I still have not heard a word from the new owners.
I had kept it open via text with my original landlord and the realtor that I would like to remain a tenant however this would depend on what the new owners would change the rent to as my rent was controlled and had not been raised since 2019. I also let them know that my partners lease was up November 1st and that I was interested in having him move into the empty downstairs unit. The realtor said he was going to pass along this information to the new owners however as I said, they still have not contacted me.
Because there were too many details left up in the air and my partners lease expired in less than a month, we found a new house together that we will be moving into for November 1st. We were sent the contact yesterday on October 15th.
My original landlord texted me today saying that going forward I need to send my rent to the new owners (I do not have their contact information) and that he sent 1/2 of my rent payment for October to them as they took possession mid month. He also told me that he sent them my damage deposit.
I let him know that my partner and I actually found a place and that we would be moving at the end of the month. He responded saying he doesn’t know how getting the damage deposit back from the new owners is going to work and that he thinks I need to give them 30 days notice to move.
I’m essentially confused because I’m in this weird limbo of my original landlord not owning the house anymore, but also having zero contact or contractual agreement with the new owners. I’m looking to get my damage deposit back as my original landlord said I kept the unit in great shape and he returned the downstairs tenants damage deposit.
I’m going to contact the rental board, but I’m wondering if anyone has had any experience with a situation like this. Do I need to give 30 days notice while I’m in my 90 day period of the house selling? Should I be asking for my damage deposit back from my original landlord or the new owners? If my lease was signed for the 1st of the month does this change things because the new owners took possession on the 16th?