Existing tenants, no lease

[Amanda Williams]

I have a duplex that I am negotiating that has tenants, however the seller isnt able to produce any actual leases. The current tenants aren't either. One tenant appears to have an agreement for month to month, the other thinks they have a 12 month. Any experience with how to deal with this? Since there are no actual leases that can be verified, would I be ok to give 30 days notice to vacate after closing?

[Ryan Murdock]

I'm not familiar with NC law but in many states the lack of a lease defaults to whatever the statutes for that state are. Most statutes are available online so you can check there, or maybe someone more experienced with NC will chime in.

One thing I would do (assuming it is legally permissible) is get a simple one page signed statement (estoppel agreement) from the tenants BEFORE closing stating what their security deposit is, what the rent is, what is included with that rent, and whether there is a written lease or not.

What you don't want to happen is close and then have the tenant find an old lease that you are forced to honor that locks you in to terms you don't like.