A house we were renting sold with ownership changing at the end of June. A couple months ago, the new owners offered their old house for us to move into and rent. We agreed. A few weeks ago, the new owners said they needed more time and that we could stay until July 15th, at which point we would move into their old house and they would move in here.

A fews days ago, they said that they sold their old house, so we couldn't move into it and now they were giving us until July 6th to be out of this place, but that we couldn't live here until then, only come during the day to move things out.

We didn't have a rental agreement for the new place. All that we have is an email from them saying that we can no longer move into their house and that we now have until the 6th. Obviously, we have nowhere to go, since we had been planning to move into their place.

What rights do we have and not have? We're getting out as quickly as we can. The only coming during the day thing is ridiculous, right?

In America if there are no contracts any rental lease defaults to month to month. It is the responsibility of the landlord to provide at least a 30 day notice to terminate a lease. Even if the landlord serves a lease termination the process can get ugly from there. If the tenant refuses to leave after 30 days then the landlord has to file a notice to evict (which can take another 30-60 days). Once the eviction is served by the courts only then will the police/law do anything to help you remove the tenants from the property. If at anytime during this process the landlord changes your locks, forcefully removes your things/you from the property or any similar action then they can be held liable in court.

It can go on and on from here and can get even more dumb. America is so dumb that a person can even file a temporary restraining order against someone on their property as renter and it will most likely get granted.

I have been a landlord and renter over many many many properties and have seen some pretty crazy stuff. This is actually a pretty mild problem so far.

Have you asked them if they are willing to help cover the key moving expanses or compensate you in any way for leaving early?

Most grown up adults (although these people seem super shady / inconsiderate ) should be able to talk this out pretty quickly and come to a reasonable solution for all.

Very tough spot and it sucks they are trying to give you the short end of the stick but it sounds like they are desperate or broke or dicks (or all 3) as well.

To clarify, we had a rental agreement for the original house (A) which we have been at for a year and were given 90 days notice to be out on June 30. We had planned to do that, no problem, but were then told by the new owners of A that we had until July 15, as they needed more time before we could move into their house (B). That was just a verbal agreement.

So, they gave us a 3 days notice that it was changing from the 15th to the 6th and told us that we had 3 days to not be living here, but could come back during the day until the 6th to get our stuff.

We did ask them to be reasonable, but they are just being weird. They aren't moving in until the 6th, so it doesn't make any sense that we shouldn't be here packing and moving all day and then crashing at night in the meantime. They don't have a right to hold that position do they?

We didn't ask for any compensation. We've just been shocked at how douchey they are. We have been super reasonable. We let them use the property over the last month to board their horse and donkeys. We offered to clear out the basement and garage, so they could start moving things in tomorrow, etc. Then, all of a sudden they say gtfo. It's just bizarre.

Keep in mind that in this situation you hold all the power. What recourse do they possibly have if you tell them "No"?

Well, that's what I wanted to make sure of. I just didn't know how much power we have. If we can just say no, then that's all I wanted to know.

still not sure if this is America were talking but if it is as renter you probably have way more rights then you think and can absolutely say no in this case. Even if they call the police all you have to do is show them proof that you are a resident/renter of that property (which you easily have) and they will tell the landlord to take it to the courts (its a civil matter) if they have no eviction papers/court orders and pretty much make the landlord leave as well and tell them not to come back or call again without the right documentation. In America renters have the upper hand and its not even close. You should see how ridiculous its gets in California and Nevada. Its so sick some of the stuff I have seen people do over a couple dimes.

You were supposed to be out of house A June 30.

The new owner of house A which was not your landlord while you were at house A said you could stay in house A until July 15.

Did you pay the new owner of House A anything?

-Being out of the house by June 30th is irrelevant because the owners of the new house agreed to a verbal contract that changed those conditions (the old agreement becomes pretty much null and void)

-The new owner of the property becomes the landlord by transfer of rights. They do not have the right to say well I am not your landlord get out ( does not work that way in the states)

-If you have not paid the new owners of the house any rent (especially rent for the 15 days in July you were supposed to stay there (or rent/deposit for the other house you were supposed to rent from them ) while it will really mean nothing to the overall outcome if you do go to court this will look very unfavorable on you and the courts will be more willing to speed up the eviction process. If you have offered and they have not accepted that is a different story.

I have seen people live in a house 6 months without paying rent before they were actually legally removed from the property. 15 days of rent is really an after thought and unimportant in getting this matter resolved.

The bottom line is:

-They need their house and dont care about you.

-You need a place to rent but have a month to month lease on your current place until otherwise notified in writing 30 days ahead by your current landlord to move out.

The courts are pretty funny in America sometimes and this kind of stuff can often take weird twists and turns but you staying there until they give you a 30 day notice is within your rights (especially if your paying rent and they are accepting it) and you should be able to call the police on them without questions and have them removed from the property (until they have court documents that show otherwise). Of course you do not want it to get to the eviction phase because I am sure you care about your reputation and credit but you are not even close to there yet (even the 30 day notice they give has to be served appropriately).

nobody can just kick you out of a house you have been living at for over a year in 6 days just because they feel like it and own the property (they have to follow the proper procedure). It simply does not work this way in America and while it sucks for those that own property, tenants also have to have some rights too and it should be pretty obvious to most why kicking someone out of their residence on unreasonable terms in less then 6 days will never fly in court.

If there is no compensation then I'm not really sure there is any contract. I'm assuming the 90 day notice meant an end to the original lease but that assumption might be wrong.

legally, it seems you have zero premise to stay...never mind the reasonability of the owners / landlord.

you were contracted to leave June 30th, and have no further contract.

I think this is very wrong but certainly could be mistaken. Even the contract to leave on the 30th is not between the two parties that are in dispute. This does not even begin to get into all the verbal contracts that were made between the two parties that would allow them to stay until at the very minimum the 15th. Courts are usually pretty decent about determining the validity of verbal contracts and upholding them.

Also a month to month contract is automatically created by law. The further contract is automatically created by law irrelevant of what landlord and tenant do or say (until they take official legal action).

How many times have you had to evict someone as a landlord? How many times have you gone to court over landlord / tenant disputes. Are you speaking from experience or just guessing?

Also a lot of this could vary by state and I am speaking from a California / Nevada standpoint.

Verbal contracts are certainly valid but there doesn't appear to be a contract. If I say you can use my home for the next three months and then two weeks from now decide to kick you out there is no contract. If I allowed you to use my home in exchange for something then there is a verbal contract. Both parties in a contract have to get something or else there is no contract.

The only way there would be a contract between the new owner and OP is if the 90 day notice did not terminate the original lease. I assume it did.

The best OP could hope for here is some argument based on reliance but that is a purely academic argument that would never really apply here.

An automatic 30 day month to month contract is created until all appropriate legal action has been taken. In this case for the new landlords it would most likely be:

-Give the tenants a formally served 30 day notice to leave (this may or may not be accounted for in the original 90 day termination not sure - I also really think the 90 day thing is sunk by all the verbal promises -probably could go either way depending on state, judge and the talent of lawyers involved)
-If the tenants are not out by 30 days serve them a 3 day to leave or evict notice
-If they are not out in 3 days go to the court and file the eviction. If granted have the tenants served with the eviction
-If they still do not get out and have not filed an appeal then you can go back to the courts and ask to have to them removed by the Sherriff (usually)

The whole process can be very long and tedious if the tenants really want to stick it to you.

As mentioned a sick trick is that tenants can actually file a temporary restraining order on the new landlords while living at their property basically assuring that the police will not let them anywhere near their own property. Mostly the claim will be I am in a dispute with my landlord and I fear they will come to where I live and hurt me or destroy my property.

Most people don't want to deal with all this and can just settle things with money and common sense. Sometimes it gets real nasty and I can assure you the tenants have the upper hand until you have official court documents signed saying otherwise.

These are civil matters and your hands are really tied until they start to turn criminal which is when usually either A. you have an eviction notice or B. Someone gets hurt

-Living under a rental contract for a year (affords you certain rights) and living for free at someones house (affords you no rights) are completely different and not even comparable.

Whats sick is that if you let someone live at your house for long enough for free and they start getting mail there and calling it their primary residence (i.e. switch their DL address etc.) it can get really bad to try to have them removed if they know their full rights and want to proclaim they were making cash payments to you (or something similar). Never underestimate how twisted the law and people can become.

This is in Canada.

We had offered to give them the deposit on house B, but they said not to worry about it until we moved in. They said that they would not start charging us rent until the 15th and that we could just live in house A until then for free.

We have an email from them saying that we have until the 6th and we will be out by then. The email also acknowledges that we were going to move into B, but that they have removed that option for us. We obviously just need a few days to get everything into storage, since we have nowhere to live. We just want until the 6th and to sleep here in the meantime.