Previous landlord trying to collect rent

[Igor S.]

Just thought I'd share a recent landlording story with my fellow BPers.

I purchased a 6-flat a few weeks ago from a landlord who was doing a pretty lousy job of managing the building. One thing we found out at closing was that not all the rents were collected for the current month. Since we closed mid-month, we made an agreement that as the new owner, I would be responsible to collect the rents from the tenants who hadn't paid yet.

As I was talking to tenants and introducing myself, I found out the previous landlord had actually called them to try and collect the unpaid rent (post-closing)! I clearly pointed out to the tenants we had a signed agreement from both the seller and buyer that I was to collect any unpaid rent as well as all rents going forward.

The tenants were just as shocked as I was and I will be changing locks ASAP.