Tenant occupied duplex, no lease to be found...

[Bryce Lowe-White]

I have an accepted offer on a Los Angeles duplex in a rent controlled area. The front house is vacant. The back detached studio is being sold occupied. Neither the landlord or the tenant can provide a copy of the current lease for the detached studio... they are both claiming it is lost. The tenant is a friend of the landlord and I'm guessing it was probably just a verbal lease.

My main question - is the tenant protected under rent control if there is no hard copy of lease to be found? The tenant is pretty messy so I was considering paying the relocation fees to get him out. Now I'm wondering if this may save me from having to pay to get him out of there. Looking for some advice and if anyone has any ideas on the best way to proceed here?