Just purchased first duplex. What info do I need from tenants?

[Kelsey Illuzzi]

Hi there. I'm new here and new to the world of of real estate. We are very excited to learn as much as we can! My fiance and I purchased our first house last Friday. It is a duplex that is currently occupied on one side (we will be living on the other for awhile). The previous owner was initially  "renting" the home out to his sons, so it appears no real legal documents or anything are in place. Friends of his sons are living there now I think. The only info we received upon closing was that there are 3 tenants on the other side. There was no lease agreement in place. Honestly, we don't even know their names. We met them briefly when we initially viewed the house, but haven't really seen them since. We want to increase the rent about $150 because they were paying less than the nearby average. We've now owned the house for four days and are unsure how to move forward with the whole rental process. From what we understand, the tenants were just sending the owner a check once a month. Our plan at this time is to introduce ourselves in person and give them a letter noting the rent increase, but we are unsure what other information we should get from them! Any guidance on this topic would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[Anthony Wick]

@Kelsey Illuzzi

Yikes. You could have asked for all this info before close. Did you get prorated rents for first month and damage deposits?

With no lease it generally defaults to month to month. Definitely introduce yourself ASAP, do a walk through inspection/move in sheet and have all tenants sign it, give 30 days notice to either vacate or sign your lease. Since you don’t know anything about them you might want to ask them if they are even interested in staying, and tell them they will have to go through a full application process which includes credit, criminal, and eviction checks.