Woman seeks advice after learning her recently purchased home is already being leased by someone

Buying a house and finding that the previous owner or realtor has kept things from you can be quite challenging. Especially, if they have leased the house to someone and not mentioned that crucial detail anywhere in the contract. McCayleigh Daniels, who goes by @mccayleighdaniels on TikTok, found herself in quite a unique situation—something she had never even heard of before—when she discovered that her new house had a pre-existing lease. Her mother, who has been a realtor for 20 years, hadn't seen such a thing before either.

Daniels shared that she feels the situation is one of its kind because even Google could not help her. For context, she explained, "I have been living at the current property I’ve been at for two years now." She purchased the property with her boyfriend straight from their landlord in June. “Well, a few days ago we got an email from these strangers,” the woman revealed, sharing the email behind her. The woman hid the names and addresses for privacy reasons and read the email. "I’m reaching out regarding the property you purchased... my partner and I viewed this house in February 2024 and signed a lease on February 15th with our previous owners," it stated.

"We were shocked to read that last week (7/17) that the property was sold. After reaching out to the previous owner, she tried to inform us that the lease was canceled due to the sale," the email further read. Daniels shared that as she lives in a college town, having a lease that would start months after is quite common. "From my knowledge, based on leases and everything I found on Google, leases do not get canceled just because you sold a house to someone else," she added while reading the email. "Leases can not be canceled unilaterally this way," the person pointed out. On the other hand, the woman and her boyfriend hadn't renewed their lease because they were planning on buying a house, and ended up buying the one they were living in.

However, if there are any previous leases before a house gets sold, they do not get canceled and simply get passed on to the new owner. "Our contract legally entitles us to move into your house on 8/7. That being said, our first choice is not to pursue legal action in an attempt to move into your home," the person expressed through the email. "This would have been correct if we had known that was a lease for our house in the first place," Daniels remarked. "I feel like that should be the previous owner’s job to like to write on the contract, hey, there’s a lease on this property!"

The email concluded, "We believe that the previous owners have put us in an uncomfortable and messy situation. Will you help us resolve this so we don’t have to take legal action?" The woman shared how they wouldn't have bought the property if she knew about the lease as they plan on living there and hope that she doesn't have to move out of her house come August 7. People took to the comments section to give the woman suggestions. @stephgonyea wrote, "No, involve a lawyer all day. Stop communicating until you have representation. I know it feels expensive but it’s worth it to save your house." @scrabbleigh commented, "This is what title insurance is for! Call your title attorney asap!" @meikadub remarked, "Their lease contract does not involve you. Quit communicating with them and reach out to title." 

You can follow McCayleigh Daniels (@mccayleighdaniels) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.