Thanks to all for answering my question. The owner has given tenant the 30 days notice to end the lease. But the closing day is before that. I will try to extend the closing date unitl the property is vacant.

Hello Lynn,

I agree with Toni. First and best option would be to ask them to deliver the property vacant, if this was a concern, your Realtor should have addressed it in the purchase contract at the very beginning. If this is not an option, make sure you get an Estoppel Certificate signed by the tenant. Evictions can get very messy, especially if it involves disabled or senior tenants. I do a lot of pro-bono work for my clients in Berkeley as they have to deal with tenant issues all the time due to rent control, so I have pretty extensive knowledge in this area. Hiring an attorney can get expensive so use this as your last resort. Good luck!!

Kamal Randhawa
Broker
510-932-1066
"Straight answers all the time"

Hi Lynn...

I would also make sure that you check with your lender. If you are buying the home as a primary residence then you will be signing paperwork that indicates you will be moving into the property. If the lender finds out at closing that you will not be occupying then there may be some problems with your financing. I find writing the contract and having the seller's agree to deliver the property vacant is the cleanest way to go. Make sure that you negotiate time to inspect the property after the tenants leave as well. Then if there is any junk that needs to be hauled away, etc. you may request the seller to take care of it. Hope all goes well with your transaction.

Toni

Hopefully you've received a copy of the rental agreement and had the tenant verify. Have your agent get the tenant to sign an estopel.

The bank has no dealings with the tenant so no, they will not help.

You can give proper and legal notice to the tenant once you are the legal owner of the property and hope the tenant complies. If you have the legal right to end the rental agreement and give the tenant notice to vacate, and he/she does not, then you must start the eviction process. That process can take many months and be quite expensive.

There is no reason to hire an eviction lawyer if a) you don't legally own the property and b) don't need to evict the tenant.

You probably will have to wait until you become the official owner, and then not renew the month to month option. You may want to get in touch with an attorney to find out what your options are. The tenant does have tenants rights and if the current owner signs a long term agreement with the tenant, you could have some difficulty getting them out sooner than later.