Buy a property with existing tenant, what should be cautious?

[Nuo Shi]

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie to the real estate investing arena, with no rental property management experience before. Currently, I'm considering to purchase a fourplex with existing tenants in 3 units. I'm wondering what should I be cautious?

1. Is that allowed to run a background/credit check on existing tenants? Just in case the seller wants to sell the property to get rid of the headache tenants.

2. If seller includes an estoppel in disclosure, is that trustable?  Should I reach out to tenant directly for that?

3. May I sign a new lease with the tenant? I know it's ok for month-to-month lease, what about the long term one? I think it makes sense to put my name on the lease

4. For the COVID situation, is that ok to ask tenant to provide income and job stability proof? I'd like to evaluate the capability for the tenants to continue paying rents.

I'd also like to hear any tips or suggestions for this. As a first time investor, I'm kind of scared to get existing tenants who are under qualifications, or potentially dragging me into some headache process, like eviction.

Thanks for any reply,

Nuo