Must a new owner honor a rental and keep the utilities on?
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Must a new owner honor a rental and keep the utilities on?
Closing today on property. Previous owner has rented the cottage and been paid up to the 16th of this month. There is no written contract. The previous owner notified me last night that the utilities will be shut off today after closing. Am I legally responsible for turning them back on? I do not want to honor the rental in any way.
Asked on August 5, 2011 New York
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
When you buy a property that has tenants, you buy the property subject all leases and agreements with those tenants. That is, you *must* honor the lease terms in place (including providing utilities) when you bought the premises, and you cannot evict the tenant at will.
That said, if there is not written contract, the tenant will be a month to month tenant. That means you can give the tenant notice (one month's notice) that the tenancy will be terminated. After that month, if the tenant has not voluntarily left, you can go to court to evict him or her (you can only evict through the court; you can't just change locks, turn off utilities, etc.) Best would be to hire an attorney to handle this for you; it will cost a few hundred dollars, but make sure you get rid of the tenant as fast as possible, without any liability to you for breach of lease or improper eviction.
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