Tenant screen for a purchase

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Hi everyone, 

I have a question that I am struggling with. I have a property that I am selling, in escrow now should close next month. The main house has stellar tenants, their lease is up in 2017 so they are included in the sale. The studio lease is up before escrow closes, wont be included with the sale, and this tenant has been somewhat tough. Always paid rent but never on time and always lying about when its paid, ie. saying its paid before the late fee date to try and avoid a late fee yet the deposit slip says rent was paid after the late fee date. The tenant also wanted out of the 1 yr lease early and we declined saying you have a signed lease that we need to abide by.  The buyer has asked to speak with both tenants during his due diligence period. I have no problem with the him speaking to the main house tenants but am very reluctant to give him the phone number of the studio tenant. Not that the studio tenant will reveal anything but that they may lie and say something to put something in his head that will have the buyer question the purchase. Ultimately the inspections he gets/has gotten will reveal everything but the fact that the studio tenant has lied so often about not so important things I am afraid that they may say something outrageous to just mess with the sale. The buyer knows the tenant has lied and has been tough. I know this may pop a red flag for the buyer but how much would that affect you if you were in his shoes? What would you do if you were in my shoes? I know I would want to do exactly what the buyer wants to do if I were in their shoes so I am somewhat conflicted. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

[Fred Heller]

It's inappropriate for the buyer to have any contact with the tenants until after closing. Until then, they don't own the property.

Having said that, if the buyer specifically asks about the payment patterns, etc. of the tenants, then you have a duty to disclose in my opinion.