Seller put new tenants into unit while under contract, help!

[Alex Hostetler]

Preface: Our plan is to house hack and move in asap.

We are in contract on our first rental property (4-plex).  

When we first looked at the place and made the offer 1 unit was vacant, a few days after verbal contract but before signed contract the seller put a new 12 month lease into the vacant unit.  The other 3 tenants have been there 8+ years and take great care of the property.  One of which is month to month and has been since 2013.  All of them have essentially perfect payment history going back the last 2 years, with very minimal maintenance requests.  So it becomes fairly apparent I wouldn't mind inheriting such low hassle tenants.

Is there any way to get out of the new lease, so we can move into that unit?  This is in Texas.

Thanks for the advice!

[Daniel O.]

I don't know what the laws are in Texas, but in places where I have lived or invested, it is common practice to take a place off of the rental market when you know an offer is coming in. Why would someone wait until they had a written offer? What does your purchase contract say? Has the new tenant moved in yet? Does your financing hinge on you being an owner occupant? Did the seller / seller's agent know this? What kind of financing is stipulated on the contract? If the seller knew or should have known this, you are on pretty solid ground telling them they need to break the lease with the new tenant or you will walk away. And no, they could not keep your EMD. While they could break the month to month lease with the reliable tenant, why would you want to do that? Even if the new tenant checks out fine, they are still more of an unknown quantity than the one who has a mulit-year track record of being a good tenant. From my perspective, this is the seller's problem, not yours.

Good luck!