Hello BP community,

I recently bought a rental property with long term tenants in it. They had been signing lease extension with the previous owner for several years. One tenant's lease needs to be renewed soon. Can I just sign another extension on the lease or do I have to put in place a new lease with my name on it? How have some of the experienced people on the forum handled similar situation?

@Serges Lemo You can simply extend the lease already in place. However you should consider developing your own lease and going with that. The lease that is in place may not be that good. 

@Serges Lemo,

Though I am not an attorney, I am pretty sure any lease extension you create and execute on behalf of the prior landlord/owner, would not be legal.  As well, in a worst-case scenario, I suspect this could be considered fraudulent.  For legal, insurance and any other related purposes, I believe your attorney would strongly suggest you either let the lease go M2M, or replace the existing lease with your new lease (in your name or your company name), but do not create and execute an extension on someone else's lease.

Most leases contain language that turns a long-term lease into a M2M upon expiration. If the existing lease does this, then take the time you need to get your own lease docs prepared, then if you like this tenant and the terms, sign a new lease under you or your company.

BP has form lease packages for free if you are or become a Pro member, or you can search for a standard lease, lease addendum, pet agreement, etc., on the Internet.  Just make sure it/they were written for your state as landlord/tenant law is specific to your location.

Best of luck and Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Oops, sorry about the double post.  It was not intended...

Thank you Bryan and Ned.