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If Your Landlord Sells

What changes, what does not, and what it means when the buyer serves you an N12.

4 min read · Guide
A wall of bookshelves above a desk, with a plaid armchair beside it

A sign goes up outside and the assumption is immediate: I am being evicted. Usually you are not, and the rules here are more protective than most tenants realise.

What does not change

A sale does not end your tenancy. The buyer steps into the landlord's shoes and takes the property subject to your lease: same rent, same terms, same rights. Your deposit transfers with it, and so does the interest owed on it.

Showings

01

Twenty-four hours' written notice, stating the reason and a time between 8am and 8pm. Every showing, every time.

02

You do not have to leave, and you do not have to tidy or stage the unit.

03

No lockbox access without your agreement.

04

Open houses are not authorised by the entry provisions in the way individual showings are. You can decline one.

Worth saying plainly

Constant showings at unreasonable hours, or entry without notice, is interference with your reasonable enjoyment and is what a T2 application exists for. That said, a landlord who asks nicely and offers something in return is worth working with. You will get a better outcome negotiating a schedule than refusing everything.

If the buyer wants to move in

This is the one case where a sale can end your tenancy. A purchaser who in good faith requires the unit for themselves, a spouse, a parent or a child, or a caregiver for one of those people, can require the seller to serve you an N12.

What you are entitled to either way

Your last month's rent deposit is applied to your final month. You are owed interest on that deposit for every year it was held. And if the buyer never moves in, you may have a bad-faith claim for up to twelve months' rent even after you have gone.

Not sure where to start? Fifteen minutes on the phone will tell you.

Call or text (647) 448-4857

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