A neighbor of mine is selling a rent house that he owns and has offered the property to me for a really good price. The trouble is, the people who are currently renting the place are really trashy and have the place looking filthy. Once before when he tried to sell the place the same renters purposfully trashed the it to keep potential buyers from getting the property. If I buy the place I know I’ll have to be the one to clean it up. I’m also afraid that if I buy the place and tell the current residents to move out that they will ramsack the place in a fit of rage. Should the current owner of the property be responsible for getting the renters out of the house before any papers are signed? Is he responsible for any damage that “occurs” when they are moving out because when I spoke to him last night he made it sound like it was my responsibility saying, “You can evict them whenever you want.” Should I stay away from this deal and find something that is already vacated and cleaned up? What would you do?
I bought a rental from my parents last summer. The renters were not bad, but there was a fair amount of cleaning/upgrading to do. Renters just don’t take care of a house like homeowners do.
You can’t evict them any time you want, if they have a lease. If the renters have a lease and you buy the house, you have to honor the lease. We wanted to move in to the house; we ended up having to “buy out” the renter’s lease in order to do so (basically, we said “We’ll give you $xx if you move out by 8/1”
If they don’t have a lease, you can evict them. However, eviction involves a loooong legal process, and some money. If they don’t want to move, it’ll probably be even worse. Count on minimum of 2 months to evict someone, probably more.
If I were you, I’d:
- tell your friend you’ll buy the house, but only after the renters are out. Make HIM get them out. That may involve waiting until their lease is over, or until the eviction goes through.
1a) Unless you’re really, really sure that the house is a good one, I wouldn’t buy it until it passes an inspection AFTER the renters are out. Like you said, the renters could trash the place. You don’t want to have to deal with that. Get a professional inspector to go in and take a look at it before you buy it.
- Plan on putting a fair amount of money into the house to make it liveable. We ended up putting new carpeting in and painting the whole house. We also paid to get it cleaned before moving in.
If the deal your friend is giving you is really great, the hassle might be worth it. It will be a hassle though - even in the best of circumstances, homebuying is stressful.
You should probably be able to specify this kind of stuff in the purchase & sale agreement (who’s responsible for what under what circumstances). I think you need a Texas real-estate attorney to help you with this - you’re not going to get adequate advice on a message board.
Yep, I would suggest a real estate attorney for buying property if you aren’t going through a real estate company.
What if the house has liens on it? What about a clear title?
Unless you’re paying cash, I would assume that title insurance (guarantee of a clean title) would be a mandatory clause of most mortgagers.
Just pointing that out – a non-ambulance-chasing lawyer is probably still a very good idea.
First step: Find an attorney. Then you will find out exactly what you can or cannot do.
Then, with the attorney’s OK, you can make a condition of the sale being the eviction of the renters and that the house be in good condition.
When is their lease up?
There is a big difference between sureficial trash, and structural damage. The former may lead you to get a major deal. NEVER buy a house with the latter. Enlist the services of a professional to distinguish between the two. Carpeting and paint are really cheap.
While a home inspector is (slightly) better than nothing, consider having the place looked over by a contractor you might hire to do any rehabbing necessary. Get a quote. Unlike the inspector, a contractor may be liable for the accuracy of his opinion.
Any damage can be written into the sales contract, and accomodated in the price. Of course, there will be a final pre-close inspection, when any additional damage can be detected and negotiated.
Your neighbor is probably selling it cheaply because the renters are bad and the place has been trashed. This ought to raise a lot of red flags for you. There may be additional problems with the house that you don’t know about. I agree with Athena’s suggestions and with those who say you need a lawyer if you decide to pursue this.
A house with vacant possession generally costs more than the same house with a sitting tenant, for reasons which after reading this far in the thread will be obvious. Hence if you bargain with the vendor to make it a condition of sale that the house be sold with vacant possession, expect the price to go up.
At any rate, you’d also want to hire one of those home inspectors first to see what the condition of the house is.
Can’t the present owner take the renters to court and sue them for the cost of repairs now? Doesn’t the landlord have the right to enter the renter’s house for occasional inspections? If I were the homeowner, the renter would have been dealt with a lot sooner.
I realize that renters have the right to privacy and you must follow the law, but I can’t believe the renters should have gotten away so long with their shenanigans.