Are lease contracts transferrable?
Here’s the Virginia Landlord-Tenant Law FAQ; it also contains some contact information for legal aid and other people who might be able to help. However, I don’t think you’ll really be able to do anything, absent an early termination clause in your contract, or some definable way in which the new management company is not living up to its obligations. I doubt that the fact that it is “much less reputable” is going to give you an out. However if they let the condition of the property decline substantially, or if they’re unresponsive to repair requests or something else that makes a material difference to your use of the property, maybe you could come up with some argument for breaking the lease. Seems like it’s premature at this point, though.
Am I legally bound to continue honoring the lease? Simple answer: Until they break it, yes. I am a landlord, but I am not your landlord (or even in your state). But states probably universally have a transferability clause. This is actually primarily for the protection of the tenant, as landlords are probably more generally interested in, say, kicking people out so they can charge higher rents. This is Wisconsin’s: 704.09 Transferability; effect of assignment or transfer; remedies. (1) Transferability of interest of tenant or landlord. A tenant under a tenancy at will or any periodic tenancy less than year-to-year may not assign or sublease except with the agreement or consent of the landlord. The interest of any other tenant or the interest of any landlord may be transferred except as the lease expressly restricts power to transfer. A lease restriction on transfer is construed to apply only to voluntary transfer unless there is an express restriction on transfer by operation of law. (
