inherited a tenant from a judicial sale purchase!

[Mark Davis]

My brother and i purchased a house at a judicial sale in Chester County.

the house has 3 units in it.   we had visited the house several times prior to the sale, knocking on the doors with no response.

after the sale, i visited it a couple more times, we did not change any locks yet because the house was secure and appeared in good shape.

much to our surprise, this weekend, while we were getting ready to change the locks, a spry but elderly gentleman presented himself and asked what we were doing...  turns out he was a tenant of 11 years in one of the units!..   he invited us in and it turns out that he kept a very clean place no big issues.

now, while we did intend to rent the units...   we did not anticipate doing so so quickly.

this is in Coatesville pa...  Chester County

any suggestions on 

1. a lease template

2. getting a "landlord license" for Coatesville... i believe one is required.

3. collecting rents/transfer of lease

4. any other pitfalls that we may not even know we don't know

TIA

mark

[Joseph Leofsky]

Mark, you will need a rental license. ($25) and a rental inspection at every turnover. ($66). I think you should just sign a new lease, photo copy ID. Make sure you specify that they are to pay rent, you do not collect rent. You do not what to get into the habit of driving to Coatesville just to collect your rent. Join the Coatesville Housing Association. 

Joe