@Angela Clark ask for answers and you shall receive......remember though I am not an attorney so this is the best advice I can give without saying "consult with an attorney"; although you may see that answer below. :)
Thanks for the question and answers so far......my pleasure!
What we haven't been able to sort out is this...if the land lord wants to sell the house, they cannot give 90 days notice simply to list the house for sale as far as we can tell. Maybe they could give 90 days notice to renovate before they sell???? If yes - how extensive renovation (e.g. carpet and paint throughout entire house?)? How long after renovations is it o.k. to list the house for sale without violating the law?.......correct, if there is no plan to use or ability to use one of the 4 exemptions, the owner cannot give a no cause termination notice prior to listing. If they wanted to renovate and use the "unsafe or unfit for housing" exemption, then that can be done. The problem there is "unsafe or unfit" are not well defined so I would consult with an attorney before using that exemption. I personally will not be using that exemption for any of my investments until I see case law established for it.
In the case where the house is listed and sold with the tenants remaining, there seems to be some wording about whether or not the new owner plans to live in the house? If the new owner is going to live in the house - when is the 90 day notice in effect; the day the house is listed because it MIGHT be sold to someone in 90 days that might want to live in the house or is it 90 days from accepted offer of someone that plans to live in the house?........this is where strategy comes into play. yes, there is an exemption if the buyer is will be an owner occupant. I wouldn't try to use this exemption for a 2+ unit property (due to the verbiage in the first sentence as it is more the condo conversion exemption), but it should be able to be used for a single family without a problem (I advise consulting an attorney though before using it). The 90 days would be based on the notice date. Again, you would not give this notice before you have an offer in hand as there would be no way to know that you do have a buyer that is going to owner occupy. Then strategy of when you give that notice comes into play. I, as a seller, would not be willing to give this notice until the buyer has removed every single contingency, including appraisal and finance contingency. I would take it a step further and make them increase their earnest money and release their earnest money to me. I would want earnest money to be atleset 3 times one month's rent plus attorneys fee. as you'll need that to cover losses in the event that the sale fails, the tenant sues and you now have to defend yourself.
If the buyer intends to make it a long term rental - are they bound to the prior tenants and the current rental rate or can they raise the rent beyond the rent control because it's a new agreement between new owner and old tenant?......no rent raise beyond the rent caps in this scenario. Their tenancy is their tenancy a new owner does not create a new tenancy, only a new tenant creates a new tenancy.
The realtors we are talking to are still trying to understand it all. @Mike Nuss do you have any input to these questions/circumstances surrounding selling the property - or could you refer us to a good resource to talk through a lot of these specifics around selling a rental property?........the go to landlord attorney in Oregon, in my opinion, is Jeff Bennet with Warren Allen LLP. We work with his apprentice (for lack of a better term) Brad Kraus. He's a pitbull and knows this stuff inside and out.
