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Updated about 8 years ago,
Legal question RE: leases & due diligence before closing.
Seller refuses to provide current leases, says it's illegal for her to release those because they hold private information about renters. Really??
I'm about to close on an 8-unit mixed-use building under an owner-finance structure (Contract for Deed) and the Seller has been pushing back hard on supplying copies of the leases. She did provide an official rent-roll which satisfied me enough to make an offer, put down earnest cash, and put out about another $3,000 in inspections and legal fees. Now I'm sitting here four days before closing and am told that she won't supply leases until we're sitting at the closing table. So, she is expecting me to sit down in front of everybody at the closing table and read through 7 separate lease documents before signing closing-documents. This seems absurd to me.
She did finally relent but only after me sending her a portion of an email from my lawyer, basically calling her absurd and encouraging me to have her speak to her lawyer with the hopes that he could talk some sense into her.
My question to the legal experts here is does she have a point? Below are email excerpts explaining her justification.
"I have told you several times that you will receive copies of the signed leases at closing. These are private legal documents that cannot be released to you until you are the owner of the properties. At this time you are simply a civilian asking to see private info. If you wish to see a master copy of the lease that I use I will provide that to you."
She later followed up with this doozy to me and my attorney: "I am a very sensible person who runs a multimillion $$ business and resent the tone that this transaction is taking. This is rude and it is not conducive to good communication. I am working from personal experience with selling large office buildings, small office buildings, and a jillion single family rental homes and never before have I been asked to provide leases prior to closing. This is a first."