Can our landlord sell the place and force us to move while in a year long lease?

If you really have a lease with a term to February 2016, and not a month-to-month rental agreement, then the landlord or the new owner is stuck with you until the lease expires. The buyer can buy the property subject to your lease, with you remaining in place or wait to buy until after you leave. It is common in SF to pay tenants to give up their leases and move. You are going to need money to fund the first month's rent, the security deposit, and moving expenses. Maybe moving expenses should include the cost of a  professional, licensed and bonded van lines to pack up your stuff for you, move it, and unpack your stuff at the new location. If the new rent is higher than your rent under the lease, maybe it should cover the difference until February 2016, or even later, since an eviction could take 2-3 months or even longer. The law does not say how much the landlord should pay you. It's really a matter of how much he wants to get you to move out early. If you ask for too much, he might decide to just wait until next year. He might decide to accept a lower sale price in order to persuade the buyer to purchase with you still in place. It's however much you can negotiate. The examples above are just arguments you could use to help persuade the landlord to pay you more. If you appreciate this free advice, please remember to refer me to any friends or acquaintances who need a lawyer. Referrals are still our best source of new business. Do you have a revocable living trust to protect your heirs against probate? Probate takes forever, is expensive, and is annoying. Do your family a favor. Set up a trust, and put all your property, especially any real property, into the trust. Since it is revocable, you can change it, add to it, take property out of it, or even cancel it completely, at any time. We set up such trusts, provide a pour-over will as a back-up for any property that does not make it into the trust, provide you with blank durable powers of attorney for health care and financial decisions, in case you become incapable of making such decisions while still alive, and convey one piece of real property to the trust, usually the family home, for $1500.00. If you would like to hire me to do this, let me know, and I'll send you a list of the information I need. Dana Sack