Buying a Home? When do you give your Landlord Notice?

We work with many home buyers who are purchasing their first home.  Working with first time buyers is such an exciting part of my business.  One of my clients’ most common concerns has to do with giving their landlord notice that they’re leaving.  The state of California requires that a tenant provide their landlord with a 30 day notice to vacate.  So when should a tenant provide that notice?

Typically, a buyer has 17 to 21 days to complete their due-diligence on their new home.  In today’s fast paced real estate market, that could be 10 days or less!  This includes completing an inspection, reviewing disclosures and HOA documents, and having the lender complete an appraisal, as well as fully approve them for their mortgage.  These are all potential bumps in the road in a real estate transaction.  Should one of these steps not go well a buyer might back out of their purchase.

I tell my clients to prepare for their move, but not to set anything in stone until they have completed the steps above.  I don’t want my clients to end up homeless, which is a legitimate concern, and would certainly not be the outcome they sought when starting the home buying process.  A buyer never knows with 100% certainty that their purchase will go through, until their due-diligence is complete.  If the inspection reveals major issues, or the loan falls through a buyer will not want to have given notice.

Buyers should also want to give themselves a little extra time in case the closing is delayed.  Additionally, buyers will want a little leeway with their moving schedule as well.  A little overlap between the old home and new home will take the stress off the move.  Lastly, never have a moving truck scheduled for closing day.  For some reason scheduling a move on closing day creates a curse and inevitably delays the close!