Move out time for tenants

[Mike Moe]

Hi all! Wondering if you guys have ran into this situation before, and have any recommendations. I purchased a duplex recently, and inherited some tenants. They’ve been decent so far, and are moving out at the end of September. The lease that they signed with the previous owner does not specify a move out time, and they won’t commit to being out any sooner than midnight on the 30th. Since I have new tenants moving in the following day, I wanted to get a cleaning crew through there and take care of some really minor repairs. If there is no specific move out time specified in the lease, do they really have until midnight on the last day? Thanks in advanced for the info! This will be the last time I have to deal with it, since the other tenants are on my lease calling out they must be moved by noon the last day of the lease :)

[Cat R.]

Just reading this made me stress. 

First, those tenants have every right to have every minute of their last day to be out. So if they are gone by 11:59:59, well they paid up to that point. So give them the space and go back the next day. 

I never overlap tenancies this way. I don’t know what condition the rental will be once I get keys and I can’t just be in a rush to fix things just in case that minor fix turns into a bigger problem or my rush job turns into a slop.