Spanish only speaking tenants

[Alexander Wardell]

Hello everyone,

I am hoping to gain some understanding about a topic I never gave a thought about until I came across it firsthand. Its regarding Spanish only speaking tenants.

I am currently in the process of purchasing a 3 family. From what I was told by the listing agent, the tenants do not speak very much or any English. The current owner speaks both English and Spanish, so he can communicate fairly easy with the tenants. I am not so much concerned about the language barrier as I am about the tenancy agreement that the owner provided. All three current agreements are completely in English and signed by each tenant. I cannot see how them signing an English document, and only speaking and writing in Spanish would make sense.

Yes, the owner could have "translated" the document verbally to the tenants and had them sign, but that sounds wrong. I noticed the seller provided documentation that none of the units put down a security deposit so that raised some red flags. The units are not in amazing condition, but I do not want to have a tenant challenge me down the road for a security deposit they gave to the previous owner.

I sent over an estoppel agreement for the tenants to complete and sign, and the listing agent told me they do not speak English and he do not speak Spanish, so I would need to produce a Spanish version. This was when I realized the agreement being in English did not make sense. I went into Word and translated the estoppel agreement available from BP, and after some formatting I had a Spanish.

Has anyone encountered this before and what else can I do to guarantee a smooth transfer?

[Allan Smith]

I have some tenants that barely speak english.  Keep in mind them not knowing the language of the country they are in does not need to be your problem. Spanish agreement? Heck no. They can take it to someone that knows english, and send it back to you. Most have kids that speak english well. It sounds like the listing agent just doesn't want it to be his problem, so he passes it right back to you. Can't say I blame him.

Once you purchase, bring a translator if you want, or explain the main points of your lease in simple English. If they don't want to sign, honor the previous lease then give them 30 days notice if they have been a problem.