Inherited Tenants Not Signing New Lease

[Joy Shaw]

Hello everyone! My partner and I recently purchased a 6 unit apartment and some tenants have a current lease that doesn't run out till sep of 2021. We would like to get them to sign our month to month lease just so we have more control since these tenants had history of not paying their rent. So far they have been avoiding us and not signing our lease. I'm wondering since we took over do we have to honor their current lease or since we are not on their current lease as landlords the lease will become inactive. 

I have a feeling that they are not going to sign the new lease or pay rent so I would really like to vacate them but I know if they are on their current lease it will be more difficult. 

Thank you!!

[Greg M.]

Joy, I think you should change your name to Pain. Because I don't foresee a lot of joy coming your way, but I do see a lot of pain. 

I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but it sounds like you have zero knowledge of landlording, but you purchased an apartment building anyway. If you don't learn the laws and do your homework before interacting with the tenants, you will end up getting ****ing destroyed in this business. Not a slap on the wrist, but destroyed. 

In most places tenants have most of the rights. Laws are against the landlord. Courts are against the landlord. Free services are available to the tenant. Time is on the side of the tenant. Say or do the wrong thing to a tenant and you're in court fighting perhaps both the tenant and the government. 

Before you even give it more thought, I can help you out:

• Your tenants with existing leases are not going to sign new leases because they have no reason to. This is especially true if the new leases give you more power/protection.
• Tenants that aren't paying rent tend to avoid their landlord. 
• There are city, state, and federal eviction moratoriums going on right now. How do you get non-paying tenants out? In many places right now you don't get them out. You wait until it is allowed. Then you file the eviction paperwork with the court. I would strongly suggest you use an attorney unless you are familiar with the process. A single mistake can put you back at square one. Also, courts may be flooded early on, so you don't want to keep being put at the back of the line.
• You may be able to offer cash to the tenant to leave. Don't be surprised for the dollar amount to be much higher than you thought.

You may want to consider hiring a property management company to handle the place. Not only will it remove a lot of liability from you, but you may be able to learn stuff about the business from them.