Inherited Tenants - M2M - Handling the Transition

[Carson P.]

I've recently got my first investment property under contract. A side by side duplex 2Bed/1bth (C class). I am in the process of becoming a first time landlord and want to make sure I am following the Wisconsin laws correctly. I purchased the full pamphlet of forms from WILegalBank. This site was highly advised from other instate investors on this forum. Anyways, the property I have under contract has one side of the duplex rented and once side vacant. The current tenant was contracted on a year lease that expired in October 2019. The lease then transitions to a M2M lease. The current landlord collected a security deposit of one months rent. The tenant has expressed interest in staying in the unit, but for convenience, I would like to keep them on M2M terms but under my lease standards, not the existing landlord's. So a few questions I have are:

1) How should I go about transitioning the current lease into my standard lease? (send the 28 day notice then have the current tenants sign my lease?) or (have have the current tenant sign a mutual termination agreement and then put my lease into place?) or is it as simple as they sign my lease and the old lease is abandoned?

2) The carpet in the rented unit is destroyed. The current landlord stated that he can get the tenant to agree to signing a statement that he is responsible for the destruction. Essential he would be forfeiting his deposit. The current landlord does not have a check in/checkout list so the damage caused is not officially documented in writing so far, only verbally. Would the tenant signing a statement be enough to forfeit the deposit?

Also, as a first time landlord, I will be managing from roughly 1.5 hours away for the first year. Are there any tips or tricks anyone can offer? The property will be located in the Green Bay Area. I have been doing ALOT of reading on here and feel comfortable about the numbers and the property. The largest unknown is tenants and tenant screening. Any help is appreciated!

[Marcus Auerbach]

@Carson P. glad to hear you got the forms from Wisconsin Legal Blank - they are very good contracts, you need typically 5 or 6: the lease, rules and regs, lead addendum, smoke and CO, pet agreement and non-standard lease provisions.

At the day of closing provide the tenants with an intro letter to ensure them they are not getting kicked out, plans for new leases, your contact info, how to best reach you and when, how you wish to receive rent and anything else that matters to you.

You could consider keeping the leases, MTM has certain advanatages for the landlord - but if the contract is poorly written might as well...

1.) Simple termination will do when you sign the new lease, make a note it replaces the old lease in its entirety, no other documents or side agreements or verbal agreements exist

2.)  Signed statement should suffice. Make sure you get credit for the security deposit on the closing statement, title company may forget..

3.) Communicate well, run it as a business, respond professionally and be very friendly but also firm. They will test your resolve - be friendly, but not their friend. Stay firm. I do not take un-scheduled phone calls, text and email only. If they call, I text back.