Letter to tenants when building is being sold

[Wesley W.]

Does anyone have a template they can share that they send to tenants when they are selling an occupied building?

Any other feedback on the process is welcome.

Thanks in advance!

[Steve K.]

Calvin’s template sums it up nicely. I might just add a line like this about the existing lease transferring: “You can be assured that all of the terms of your existing lease, including rent amount for the duration of the lease, will remain in place even once the property is under new ownership, as the new owner will be obligated to honor all of the terms of your existing lease.” I find this helps calm some of the anxiety that tenants may have about the property being sold. I also try to minimize the impact on tenants by stacking showings all at once during a “showing window” on a Saturday or Sunday so they aren’t bothered by a bunch of individual showings. I also like to do a pre-inspection and fix most of the stuff on the inspection so I can give that to potential buyers and ask them to write their offer considering the current condition and with as much “as-is” language/ contingencies as they feel comfortable with. I also price the property such that I usually get multiple offers and at least one that is “as-is” so that the transaction is clean. Nothing is worse than having multiple cycles of flaky buyers with a bunch of contingencies in their contracts having multiple inspections at an occupied MF, buyers coming through talking to tenants and talking about stuff that is wrong with the property and mentioning mold tests, etc. There is a huge benefit to setting it up so you get a clean offer and limit the impact on the tenants as much as possible. A great listing agent who specializes in this property type will help you with all of this, and can possibly even get the property sold to a buyer they already know with little fuss so you don’t even have to tell the tenants until after the sale, which is ideal.