Inheriting tenants. Lease assignment agreement, or make new lease

[Andrew Brown]

I bought my first rental property, a 4plex and I'm moving into one of the units. My lawyer has sent lease assignment agreements to the sellers lawyer. This would allow the tenants contracts to carry on in my name until their expiry, which for all 3 tenants is April-July of 2021. At this point the lawyer and I could sit down and draw up new leases, if I chose to pay the hourly fee. The leases currently in place are only 2 pages each, and are very bare bones. The seller contacted me tonight and thinks that I should just go to the town office and get new generic leases like she did, and go along with her to meet the tenants and sign new leases with them. I'm not sure if that's even legal to come along and cancel the current leases in place? I am currently studying the residential tenancy act. When I told her I was concerned about how minimal those lease agreements were and told her I'd started working on building some I found online she scoffed and immediately tossed them aside saying "they aren't even legal" and she'd "like to see someone who has had to use one in court... " I'm not sure what could possibly make them "not legal". The only requirement I've seen in my province in Canada is that you need a line in the contract that reads "The tenancy created by this agreement is governed by the Residential Tenancies Act and if there is a conflict between this agreement and the Act, the Act prevails."

To make matters more complicated, one of the tenants is a corporation and their accounting department has indicated that they would require the lease to be cancelled and have a new one drawn up. Again my lawyer insisted that I go back to the company and work out a way to use a lease assignment agreement to continue on without breaking the lease that's already in place, since that has legal complications. The seller on the other hand was balking at the idea of using lease assignment agreements because it's "a lot of paperwork", while I'm thinking that creating all new leases would be far more "paperwork" than lease assignment agreements.

I'm not sure what to do at this point, I have no reason whatsoever to believe that the tenants, private or corporate, or the seller have any sign of being suspicious. The building is one of the higher end units in the downtown area of this small town. The seller is actually one of the highest performing real estate agents in the area, has several rental properties, and has been a landlord for 11 years. She also worked at a property management company for 8 years and has taken a 2 1/2 year contract law course. Yes she did mention all of this during our conversation! She is someone I'd really like to learn off of and get to know, although tonight I learned she is someone who likes to be in control, very fast talking and is used to getting her way. I think she could talk her way through just about any situation. The fact that she wants to be such an active part of transitioning the tenants speaks to that. Now I am thankful that she is so willing to help out, but not if it compromises the way I'm looking to do business. 

So what's the deal? How would you go about this situation?

[Tony Lago]

The seller will always have her best interest in mind.  I am not an attorney and I do not know anything about Canadian Law. However, in the USA you can't just go and break a lease just because a sale occurred. What does your attorney think? It seems like your legal council thinks the proper way to do this is by assigning the leases to you, right? You are paying him and your interests should be more aligned than you and the seller. Typically an assignment in the states only involves the seller and buyer, then a notice goes out to all the tenants...it's not that much paperwork. Don't focus to much on appeasing the seller...it's your money at risk. After all, if the 2 page lease she had in place is "bare bones" and you already had the foresight of adding more language you are likely to learn less from her than you think. Don't let the fast talking big wig attitude intimidate you. Stick to what you think is right and listen to the advise given to you by your legal counsel. 

If this is your first property, work with your attorney to make a new lease that is acceptable to local laws. Draft what you have in mind and have him review it/ rewrite anything that isn't enforceable. 

Hope this helps!