Salt Lake City, UT asked in Real Estate Law and Landlord - Tenant for Utah

Q: The owners of a home I am renting (yearly lease with 9 months left) want to buy out our lease. What are our rights?

Owners apparently had a change in their financial situation and now want to buy out our lease. Moving would lead to considerable costs.

1 Lawyer Answer
Kenneth Prigmore
Kenneth Prigmore
Answered
  • Spanish Fork, UT
  • Licensed in Utah

A: Your lease is a contract that will control whether a buyout is allowed and how it needs to transpire. If there is no mention of a buyout in your lease, then your landlord will need your permission to terminate the contract.

Unless the lease says otherwise, you can negotiate what you think is fair for them to buyout your lease. If they don't pay what you think makes it worth moving out, they cannot require you to leave.

As you already live there, you are in a good situation to negotiate. If they tried to evict you, they would need something in the lease to allow it. Otherwise, the court will not evict you as long as you keep the terms of the lease.

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