Meeting current tenants

[Ernes Sahic]

I’ve been looking at buying a rental property, some of the properties have tenants already occupying the residence. Is there anything wrong with asking the seller to meet the current tenants? I personally would want to make sure if I buy a property that has a month to month or a year contract with a current tenant, that I’m okay with the people living in the property that I own. Can someone give me some personal experience when buy a property already occupied.

[Nathan Gesner]

I disagree with @Thomas S. at least a little.

I would require an estoppel certificate as part of my inspection phase. By definition, the estoppel must be filled out and then signed by all parties. Ask the Seller if you can complete the estoppel with the tenant during your property inspection and then bring it to the Seller for review/approval. This gives you the opportunity to meet the tenants.

You can also make it a requirement of your contract:

Seller can accept that, reject it, or counter back.