Seller Won't Evict Tenants

[Jason Drayer]

We are currently in the process of purchasing a wholesale SFH. The deal is really good for the area we live in, so we are trying to find out the best way to approach this situation.

The seller has two tenants in the home. Both are on verbal month to month contracts of $500 (supposedly) rent per person. He normally has three people in the home, but one moved out when he learned the owner was selling. I have asked for an estoppel agreement to determine if what he has told us is what the tenants agree to.

This is a 2 week closing time frame, which isn’t much time to evict a tenant, but these tenants do not have any prior lease agreement nor anything in writing indicating a lease. The seller refuses to evict them because they are friends and he doesn’t want to do that to them. The seller has now tried to inform us that he will not provide needed documentation to the title company as a way to avoid him having to remove the tenants while we are in the closing process. The contract states that the home will be unoccupied at closing, so I don’t know if he is just trying to cancel the contract at this point.

The entire situation is very odd. I know people mention cash for keys, I could also look at trying to set up a shorter lease, or we could perhaps provide them a written letter asking them to vacate. Without a lease agreement in place I am assuming the COVID no eviction situation will not be a concern, but I am not sure.

Any words of advice on this crazy situation?