The rental market is in the order of the day, and this is a controversial topic that tends to generate many doubts. Do you know, for example, if a leased property can be sold and / or under what circumstances this might happen? This is today's theme in the real estate legal practice, secured by the BAS law firm for the idealist / news, following questions posed by readers. Send your question by email to: [email protected]*. This office does not have the capacity to respond individually to all the questions that come to us, but we are committed to answering to the maximum, selecting and grouping them by theme **. Several questions related to the purchase and sale of properties that have been leased have reached the editor of the idealista / news. The owners, who are usually the landlords, want to know if they can sell a property that is leased. Tenants want to know what happens to the lease if the property is sold. And buyers of leased properties want to know how they can stop leasing contracts so they can dispose freely of the property. In the lease, one of the parties (the landlord) undertakes to provide the temporary enjoyment of an immovable property to the other party (the lessee), for remuneration, pursuant to articles 1022 and 1023 of the Civil Code ( CC). The first question to be analyzed is whether the landlord has an obligation to maintain ownership of the property in order to continue to provide the property to the lessee. The answer is no, the property right of the property is not affected by the conclusion of a lease. As we have just begun to say, the object of the lease consists in one party giving the other the enjoyment of a certain immovable property. However, the right of ownership of the landlord is not affected by the conclusion of a lease and, as such, the landlord can sell it freely, without having to worry about the fact that the property is leased, as it results from article 1057 Of the CC. It should be noted, however, that in a situation such as that described in which the owner of a leased property disposes of it to a third party, the lessee may have a legal right of preference in the purchase of the property in accordance with Article 1091. of the CC. They have the right to prefer in the sale of the property those who hold a conventional right of preference, which results from an agreement between the parties, as well as those that have a legal preemptive right, whose right expressly results from a legal norm, as the joint interpretation of articles 414 and 422, both of the CC. If there is a competition between those preemptive rights, the legal preemptive right prevails over the conventional preemptive right, which means that the holder of the conventional preemptive right may only prefer, if the holder of the preemptive right does not do so, pursuant to article 422 of the CC. The lessee may have a conventional right of first refusal, resulting from a written agreement between the owner of the leased property and the lessee, in accordance with Articles 414, 415 and 2 (4). of the CC. This right may also have real effectiveness, that is, it may be enforceable against third parties if the parties expressly declare it and proceed with the registration of said preferential agreement. In this case, the signature, in the preference pact, of the party that is obliged to give preference should be recognized, all under the terms of paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 413 of CC ex vi of 423 of CC. The right of legal preference is recognized to the lessee in the following situations: In the purchase and sale or payment in compliance with the premises leased more than two years ago (pursuant to Article 1091 (1) (a) CC); In the conclusion of a new lease, in case of expiration of his contract, for having ceased the right or have terminated the legal powers of administration on the basis of which the contract was entered into and the restitution of the building under the terms provided for in the contract is not required. (Article 1091 (1) (b) of the CC and Article 1091 (2) CC). If the landlord does not comply with his obligations regarding the lessee's right of first refusal, the lessee may use a preferred action, pursuant to articles 1410 et seq. Of the CC, if he has a conventional right of preference and the preferential agreement has real effectiveness and in cases where it has a legal preemptive right.In cases where the pact of preference has no real effectiveness, the breach only obliges the landlord to compensate the lessee for any losses that may result from breach of the agreement, pursuant to article 406 (2) of the CC. Right of first refusal We will now analyze what happens to the lease if the lessee chooses or has no financial possibility to exercise his preemptive right. In case of sale of a property that is leased, not exercising the right of first refusal, the property is transferred with the lease. That is, the lease is still in force, but the acquirer will assume the role of landlord in the context of that contractual relationship, having the same rights and duties, as landlord, that the previous owner of the property, under the terms of article 1057. Of the CC. If the acquirer wishes to terminate the lease, it may do so in accordance with the law: by agreement of the parties, resolution, lapse or denunciation, pursuant to articles 1079 and following of the CC. In short, the owner can sell the property even if it is leased, having only a legal obligation to, through a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, offer the tenant the possibility to prefer in the business of buying and selling the property, giving him knowledge of the sale project and the clauses of the purchase and sale agreement, as well as waiting 8 days or 30 days, depending on whether it is a conventional or legal right of preference, respectively, that the lessee has to exercise its right , before concluding the definitive purchase and sale agreement. In case the lessee does not prefer, the lease transfers with the property, passing the new owner to assume the role of landlord. In this event the contract will continue to follow its terms, just as before the sale of the property. * We caution that some readers send documents with personal data, which under the General Regulation on Data Protection (RGPD) is not advisable, as they will not be opened or read. ** We underline that the responses under this heading do not fall within the scope of a legal advisory service, which is governed by the terms set out in the Statute of the Bar Association, so they do not exempt the consultation of a qualified professional , lawyer or solicitor.