Richard is my client since 2004 when I helped him buy an apartment building. Before we met he already bought a house, where he lives, and a manufactured home in a ROC (Resident Owned Community) park. He is using it for rentals. After a couple of years renting it to a great long term tenant, when everybody started reducing the rent, he decided to increase it, and he lost a good tenant. But it had to be his way or highway. Frustrated, he put it on the market. And timing was far from perfect.
Soon he found another tenant, of course, not for more money, and he was preparing a two-year lease. If we prepare a lease, we can't make it for more than a year, but he was renting himself, and he could do whatever he wanted. I was concerned with showings, but he assured me that it was taken care of in the lease. I suggested that he puts the provision that if he sells, and the Buyer does not want the tenant, he could terminate the lease early with ample notice to the tenant. No problem. He said he would do it.
The market was sluggish, and there were very few showings. The price kept 
sliding down. After some time on the market the asking price got to a realistic point, and we got an offer. I asked for the lease. It was a two page lease, and there was nothing about early termination. I asked the Seller, and he said it did not matter as he could always give a 30-day notice and get the tenant out. He insisted that in Florida it is the landlord's and tenant's right to terminate any lease with 30 day notice. It sounded weird, as why then even have a lease, if you can walk away with a 30-day notice. But he was saying that the law is different when you deal with manufactured homes.
Well, no. Lease is a contract, and you can't just do whatever you want. If you kick the paying tenant out, it is a breach of the lease by the Landlord, and the Tenant is entitled to legal remedies.
Richard got angry and said that the tenant repainted the property without his «written consent» specified in the contract, and also she has a small bird there, and the contract specifically says «no pets» and even mentions birds. Can he fight the tenant? Just imagine that he gets in front of the judge and would have to explain why tenant painting the property with fresh paint hurt the value, or how sympathetic the judge would be to the idea of throwing an elderly tenant paying rent just because of the bird...
But the point is that the Buyer will not be sitting and waiting for the legal troubles to unfold. He can't get it when he wants it, the deal is over.
The buyer has no problem with the tenant staying until October this year, but the 24-months lease expires in October 2012. And the Buyer can't change here anything. If the tenant refuses to leave, the tenant has the right to stay there until the lease expires.
Now Richard is changing a hard stand towards the tenant to schmoozing the tenant, and offering money for leaving earlier. The tenant knows what is happening and is not agreeing, and the offer of compensation goes up... All for Richard being his own lawyer and writing his own 2 page leases...
Yep, the Landlord can do whatever he wants. Even shoot himself in the foot.
*Image courtesy of Chi King via Flickr.com Creative Commons License
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