What happens to my lease if the landlord sells the building?

Two separate sale processes running close together, the tenant’s business sale and the landlord’s property sale, can genuinely collide, even though neither party controls the other’s timeline or even necessarily knows about it.

The lease itself usually survives the change

Real property law generally treats a lease as binding on successors in title, meaning a purchaser of the building takes it subject to the leases already in place, rent, term, and renewal rights included. A tenant is not normally left without a lease just because the landlord sold, though who you are now dealing with, and how responsive they are, can change considerably.

A new landlord may not know, or honour, informal arrangements

Side agreements, verbal understandings, or informal flexibility a tenant enjoyed with a longtime landlord do not necessarily carry over to a buyer of the building who has only the written lease to go by. Anything that genuinely matters should be documented and, ideally, confirmed in an estoppel certificate obtained before the landlord’s own sale closes, rather than relied on as an unwritten understanding.

Consent and estoppel requests can stall during a landlord transition

If your own lease assignment or renewal request lands during the window when the landlord’s property sale is closing, you may be asking the outgoing owner for something the incoming owner will actually have to honour, or asking a brand-new owner with no history with your tenancy at all. Either way, expect slower responses and build in extra time rather than assuming the usual pace.

Confirm who actually holds title before relying on anyone’s answer

A quick land registry search confirms the registered owner at any given moment, which matters if you are trying to get a signature, a consent, or an estoppel certificate and are not certain the person you are dealing with still has authority to give it.