Closed on 2 unit property - prior mgmt company released tenant

Closed on 2 unit property - prior mgmt company released tenant

Investor · Boston, MA · Member since 2017 · 3 posts · 3 votes

Hi All. First post here, I've been looking at acquiring some income properties for a while, and been running numbers of a few to find the right one. Finally took the plunge on a two unit property and recently closed. On to our issue/my question.

So we recently closed on a two-unit property in New Hampshire that had tenants in both units signed to leases that terminated in about 6 months. During negotiation with the seller, we indicated we would be keeping them on (leases had a provision where we could give tenants 60 days notice to vacate upon close).

The prior landlord lived far away and had a management company handling the leases. When we were buying, we indicated we would not be using their services any more as we're far more local.

About 5 days before we closed, the management company received a request from a tenant to get early termination of their lease (their is no clause in the lease allowing for early exit). The requested cancel date was 2 weeks AFTER we closed. They granted it. And then didn't inform us ever. We only found out when reaching out to our current tenants to update them and update the address they should send rent to, the exiting tenant informed us we'd only be receiving partial rent this month.

I'm obviously furious with the prior management company. I have been in a family that's owned rental properties for quite some time, so I know that finding tenants is part of the deal. It's how it was handled, and the fact that they let an existing tenant out of the lease just days before we closed with no communication. It's also not an issue of financial hardship or family emergency, as tenant is moving into a new apartment nearby with similar cost.

Thoughts on how to handle this? Do we have any recourse?

Thanks! Looking forward to being a part of the community here.

1Reply
32 views

Most Popular Reply

Greg PowersPro Member
Real Estate Agent · Manchester, NH · Member since 2013 · 120 posts · 159 votes
9y

Jeff, you may get a few replies to this question, but you should really direct it to a New Hampshire attorney.  PM me and I can refer you to several who handle real estate transactions and landlord/tenant law.

And congratulations on your purchase-I think.  :)

See this reply in the discussion

9 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Greg PowersPro Member
    Real Estate Agent · Manchester, NH · Member since 2013 · 120 posts · 159 votes
    9y

    Jeff, you may get a few replies to this question, but you should really direct it to a New Hampshire attorney.  PM me and I can refer you to several who handle real estate transactions and landlord/tenant law.

    And congratulations on your purchase-I think.  :)

  • Investor · Boston, MA · Member since 2017 · 3 posts · 3 votes
    9y

    Hey Greg,

    Thanks for the quick reply! That was my first thought, but before possibly wasting time on that, figured putting out a feeler here could give me some quick context (i.e. perhaps this is a common and known thing in state of NH?). 

    I own a small business in MA that requires periodic legal advice/work, so I have counsel here at the ready, just not anyone in NH.

    Was hoping to be able to clear it up with the management company without getting lawyers involved...but obviously need to know if I'm in the right, or making a bad assumption here.

    As for the property, my understanding is we SHOULD be able to replace the tenant quickly enough, and I think the basics of the property are still strong. So we're still very happy about it, just don't think it's right what the former management company did and don't want them getting away with it.

    Thanks,
    Jeff

  • Investor · Georgetown, MA · Member since 2017 · 71 posts · 26 votes
    9y

    @Jeff Wharton My first question is, at the end of the day, how big of a deal is this going to be to get this resolved?  Will it cost you more money to straighten it out than it would be to find a new tenant?

    Obviously, the management company had no authority to grant the request, but based on the way I read it, the tenant is kind of stuck in the middle.  They followed the procedure as they knew it to be (if I am wrong on that, it changes my answer).  To me, it may not be a battle worth fighting.  You're not wrong, it's just time-consuming and will cost $$$ to get it resolved.

    It definitely stinks that they did this, but hopefully, the vacancy will be brief.

    as @Greg Powers stated, you're probably going to have to get a lawyer involved.  The tenant has probably already made plans to move and the management company might owe you some months of rent for the actions they took without authority, but once it's all sorted, how much will they actually have to pay?

  • Investor · Georgetown, MA · Member since 2017 · 71 posts · 26 votes
    9y

    @Jeff Wharton Looks like we were both kind of typing the same thing at the same time

  • Investor · Boston, MA · Member since 2017 · 3 posts · 3 votes
    9y

    @Tyler Libby That's pretty much my thoughts exactly. Just wanted to validate.

    Thanks so much to both you and @Greg Powers!

  • Lender · Tyngsboro, MA · Member since 2009 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    9y

    The management company is responsible to the owner who hired and paid them, not you, who clearly indicated you were not going to hire them.  The tenant followed the rules.  The selling owner may or may not have a duty to disclose.   Personally, I think the time, effort and money you put into this would not be worth it.  Furious or not, set it aside and put your energy into making sure the unit is attractive to a potential tenant, consider upgrades, and rent it out.  

    It is common for a tenant to think the new owner might evict them when a property is put up for sale, even if that's not the case.  So losing a tenant or two happens frequently.  If she's moving into a similar nearby unit, then perhaps you didn't make the effort to make sure the new tenants knew you were keeping them.  Or perhaps you couldn't have done anything about this if the owner didn't allow you to contact the tenants.  

    I think I'd move on an get a new tenant who you will have screened and approved.

  • Investor · Manvel, TX · Member since 2016 · 133 posts · 54 votes
    9y

    @Jeff Wharton There is no question that this was a property management company screw up.  If you win, you could likely win in court.

    That said, the only people who generally win in court are the attorneys.  I have been to court in a few relatively small cases where customers did not pay me.  It is expensive and time consuming.

    Unless you are talking about a significant amount of money and you have the money to hire an attorney in your pocket today I don't recommend going down this path.

  • Ryan MurdockPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y

    @Jeff Wharton I agree the PM's action is incredibly annoying but what will your actual losses be? Very likely only the rent between when the current tenant moves out and the next tenant moves in. A couple weeks maybe? Hardly worth pursuing to any great length and I'm not certain there was a legal wrong-doing in the first place. 

    Sounds like you're already prepared to simply pick up the pieces and move on just reinforcing that decision here...

  • Danbury, NH · Member since 2016 · 89 posts · 21 votes
    9y

    Sucks, but I agree that since the actual losses will likely be minimal it isn't worth investing energy into...consider it part of the lifelong education and experience and also possible that you dodged a bullet by hanging onto a dissatisfied tenant against their wishes.

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.