Ohio.
We live in an apartment complex in Ohio (about 65 apartments here). In May, we renewed our year long lease with the owners of the property and agreed to another 12 months. However, in June, the owners sold the property to a new company, and now that company wants us to sign a new lease with them, starting over our 12 month committment at a higher monthly rate. Thing is, we are planning on buying a house, and have everything worked out so that we can buy in time for our original 12 months to be up (next May). So, we do not want to committ to an additional 3 months with this new company, not to mention, pay a higher rent, just because they happened to buy the place.
My questions: Do we have to do this? Do they have to honor the lease we have already signed? If we were to break the lease, we could be held responsible for the remainder of the least agreement (however many months left on the lease times the monthly rent). Does this work backwards? Aren't they breaking the lease with us? I really don't understand how this works. I looked up the Ohio Landlord/Tenant Laws (ORC, Title LIII, Sec.5321), but I didn't see where it addresses this kind of issue.
Does anyone out there have any experience with this kind of thing? Any help is GREATLY appreciated!

They have to honor your lease. However, you may be required to vacate at the end of your lease period. If you would like to feel better, look up your tenant landlord laws for Ohio.

They should have to honor the remaining period of your current lease. I don't think they can force you to sign a new lease with their company or evict you for not agreeing to a new lease. Furthermore, since you have not signed a lease agreement with these folks there is no way you can be in violation of the lease agreement (there isn't one). It's possible you would owe them the balance on your current lease if you were to vacate at this time since they are, in effect, acting in the previous landlord's stead.

This somewhat falls into the same category as rent controlled apartments. Those places take on new ownership often, however, they are required to allow the tentant to remain at the rent that they were contracted to pay. They cannot change your lease nor your rent halfway into it. You have a signed agreement for that property.

It is worth saying here that while your new landlord has to honor your old lease, they are legally able to ask you to sign another one.

After all, if you want to sign up for more time at a higher monthly rate, the court won't stop you. It didn't hurt the new landlord to ask... after all, someone might say yes.

You may want to get together with some of the other tenants, though. If the landlord retaliates against those that do not pay by witholding necessary services as outlined in the original lease agreement, you guys may have a suit at that time....and it would be much easier to prove if it was happening to several people with similar circumstances.

Thanks for all the replies. I did talk to the new management this morning and it is worth mentioning that this is a "tax-credit" apartment complex. Basically, that means that the owners get certain tax credits to rent to low income families. We qualified when we moved in, are paying full-rent (no subsidies), and have lived there for a year and a half. Now, the new owners want to "re-certify" everybody that lives there to make sure that the income guidelines are being met. I have no problem with that, except that we are over-income now. When we signed the new lease, we were told that we did not have to requalify (under the income guidelines-because we would not qualify anymore-we make "too much money" according to them), and just signed the new lease. Now this new company tells us that we are over-qualified and have 60 days to move out. They say they will write us a letter to give to a new complex showing that we are not breaking the lease, but are being asked to move because we make too much $.
BUT, aren't they breaking our lease? There is nothing in it that says we have to leave if we make too much $. This is going to cause a huge problem for us. We will have to change schools for our kids (disruptive to them), this will hurt our credit, because of the length of time at residence, it will cost us money to move (moving expenses, deposits, etc.)....if we break the lease, they will take us to court...can they break the lease and get away with it? What's a person to do? We moved there to get on our feet, we pay all of our bills on time, and now we are being booted out on our butts because we are "over income"...by less than $5000 a year btw.
What now?

So where does the part with the new lease and increased monthly payments come in?

In your first post, you say they want you there for the next 12 months, and now they want you out in 60 days....which is it?

Until this morning, they wanted us to sign a new lease. Then, this morning, they asked us about our income and thats when they told us about the overqualification and told that we have 60 days to move out because of the income thing....it's turning into a mess.

I would suggest you call local attorneys and take advantage of free consultations. Bring a copy of your lease, and maybe talk to more that one. For some reason, it seems to me if your current lease does not have verbage as to having to move due to being 'over' in income, then they legally can't make you. You signed the lease with the expectation that it is a binding agreement, and the terms listed, are the terms that you are expected to follow, regardless of who buys it out. Consult an attorney. That seems to be your only recourse at this point. Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

Have an attorney write them a letter explaining to them that a lease is biinding to both tenant and landlord. Don't let them bullcrap you, you are in the right. But you will have to walk a very straight line from now on. This means you cannot cause any kind of evictible offense.

Ummm, Op, you need to speak to an atty. If this is section 8 housing (govt. subsidized) and you over qualify, they may actually have the legal right to evict you. This is a little different than the usual buy out.

I go with Mommy here...

Those types of properties operate under a different set of rules from the norm.... and your previous landlord may have been in violation when they gave you the lease extention at your present income.

Which is why an attorney would be their best bet. I would be to take the lease and consult an attorney. That is the only way that they will know for sure.

Even if this is Suction 8, it would merely mean that section 8 would d-fund the tenant. And the tenant would be responsible for the rent on her own without the benefit of being subsidize. Section 8 does not dictate to owners who they can rent to. Their controls extends to the applicant and the contract between the tenant and owner. Now if this complex is owned by section 8 or some other government entity and the contract was made fraudulently,then there would be a problem.

That is true too now that I think about it. A girlfriend of mine moved into an apartment complex, and a year later it was changed to 'low income'. She was well above the limit for income, and did not qualify. They allowed her to stay there, however, her rent was absolutely ridculously high. It is almost as if they jack up the price for those who aren't 'low income' knowing that they won't pay that, and move.

Even if this is Suction 8, it would merely mean that section 8 would d-fund the tenant. And the tenant would be responsible for the rent on her own without the benefit of being subsidize. Section 8 does not dictate to owners who they can rent to. Their controls extends to the applicant and the contract between the tenant and owner. Now if this complex is owned by section 8 or some other government entity and the contract was made fraudulently,then there would be a problem.
Well, apparently it was if they never checked and just let him re-lease. The property owners have the responsibility of making sure the tennant is within the qualifications. I think I am getting the picture here. The new owners want him to sign a new lease after checking the income, therefore, his lease will be more. He doesn't want to, so they said fine, then you can move out.

OP, get thyself to the atty. Without any of us being able to see the lease and all of the requirements and guidelines, there is no way we know exactly what you can do. We are just guessing and giving answers based on very limited information.

This is a privately owned property, that gets special IRS benifits for renting to low-income families. They accept section 8 tenants, but the tenant has to apply for that on their own, and the property owners have nothing to do with that. We, however, do not and have not used section 8. We had to "qualify" under their income rules (could not make more than a certain amount they established for our family size), but we pay "full rent", etc.

After reading and re-reading the lease agreement, there is NOTHING in it that stipulates that we would have to move out if we become over-income under their guidelines. The only thing that I can find that this might be "legal" is that the owner can evict us for "good cause"...I just don't see how this could be good cause.

Anyway, we are going to move. We just called a mortgage company and got approved for a home loan, and actually made an offer on a house this evening....so we are just bumping up our plans for homeownership a little.

But, for future reference to anyone who might go through this.....get an attorney to look over the lease if your management tries to pull this. We are going to take the letter they gave us, informing us of their desire for us to leave the property, and try to get them to pay our moving expenses, because they would try to enforce the lease on us if we broke it, and in essence, they are breaking the lease by asking us to move because we make too much money....crap!

This is a privately owned property, that gets special IRS benifits for renting to low-income families. They accept section 8 tenants, but the tenant has to apply for that on their own, and the property owners have nothing to do with that. We, however, do not and have not used section 8. We had to "qualify" under their income rules (could not make more than a certain amount they established for our family size), but we pay "full rent", etc.

After reading and re-reading the lease agreement, there is NOTHING in it that stipulates that we would have to move out if we become over-income under their guidelines. The only thing that I can find that this might be "legal" is that the owner can evict us for "good cause"...I just don't see how this could be good cause.

Anyway, we are going to move. We just called a mortgage company and got approved for a home loan, and actually made an offer on a house this evening....so we are just bumping up our plans for homeownership a little.

But, for future reference to anyone who might go through this.....get an attorney to look over the lease if your management tries to pull this. We are going to take the letter they gave us, informing us of their desire for us to leave the property, and try to get them to pay our moving expenses, because they would try to enforce the lease on us if we broke it, and in essence, they are breaking the lease by asking us to move because we make too much money....crap!
Congrats on the house!!!