Can I sell my rental property?
Posted on 07. Oct, 2009 by Karen Herbert in Selling a property
Q: I am considering selling my investment property, but I have a tenant on a lease until later this year. Am I allowed to sell my property while there is a tenant in it? Also, if I sell to an owner occupier and not to an investor, can I ask the tenant to move out?
A: Firstly, you can sell your investment property whenever you like if it is your property to sell. However, “lease rules”. By that I mean that regardless of whether you sell to and owner occupier or an investor, you cannot make the tenant move out before the expiry of their lease. You might find that a prospective owner occupier is happy to wait until the lease expiry. Sometimes the purchaser and the tenant can come to an agreement in writing to terminate the lease early. This is usually come about by the purchaser making an attractive offer to the tenant to entice them to agree to terminate the lease early, i.e.; pay for the cost of their removals, or offer a ‘free rent’ period.
Karen Herbert is the Principal of Position One, based in Brisbane, Australia. For further information or help with renting out and managing your property, please visit the Position One website.
