Purchasing Tenant-Occupied

[Daniel Wolz]

Hello BP!

I just bought my first rental property (closing in a week). A tenant has lived there for 3+ years, but has indicated that she is planning to move out whenever she gets a chance to search for and secure a new place (could be a month, could be several months). The previous landlord has indicated that the tenant is month-to-month with no current lease in place, and there was no security deposit collected at move-in. I'm fine continuing to collect rent until she moves out (and I plan to get her to sign a formal month-to-month lease), but I'm not sure how to handle a security deposit. This is a low income area so I assume the tenant does not have residual income that she can fork over suddenly just because the property ownership changed over to us, but I want to try to protect myself as much as possible. Making demands for more cash without the security of a deposit doesn't seem like the best idea. 

Does anyone have any advice for a newbie such as myself? Any insight is MUCH APPRECIATED!

Thanks!