Tenant Screening Diligence when buying

[Brady Boyer]

I have a 4 plex under contract in York, PA and currently all 4 units are leased.  As part of my diligence I requested the credit checks, background checks, and rental applications from the current landlord.  He refuses to send these materials as he claims he won't release information about tenants.  I was under the impression this was part of the normal due diligence process when buying investment property. My fear is that he leased up the building with low quality tenants and doesn't want me to review the tenant screening materials.  Has anyone else come across this issue in PA or elsewhere? I'm assuming I will need their permission to run background and credit checks? Any suggestions for how I should handle this?

[Ulrike Koehler]

I have a few rental properties in York Pa and if your property is located in the general downtown area most tenants usually dont pass high expectation in regards of credit scores or rental history. This is usually leveled out by asking for higher deposit in the hopes that this will cover at least some repairs or missed rent payments. 

In your case I expect that you should know at least what the current rent per unit is and detail about renter that live in the building. I would think that you have to draft new rental contract when taking over and latest at that point you will obtain renters SS to run credit reports, background check and rental history.