Existing tenant moving out right before closing - concerns

[Lan Huynh]

Hello BP,

I am closing on a rental property in a week. According to the seller's agent, the tenant is supposed to be out of the property a day before closing. Tenant is on month to month lease, which I doubt there is any lease at all. The tenant is buying a house, that is why he is moving out. My concerns: what if he does not move all his belongings and furnitures? Do I have the right to bill him the cost to hire cleaning services to move his stuff? Or what if he trash the house or does significant damage to the property?

There is no contract between tenant and I. Therefore, I am afraid that I do not have any legal rights. Also, there is no specific language in my buying contract relating to the tenant moving.

The second concern I have is that he does not move on the date he said he would. Then what, do I send out eviction notice? I assume that is what I need to do, but not too sure.

Thank you for your inputs.

[Wayne Brooks]

Unless your purchase contract calls for the property to be empty, you have no recourse against the agent/owner, and can't just add that to the closing terms.  Do you have an actual Written Approval Letter from the seller's lender yet? If not, then there will likely be some price/term change you would need to agree to, to keep the contract alive.  That is when you negotiate/deal with the tenant situation.  So you know, there can't be any hold backs in escrow, since this is a short sale, and the owner has no money coming at closing, and the bank won't accept it.