I rent a house in Arlington, VA.  My landlord recently sold the house.
 The new landlord is a developer and has plans to evict me and knock
down the house.

I was not aware of the sale until 1 month after the sale was made.  As
the renter, should I have had a right-of-first refusal to buy the
home?  If so, please provide me with the correct statute so I can use
it to contest.

Many thanks,
David

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Clarification of Question by davidz1-ga on 25 Nov 2002 11:52 PST

Additional information that may be relevant:

* The house is a free standing, single unit.
* The lease is month-to-month.

Greetings David and I am extremely sorry to hear about this problem
you are having.  I cannot imagine being told I had to leave my home be
it a rental or not.  The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act
states in Title 55, Article 2 §55-248.12 - "Disclosure":

(b) In the event of the sale of the premises, the landlord shall
notify the tenant of such sale and disclose to the tenant the name and
address of the purchaser and a telephone number at which such
purchaser can be located.

(b1) If an application for registration of the rental property as a
condominium or cooperative has been filed with the Real Estate Board,
or if there is within six months an existing plan for tenant
displacement resulting from (i) demolition or substantial
rehabilitation of the property, or (ii) conversion of the rental
property to office, hotel or motel use or planned unit development,
then the landlord or any person authorized to enter into a rental
agreement on his behalf shall disclose that information in writing to
any prospective tenant.

(c) The information required to be furnished by this section shall be
kept current and this section extends to and is enforceable against
any successor landlord, owner or manager. A person who fails to comply
with this section becomes an agent of each person who is a landlord
for the purposes of service of process and receiving and receipting
for notices and demands.


This is from §55-248.26 "Tenant's remedies for landlord's unlawful
ouster, exclusion or diminution of service" in the same legislation:

"Tenant's remedies for landlord's unlawful ouster, exclusion or
diminution of service - If the landlord unlawfully removes or excludes
the tenant from the premises or willfully diminishes services to the
tenant by interrupting or causing the interruption of gas, water or
other essential service to the tenant, the tenant may recover
possession or terminate the rental agreement and, in either case,
recover the actual damages sustained by him and a reasonable
attorney's fee. If the rental agreement is terminated the landlord
shall return all security and any accrued interest recoverable by
law."

The complete legislation on renter and landlord rights is available at
http://www.centerforrealestate.com/legal/vrlta.html#§ 55-248.12

In the event the above does not somehow apply to your situation, I
have some contact information for you and I would urge you to call one
or all of the resources below:

The Arlington County Housing Information Center 
Much general information for renters, including the Virginia
Residential Landlord Tenant Act
Address: 2100 Courthouse Plaza Ste 700
Arlington, VA 22201 
Phone: (703) 228-3765 
Fax: (703) 228-3834 
URL: http://www.co.arlington.va.us/cphd/housing/tenant.htm 
Email: hcd@co.arlington.va.us 

Virginia Fair Housing Office 
Address: 3600 W Broad St, Fifth Floor, Room 554
Richmond, VA 23230 
Phone: (804) 367-8530
(888) 551-3247 
TTY: (804) 367-9753 
URL: http://www.fairhousing.vipnet.org/ 
Email: fairhousing@dpor.state.va.us 
 
Housing Opportunities Made Equal 
Provides tenant counseling, discrimination testing, down payment
assistance and other services.
Address: 2201 W Broad St Ste 200
Richmond, VA 23220 
Phone: (804) 354-0641 
TTY: (804) 354-0680 
Fax: (804) 354-0690 
 
The above contacts are from the web site
http://directory.tenantsunion.org/virginia.html

As far as right of first refusal, here is a definition: "right of
first refusal - A provision in an agreement that requires the owner of
a property to give another party the first opportunity to purchase or
lease the property before he or she offers it for sale or lease to
others"

Unless your agreement has this clause, then you would not be able to
claim a first refusal right.  The above definition is from the real
estate glossary at http://www26.brinkster.com/realbbs/glossary.htm and
a Richmond real estate glossary defines it at __ as "First Refusal
Right - Being offered the right to buy something before it is offered
to others. The opportunity of a party to match the terms of a proposed
contract before the contract is executed."  However, the latter does
not state the right being in a contract.  You would need to examine
your rental contract and call one of the resources above to ascertain
if you have been wronged.


Should you need clarification before rating my answer. please request
it, and good luck in your quest to keep your home.


SEARCH PHRASES:

virginia renters rights
virginia right of first refusal

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Request for Answer Clarification by davidz1-ga on 25 Nov 2002 13:26 PST

Hi Journalist.  Thanks for your complete response.  

I have a few follow-up questions:

1.  Regarding Article 2 §55-248.12 (b) there is not a time frame for
notification specified.  I _was_ notified, but it was 2 months after
the sale occurred.  Does this section imply that notification must
occur before the sale?

2. I had heard that VA had the right of first refusal, as I believe
Washington DC has.  I've done research to verify this, but have not
been able to find a definitive statement saying that right-of-first
refusal is _not_ a right inherent in the Commonwealth of VA.  What is
your background that allows you to say "Unless your agreement has this
clause, then you would not be able to
claim a first refusal right?

Many thanks and keep the good answers coming!
David

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Clarification of Answer by journalist-ga on 25 Nov 2002 14:10 PST

Thanks for your clarification.  To answer each of your questions;

1. I saw no time frame mentioned in the legislation.

2. My claim in this forum is only as a researcher, not as an attorney
nor someone providing legal counsel.

In the answer, I stated:

"As far as right of first refusal, here is a definition: "right of
first refusal - A provision in an agreement that requires the owner of
a property to give another party the first opportunity to purchase or
lease the property before he or she offers it for sale or lease to
others"

Then I went on to interpret this to mean that if there is not a
provision like that in your renter's agreement, then how could you
claim the right?  That was what I meant.

Then I posted the definition from a Virginia database:

"...and a Richmond real estate glossary defines it at __ as "First
Refusal
Right - Being offered the right to buy something before it is offered
to others. The opportunity of a party to match the terms of a proposed
contract before the contract is executed."  

But this Virginia definition did not state (like the first one) that
the clause had to be in the contract.  That's why I suggested you
first examine
your rental contract to see if the clause is there - if so, then it
would appear your landlord is in violation.

Does your rental agreement contain an "option to purchase" clause?

This answer was correct, but only contained information I had already
found on the Web.  I asked the question it hoping to find insight that
comes from experience, not simply web research.

Hi, as a person who is in the know about such things, the answer to
your question is 'No.' Although tenants have certain rights as
outlined by the above researcher, you do not have an option to buy if
the landlord decides to sell.

Excellent.  Thanks for the definitive answer.  Can you add a little
about your background that qualifies you to make such a statement.
(eg, Real Estate Lawyer, Landlord)

--David