Buying a Rental Property that has existing tenants

[Erica Quarles]

I am thinking about buying a rental property that is setup as two units. There are already tenants in both units and the listing says that they want to stay. How do I handle the transtion? Do I make them sign a new lease with me and should I do it at the day of settlement? Do I have to honor the lease that they had with the former owner? Should I run another background check and check references. Any suggestions or wisdom on this process is welcome.

Thanks
Erica

[Tracy Streich]

I always try to get them onto my lease.   You have to honor the current lease.   What I usually tell the tenant is I like to have everyone on the same lease so I don't get confused.   I ask them to sign my lease with the same rent, same deposit and same terms as far as length of the lease.   That then gets them on the lease with my verbiage so I can reply with some sort of confidence when they ask questions without having to review every lease.