Background Checks for tenants living in prospective property

[Jacob P.]

Hi there,

I'm sure this is covered somewhere in the BP forums, but I wasn't able to find a thread, so I figured it would be worth asking.

I'm an buy and hold investor in NYC, working on acquiring my second property.

Something that I gather is a bit different in NYC compared with many other cities: Properties with tenants are generally less desirable in NYC. Because of strong tenants right laws, evictions are much lengthier here than in most of the rest of the country, and investors are weary of purchasing a property with a tenant that might not pay and then be part of a lengthy eviction process

Having said that, I am looking at a deal that is looking fairly good, but that already has a tenant in place with a lease. We are in the early stages, so don't have a ton of information, but the broker claims she is current and pays on time, and as we move forward, we should theoretically meet her in person so we can see her unit.

I turned to BP and took tons of advice when we were looking for a renters for our first NYC property. However, I don't know what can be expected in terms of background checks etc. for a tenant that already lives in a property. If anyone has any insight, I'd love to hear (and in particular if anyone has any relevant NYC info, that would be great too.)

Thank you!