So you signed a contract that incorporates penalties for you but has no repercussions for the other party whatsoever. You live and learn.
The penalties are not really the point. All contracts have a clause that specifies how the contract shall end. Unless the contract explicitly describes a procedure for premature termination, it’s assumed that the contract must run until the termination date, ie., that premature termination simply will not occur, or, if it does, the terminating party is in breach of contract.
Also (if I’ve understood your circumstances correctly) if you’re only two months into the contract but the property has already been sold, then sale negotiations most likely commenced before the contract was signed. In other words, it was signed in bad faith - the landlord had no intent to adhere to it. Not sure how that pans out under Taiwan law, but it might mitigate the effect of this sort of outright stupidity:
At least that’s my understanding. Some legal experts might weigh in on that.
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I have heard some people tell me that as well as others saying I have the right to stay until my lease agreement ends so not sure which one stands in this case
I will look into this, thank you!
I think that odds are that he needs to tell you 1 month in advance. Maybe you can buy time by asking him to give you an official notification, and then try to get a full month after that…
This sounds like a good idea
Bought or rented? A commercial property is expensive and few people, restaurants, businesses are able to come up with that kind of money or mortgage. Unless it’s a bigger company. Even then they rent instead of buying.
Contracts are contracts. If the LL did not include terms for termination in the contract other than for tenant’s ending of the contract, then the LL is in fact liable for breach of contract. There are probably no terms in the contract for what happens in a breach of contract, but Taiwanese courts are known to uphold contract rights in cases… I would think that the LL knows that… but most LL are quite unprofessional, even the professional ones (ie. own multiple let properties) because they’re too cheap. So I would suggest that you hear out what they have to say; then argue that such an early ending of the contract is massively inconvenient for you, causing loss of revenue for the remaining months, loads of expenses for finding a new location, etc, etc.
Explain very clearly that this is the case, how much it will cost you and have in mind a high figure that you can throw into the discussion at a suitable point.
Also explain that you have been a responsible tenant and honored the terms of the contract to the letter, and how hard it is to find tenants like that (truth!).
Lastly, keep a lifeline of being open to negotiating a figure settlement to facilitate the discussion. You’d probably be best to not sign any paperwork there and there. Make sure you have your own witnesses there, too.
Good luck.
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Wasn’t it written somehwere that when you bought a property you took over teh tenants and all? I remember a real estae agent saying that as a compliment about a property around our neighborhood.
Thank you!!
Land Act, Chapter III Lease of Houses and Building Sites:
Article 100
The lessor shall not take back his house unless one of the following conditions obtains:
(1) The lessor takes the house for his own residence or for reconstruction.
(2) The lessee subleases the house in violation of Paragraph one, Article 443 of the Civil Code1.
(3) The cumulative amount of house rental which the lessee has failed to pay exceeds the equivalent of two months’ rental, after the entire cash deposit has been used to counterbalance the amount in arrears.
(4) The lessee puts the house to illegal use in violation of Acts or ordinances.
(5) The lessee violates the terms of the lease contract.
(6) The lessee causes damage to the house or the fixtures and fails to pay due compensation.
Also - perhaps you should have been offered to buy the property first if they are selling its land 
Probably too broad an interpretation, but fun to think about.
Article 104
When the building site is offered for sale, the lessee shall have preferential right to purchase it on the same terms as are offered to any other person, and when the house on the leased site is offered for sale, the owner of the site shall have preferential right to purchase it on the same terms as are offered to any other person.
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Well there you go. You’ve got them to rights.
I suddenly find myself in the same predicament. I have a place lined up that I plan to move to early next year. However, just in case things didn’t pan-out, I renewed my lease for 2 years back in the summer of 2019, so legally I should be able to rent my current place until summer of 2021.
However, my LL informed me he wishes to sell the house, and he wishes to sell it now.
There is no buyer yet, but he has given me 1 day notice to turn my place into an open house tomorrow for realtors and potential buyers look at.
My LL says that I could ask the next owner to let me continue renting until the end of my current contract. However, he isn’t going to guarantee that happens.
I’ve read all the useful comments above. However, it seems to me that I don’t have many options other than to ask the current LL to pay me a fine for violating contract and compensate my moving fee?
I don’t think you have to do anything. Unless they have an out clause in the lease for a sale, I think he has to honor it and you don’t have to show it.
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This happens to my friend however she managed to continue renting with the new owner.
From what I’ve read before this surely must be illegal. Hopefully others can provide law references.
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You should talk to Tsuei mama about this if you want to know your legal rights - https://www.tmm.org.tw/ but my understanding is that you lease the property, and as such you are the legal owner until the lease runs out, therefore your landlord can’t force you to let people into your property if you don’t want them to. I had a similar situation with my last place, but we only had 2 months of the lease left to run and already planned to move out. We told the landlord that we’d rather not have people coming to our house and could they wait until we left, and she agreed; it was the last that we heard of it. Good luck.
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Some useful Information from the Tsuei Ma Ma Foundation : “If the landlord sells the house/apartment , then the tenant can continue to rent to the new owner until the lease expires without affecting the rights of the original tenant”
Q8：房東說要賣屋，我還能繼續住嗎?
A：除了「在承租前房東已開始賣屋」、「未經公證超過五年的定期租約」、「不定期租約」三種情形以外，依民法第425條規定，當租約未到期而房屋被賣掉，房客仍可繼續向新屋主承租至租約屆滿，而絲毫不影響原有房客權利，這也就是所謂「買賣不破租賃」
To terminate a lease as specified in the preceding paragraph a notice shall be given in advance according to customs, but if the rental of a real property is payable weekly, fortnightly or monthly, termination is effective only at the end of the calendar week, or fortnight, or month, and a notice shall be given at least one week or fortnight or month in advance.
References:
https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=B0000001
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Your LL cannot ask you to turn your place into an open house. He can however give you notice equivalent to your rental period to move out, i.e. if you pay monthly he can give you a months notice.
If there is any suggestion that he will bring people to your apartment when you are not there invest in a security camera (<NT$1,000 from Xiaomi) which will automatically email you if any movement is detected in your apartment. Call the police and say someone has broken in if this happens. Warn him in advance that you have valuable personal property and if he enters without your knowledge or permission then he is liable if anything goes missing. Personally (whilst not necessarily legal) I would change the lock and leave discrete note on the inner door to any locksmith that the landlord might employ warning him there is no right to enter.
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Why is this not legal? During the lease the apartment is yours. Changing the lock is the first thing any tenant should do upon moving in.
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