Steps to Onboarding Inherited Tenant

[Sara K.]

My husband and I are closing on our first rental property this afternoon. We are inheriting a tenant, who is a clean freak, pays on time, wants to stay, and has zero maintenance requests. We did the walk-through yesterday and everything looked good. His year lease expires 11/30/17.

I am trying to make sure I have covered all of the bases for inheriting a tenant/having a new tenant in Florida.

I am sending a welcome letter today detailing that we are the new landlords, we will honor and follow the previous lease, we have been given the security deposit, etc. This letter will also give instructions to the tenant on how to set up a Cozy.co account to pay rent. 

Beyond that, I know I need to put his security deposit in a separate non-interest bearing bank account (will be done by this weekend), and notify the tenant within 30 days of the location, account number, etc. 

I would imagine I should contact the utility companies to let them know ownership has changed. Am I missing anything else?

Do I need to have a new lease drafted up, or a lease addendum stating we are new landlords, or can I piggy-back off of the previous lease for the duration of his tenancy? I don't want to sign another yearly lease, I'd rather let it go month-to-month, which is already written in the previous lease.

Thank you for your help!

[Sara K.]

@Nicole A. Thank you so much for your reply!

The tenant wants to stay very badly. The rent is quite below market, currently it's $795, market rent was appraised at $975. However, the unit would require a good amount of cap-ex before we could ask for market rent. It's very outdated in style as well as mechanics. The appliances and even the air handler are original, from 1984!

Our cash flow is good, even with the below market rent. We are keen to keep this tenant as long as possible. He's a clean freak with no complaints about the unit, so your suggestion of keeping the good tenant in order to get the feel for landlording is right on point. 

I do want to raise the rent a nominal amount at lease end($20-$25), just to secure a bit more cash flow. 

Thanks again for your help!