Letting an inherited tenant out of their lease?

[Matt Rothwell]

I'm in an awkward situation right now, I'm currently set to buy a Duplex here in Raleigh that I plan to owner-occupy. It has tenants on both sides, and the one that I plan on living in has a lease that expires mid-July. I'm scheduled to close May 1. The issue that I'm having is that my current apartment that I'm living in has a lease that expires June 1, and temporary housing for a month and a half costs a fortune.

What I'd like to do, since the tenant in there is a student, is ask them if they'd like to terminate their lease and move out at the end of May. I remember being a student and trying to find someone to sublet my apartment for the summer while I went to internships or back home, and I would've loved if the landlords at those places would let me move out early. It seems like a win-win for both parties.

I'd like to propose this to the tenant, but the hangup is that I don't own the house yet, I don't close till the end of the month. I asked my realtor to ask the seller's agent if I could talk to the owner and/or the tenant, but the sellers agent just wrote back a snarky email saying that "I wasn't the owner YET!" or something to that effect.

Is there a kosher/accepted way to do this? My agent joked that I could slip a note under the door, but I don't want to worry about harassment charges or anything. What would the folks of BiggerPockets do?

[Luis Toledo]

It sounds like once you close, you'll have a month to figure it out. I wouldn't approach someone else's tenant either way, especially since it doesn't seem urgent.

Once you own the property, notify the tenant that you don't intend to renew their lease and offer them a cash bonus if they'll vacate early. The rent they save and a hundred bucks or so might be enough to move them out. That's my .02 anyway...