Greetings,
We are trying to prepare for the worst after learning our apartment was sold to new owners (a mega realty co. with questionable past behavior. We do not currently have a lease. Building is 11 units, 7 of which are RS and 4 market-rate (including ours). Details below:
+April 1 2015: We moved into apartment with a 1-year lease.
+January 2016: We asked for a lease renewal for April. We were told they were working on it and would be back in touch. We never received a new lease, but continued paying our current rent amount from April until now.
+Between March 2016 and and July 2016, we received 3 requests for access to the apartment for inspections. We were present during the third and were told they were appraising apartments in order to re-finance the building (this was clearly a lie).
+Early August 2016: We received a letter informing the building had been sold.
We've been told to immediately direct rent payments to new owners and have been given some new paperwork to fill out, including a W9 which is presumably for security deposit.
My chief concern is that new owners will force us to re-negotiate new lease that would start in September (highly competitive time of year) vs. April and at much higher rate.
Is there any other option? Any way to get retroactive lease from previous owner before it is too late? Does our attempt to get a new lease and their response/stalling count for anything?
Any advice/perspective is greatly appreciated.