Does the tenant have to leave because I am selling?

No. The lease continues. A sale is not an eviction. Repossession has its own rules and its own notice, and it is not part of this offer.

Can Bruce buy with rent unpaid?

He can talk about buying the building as it is, lease included. Unpaid rent does not disappear. A TAL file, if you have one, should be mentioned. The offer is not a judgment.

Do I have to let strangers walk through the tenant’s unit?

Not for this sale. There is no open house. You are dealing with one buyer. The tenant’s right to peaceable enjoyment does not get suspended so that a listing can be photographed.

What if I live in one unit and rent the other?

Say so. Your furniture in your unit can stay or go. The rented unit stays rented. They are not the same set of keys.

Will a direct sale cancel my application at the TAL?

No. The tribunal file continues unless the tribunal or the parties end it. Selling changes who owns the building.

A lease in place

Sell a house with a problem tenant

In shortYou can sell a Montreal property with a tenant in it. A sale does not end a residential lease, and it is not an eviction. Bruce buys the building with the lease as it stands.

“Problem tenant” is the phrase people type when the rent has stopped, the relationship has broken, or a plex has become a job they no longer want. The legal picture in Quebec is plainer than the ads. A sale does not end a residential lease. The Tribunal administratif du logement is where non-payment and resiliation are heard. Bruce buys properties with the lease still in them. He does not promise to remove anyone.

The lease survives the deed

Under the Civil Code, selling the building does not, by itself, terminate the lease. The new owner steps into it. A clause in a private offer that says “vacant at closing” does not cancel a lease the tenant has not agreed to end. If you sell to Bruce, say clearly who is living there. An as-is sale includes the tenancy. It is not a vacant house with a temporary guest.

Repossession — reprise du logement — is a narrow right. It is for a natural person who wants to live in the unit or house certain relatives, with notice tied to the end of the lease. The notice is six months before the end when the lease is longer than six months, and one month when the term is six months or less. A buyer that will not live there cannot use repossession as a shortcut, and a legal person cannot repossess in order to occupy. Do not plan a sale around an eviction Bruce has not offered. He has not offered one.

The tribunal is a separate file

Unpaid rent is a reason to apply to the TAL for an order and, where the conditions are met, for resiliation of the lease. The steps and the delays are the tribunal’s. This page will not walk you through a filing. If a case is already open, a sale does not erase the hearing. The new owner may have to continue it. Tell Bruce if a file number exists. Hiding a hearing is how a closing date falls apart at the notary, when the lease shows up in the questions and nobody has mentioned it.

You can still want out. Owning the other door in a Lachine duplex or a LaSalle plex is a kind of work: calls, cheques that do not arrive, a unit you are afraid to enter. A direct sale lets you stop being that person on a date you choose, without showings through an occupied home and without a commission. The tenant’s lease is the buyer’s problem only after the deed, and only as the lease already stands. Nothing gets harsher because a buyer arrived.

Questions people ask

Seller questions

Keep reading

This is general information about how a sale usually works in Quebec. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and it is not a promise about your price or your date. A notary — and, if your file needs it, a lawyer or a licensed insolvency trustee — applies the rules to your situation. Sending an address does not commit you to sell.