Inheriting tenants and need advice..

[Brandon Corkins]

I will close on a property August 31st and need advice on how to handle inheriting tenants. The house is an 8 room group home with 5 current tenants and 3 vacancies. The current tenets seems to be okay but would like to tweak the lease agreement. Mainly around raising rents for those that have been there for longer than 2 years. Also would like to be more strict about how I collect rents and when they are due. Want to use Cozy. I assume since I am buying the house, I am required to honor their lease until the end. Is it possible to require them to pay rent on the first and not the 5th? Also, they have been paying in cash, can I require them to go to my bank and deposit the money themselves or direct debit via Cozy? 

Secondly, and maybe more importantly. The current owner wants to fill the remaining 3 rooms between now and August 31st but will not let me vet the tenants. The owner wants to fill the rooms so they get rents and I would like it so I can hit the ground running. Should I have faith in the current owner to find tenants to fill the remaining rooms? Or should I take the hit on the rent and find my own tenants? Thanks for any advice.