Pretty much exact same thing happened to me. Asked LL if they were definitely making a change or if the previous tenant had any chance of keeping the farm. Tenant had already been informed they were losing the ground by the legal date and if I didn't farm it, already had guys in line wanting it but they wanted me to farm it if I would. I think the legal date for termination notification in TN is July 1. It was mid November before I rented it. By the way, previous tenant and myself both rented the ground on shares, so I was confident it wasn't just a ploy to jack up the rent. I have never and never will contact a LL about renting ground out from under a current tenant, but when the LL contacts me, offers their ground, assures me current tenant has been notified, and has no chance of farming it, that's totally different. BTW, I'm 52 if that qualifies me as older.