Thank you for the quality replies, guys! Unfortunately our current rental agreement is type 2)b)ii) which gives the new landlord the power to have us move out or renew the lease under his/her terms.
Our old landlord was very upfront about the fact that he may need to sell the suite at the end of our current lease, which is why he mandated us selecting this option to give him the best position to try sell the suite. So we knew this would leave us hanging by the wire, but we had no option. Fortunately the suite was bought by people that want to rent it out and not live there themselves, so the only question is for what price.
I was looking to hear if there would be any rule about what would be considered "reasonable rent hike" upon new contract being signed, but as I was guessing, it seems to be totally up to the landlord. As mentioned, we don't at this point know whether they will consider hiking the rent 25-40%, but that seems to be what the rental agency is eager to be proposing to them. New owners living oversees, my worry is that they don't really know what the real going price is, as honestly the "market price" the rental agency is dreaming of is at the very top end of the scale.
I searched for similar suites in our building and the going rate seems to be only 0-10% higher than what we are currently paying. Granted, there is one place renting with that 40% premium, but that unit is furnished and based on the photos seems renovated with much more luxurious finishings. Our unit is in the original state (the building is 14 years old) and shows quite a bit of wear and tear when you look around, which we pointed out to the rental agent.
So it all depends on how greedy or reasonable our new landlord wants to be and how well they understand the local market rates being. I hope it will work to our benefit that the new landlord is renting our condos in several countries and has had bad experiences with bad tenants. We are extremely good and stable tenants, which they have been told by many parties, which I hope will make them want to keep us no matter what and be reasonable, but we will see.
If it ends up being a snafu, then we can always try rent one of the other units in the building. Thanks to my photos of the window exchange project and the building most of the residents actually know us and our previous landlord, our neighbors and the concierge love us. So there is the option to find something else in-house. Or then we have to find the next dream home elsewhere Downtown.
No matter what the case ends up being, if we have to move out of this unit, it will be a sad day, no matter what. Let's see what happens. Wish us luck!
