Landlord Sold the Property? Here’s What Happens to Your Lease

The agent rings: “Just letting you know the owner is selling. We’ll need access for photos this week and open homes on Saturdays.” Then a month later: “The new owner wants vacant possession. You’ll need to be out in 30 days.”

Take a breath. Your lease does not disappear because the property changed hands.

Your lease survives the sale

This is the most important rule. If you are on a fixed-term lease, the new owner buys the property with you in it. They step into the old landlord’s shoes. Same lease, same rent, same end date. They cannot end the lease early just because they bought the place.

If you are on a periodic (month-to-month) lease, the new owner can give you notice, but only using the same reasons and notice periods as any other landlord in your state.

During the sale: your rights

• Notice of intention to sell: In New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and most states the landlord must tell you in writing before the property goes on the market. In Victoria, you must be told before the lease is signed if a sale is already planned.
• Open homes and inspections: The landlord must give proper notice for each one (usually 24 to 48 hours, in writing). You can refuse unreasonable numbers of inspections. In New South Wales, no more than 2 per week unless you agree.
• Photos: In most states, they need your consent to photograph your belongings and cannot publish images showing your personal items without permission.
• Compensation: In Victoria, you are entitled to a half day’s rent (or $30, whichever is more) for each sales inspection. Other states allow you to negotiate.
• Auction: They cannot hold an auction inside the property without your agreement in most states.

Can I end the lease because of the sale?

Often, yes. In New South Wales, if the landlord did not tell you about a planned sale before you signed, you can end the lease with 14 days’ notice and no break fee. In Victoria, you can end a fixed-term lease with 14 days’ notice once you get a notice of intention to sell, if the sale was not disclosed. Queensland and other states have similar rules. This is useful if you don’t want to live through months of open homes.

After the sale: what the new owner can do

• Fixed-term lease: Nothing until the end of the term, unless you breach the lease. They can give notice to end at the term’s end only on a ground your state allows (in New South Wales since 19 May 2025, in Victoria since 25 November 2025), with the notice periods below.
• Periodic lease: They can give notice using a valid ground. “New owner wants to move in” is a valid ground in most states, but the notice period still applies, and it must be genuine. In New South Wales a landlord needs a ground since 19 May 2025: a sale whose contract requires vacant possession needs 30 days’ notice, given after contracts are exchanged; a new owner moving in later needs 60 days if the fixed term was 6 months or less, and 90 days for a longer fixed term or a periodic lease. In Victoria it is 90 days for a sale or the owner or their family moving in. In Queensland it is 2 months on a Form 12 notice to leave, where a sale contract requires vacant possession or the owner is moving in.

The new owner cannot raise the rent outside the normal rules, cannot change the terms of your lease, and cannot skip the notice period.

Your bond

Your bond stays with the government bond authority. The new owner’s details are updated. You do not pay a new bond and the old landlord cannot keep it.

If they try to push you out early

1. Reply in writing that your lease continues and you will not be vacating.
2. Ask for a copy of any termination notice and check it against the rules for your state.
3. If the notice is invalid or the notice period is wrong, apply to the tribunal to have it set aside.
4. If you do want to leave, negotiate. New owners often pay tenants to go early. Get any deal in writing.

Claim Done drafts your Break Lease Notice for $49. Done in about 5 minutes.