Wholetailing Rent Controlled Unit in Los Angeles

[Jonathan Liu]

I found a landlord through a realtor friend who is fed up being a landlord and wanted to just offload her property. Her duplex has been listed at $500k for approximately 60 days. She has received numerous offers over listing price ($510k), but every offer requires it to be delivered vacant. The problem is that one of the two units is covered by the rent control ordinance in LA, and she cannot evict the tenant. She does not want to negotiate a buy out with the tenant, and she is willing to take a pretty substantial discount to sell the property with the tenants (I think I can get it down to about $450k). Does anyone have experience buying a rent controlled property, evicting or buying out the tenant, then reselling once vacant? One of the grounds for evicting without cause is owner occupying the property. How long would I need to stay in there after evicting? Thanks for any thoughts or insight!