Buying a building with a bad tenant

[Ed Poltonowicz]

I am in the process of buying an 8 unit apartment building. In the Commercial Disclosure, the seller has indicated that one of the tenants has been late on rent several times in the past year and has been "asked" to leave.

I plan to ask the seller to begin the formal eviction process but it will take about 6 weeks in my state. That is about two weeks after our planned settlement.

I hate to push the settlement back but I also do not want to find that the tenant has trashed the unit after I have taken title.

Has anyone run into this before? Any suggestions?

[Michael D.]

You could ask for a 2 month credit at closing to cover the time it takes to get rid of the bad tenant.

You could ask the seller to pay the tenant to leave RIGHT NOW, prior to closing.

You could ask the seller to provide a large, refundable deposit to cover and repairs to the unit.