Here’s How To Remove a Tenant From A Home You Want To Purchase
When you buy real estate you buy it subject to the matters that affect the title and subject to people in possession of the property. For this reason, when you buy a home, you want to make sure that the seller and tenants have moved out of the home before you close on the property.
If you buy a home and don’t want the seller’s tenants to be there when you close, you must make sure that the seller knows that you won’t close unless possession of the home is given to you at closing without any tenants occupying the home. The seller can then make arrangements with the tenants and have them move out before closing.
If you buy a home and the prior owner of the home leased out an apartment at the property and the tenant is still there when you buy the home, you will probably have to honor the lease that the seller had with that tenant. This means that you must have the tenant live in the apartment for the rest of the lease term. If the prior owner gave the tenant a one-year lease right before closing, you’ll have that tenant for a year.
If the prior owner gave the tenant a 10-year lease, you may be stuck with a tenant for 10 years. If you are buying a home with a tenant you don’t want, the seller of the home would have to negotiate a package with the tenant to move out. The owner could offer the tenant money or, if the owner has other properties, could move the tenant to a different rental. In either case, it would be at the owner’s expense to get the tenant out.
If the occupant of the apartment has a life estate, that person may have the right to live in the apartment rent free for the rest of their life. So, if you buy the home, you would buy it subject to that life estate. Now, you may have to take the property subject to the life estate only if the life estate was created properly. A real estate attorney would be needed here when you purchase the home. Your attorney would need to review the title to the property and determine whether the apartment occupant has a legal life estate.
In any event, if you don’t want the apartment occupant there when you buy the home, you must insist that the seller delivers the home to you without the person living in the apartment. You’d also want some paperwork telling you that the occupant has no right to the home or to live in the apartment. We certainly don’t want that person showing up after the closing and claiming to still have rights to live in the home.
Please talk to a real estate attorney and make sure you are protected before closing on the purchase. Get the whole story > > >
via The Washington Post and ThinkGlink.com
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