About to close on a duplex with tenants who are being evicted.

[Terry Matula]

I'm waiting on a return call from an attorney, but I wanted to see if there were any quick opinions/thoughts on this: My wife and I are buying a duplex, and the existing tenants are 3 months behind. The current property manager told us they were being evicted and would be out by the time we closed (Wednesday). Now, it doesn't look that way.

We had a provision in our contract that states it would "be vacant or proof of eviction proceedings shall be provided"... and so far, all we got was a letter the manager sent, telling them to vacate the premises. And in the email, he said we could files with the court whenever we wanted. Eventhough he told us before that HE was going to file. I just don't know if that one letter constitutes "proof of eviction proceedings" or not.

The problem is, I think the tenants are waiting for us to get the house, hoping they can "reset" the deal, so to speak.

So how would you handle this? When we put the contract in, we were thinking we'd get a vacant duplex to fix up, live in one side, and eventually rent out the other side to tenants of our choosing. Now, we're faced with the hassle of evicting previous tenants. And I assume there are fees we'd have to pay with filing the paperwork, and eventually having to physically remove them from the premises.

And with their deposit, does that go to US... or do the sellers keep it, since they haven't gotten the rent? (we're in Texas... if that matters)

Thanks!