Becoming an Interim Landlord During an Eviction

[Joe H.]

   Without getting into too much background detail, at the beginning of August, after a tumultuous couple of months, the PM of 6 years for our Birmingham property had decided to terminate our contract, effective August 31. We were led to believe that eviction proceedings on our tenant had already started, but come to find out that the eviction notice had been with the process server as recent as yesterday. We have a new PM lined up, however they won't take us on until the eviction is complete.

   Seeing as how it looks like we're going to be interim landlords until this eviction is resolved, what are our next steps to get ourselves set up as the official landlords of this property as of September 1? Just as an example, common sense tells me we should send a notification to the tenants that we're the new property manager (at least, temporarily), but the lease contract the tenant signed is between the tenant and the PM, and Alabama law, from the way I understand it, requires any documentation to be distributed by an attorney. In addition, this tenant is in the process of an eviction, so does that change the approach? We're trying to set up a call with the real estate attorney handling the eviction (which our current PM contracted for the eviction) to answer questions like this, but they likely won't respond until Monday, and I'm trying to get a head start on setting expectations and understanding responsibilities. We have three other PM-managed properties outside of Alabama, and we've maintained good relationships with the PM's of each. We've never been put in this position before. We'd ask the current PM, however any feedback they have provided, when they do actually communicate with us, has been misleading and only wasted more of our time.

   Any guidance or referral to someone who could help us will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.