Transfer of Tenants - Collecting Rent out-of-state

[Darsh Patel]

Hi Everyone, 

I just bought my first rental property! I am very excited but also very nervous. I bought a 4-plex that is currently fully occupied. I wanted to reach out to all of you and ask... how does the tenant transfer process work? Does the previous owner just send me all of the tenant's leases and contact info and am I supposed to personally get in touch with them and let them know that I am the new landlord? 

Another note that I should mention is that this is an out of state purchase. I'm in MA and the property is in Ohio. So, my next question is for people involved in out of state rental properties, how do you collect tenant's rents? Do you use a specific app, email followup etc?

[Patti Robertson]

You should really ask for the rent roll as part of the contract period, but if you didn't do that, you should be getting them at closing.  You should contact the tenants immediately because it is sometimes a process to get them out of the habit of paying rent the way they used to.  You may have a straggler who tries to pay the old landlord.  Hopefully the seller will assist in making this process easy for the tenants. 

A couple of options for you to collect rents are:

1) Give the tenants your bank account number and have them deposit rent into your account and text you when they made their deposit so you know who to give credit to.  Tell them also to note their name and unit number on the deposit ticket so the bank can pull them should you need to audit.  

2) Set up an account with www.paynearme.com.  This will allow your tenants to pay their rent at any 7-11 in the country for free.  It is a free service for the landlord and the tenant pays $3.99/payment. They can use cash though, which a lot of tenants like.

Eventually you can get software that will allow you to either autodraft from a tenant's account or have a tenant portal where the tenant can pay on-line.  If you never get there, the two above options will work.