Closing in a few days, seller won't provide lease

[Samantha Klein]

I am very concerned as the duplex I am closing on May 2nd has a tenant with a 1 year lease just signed a month ago but the seller won't provide the actual lease, and in the purchase agreement, the condition was to provide the lease terms, she claims she only has to provide the terms, not the entire lease, I have an attorney who says she needs to provide the entire lease, what are your thoughts?

[Kim Knox]

@Samantha Klein

Yikes, I would not sign until the leases are provided for your review and approval.   Your contingency language is a bit loose, so now you know to ask for the lease agreements, payments history, utility and maintenance costs and records.   You are not asking for the application (which might have social security and bank numbers).   Assure them that they can strike out any of these numbers for confidentiality.  You have all of the leverage, make use of it.  Do not sign until they give them to you. 

She is hiding something, and it is not good.   Is she hiding a security deposit that should be transferred to you? is she hiding the name of the tenant because they have her same last name and they have inflated the rent?  Is she hiding the name of the tenant because of a criminal history?  Is she hiding that the rent is not as high as she told you?  Is she hiding a payment history or signs of having a terrible tenant. You do not want to inherit these problems without knowing.  If you know, then you can decide if it is worth your investment.

If you close, you are waiving the contingency of sale to see the lease agreements and accepting just what is being provided.  Meaning, you can't say you didn't know to ask for them, you just decided it wasn't that important enough to delay a closing.  Further, you knew the Seller was mysteriously uncooperative, yet you closed anyway.  

I would have required this before paying for inspections, but I have also learned a few lessons. =)