Under contract & tenant with expired month to month lease

[Kelly Secosky]

I am under contract on an off market purchase and just received a copy of the tenant’s month to month lease. The lease has a date range of 11/21-11/22. Tenant is current in payment but doesn’t pay on time.

I am waiting to hear back from my attorney but curious if anyone has encountered this before. Does this mean my tenant doesn’t have a lease and what will I need to do to get them out? Is this a situation I need to walk away from? 

[Corby Goade]

I do tons of deals like this. Generally, the lease just rolls to month to month and all of the terms stay the same. There's no way to tell if this is a good tenant who just needs some coaching or maybe they're not such a great tenant who you'll want to serve notice to. 

A couple things-

-SInce they are month to month, you don't have to evict them, just give them notice that you won't be renewing the lease. In most situations, you can have them out in 30 days. 

-If this tenant (or their lease) makes or breaks the deal for you- it's not a deal. I know this is an unpopular opinion on BP, but whatever the current tenant situation is and whatever the current lease says is totally inconsequential to me as a long term investor. If I'm holding a property for 10-30 years and there's a tenant that might be a nuisance for a few months, that doesn't even factor in to my consideration one tiny bit. 

Best of luck!