All Forum Posts by: Craig S.

@Christopher Morin - thanks for your input. I have the following in my lease:

"Landlord and Tenant expressly agree that this Lease Agreement supersedes and replaces in its entirety any and all previous Lease Agreements executed by Tenant pertaining to the Leased Premises."

I think my main concern here is whether "consideration" is given, even though I may be REDUCING the term of their lease. Am I required to INCREASE the term for consideration to be given, or is the term length irrelevant? Maybe an attorney could chime in here?

I understand they do not have to sign the lease, I am simply asking if it is LEGALLY ACCEPTABLE for them to do so if they are willing. It is a legal question I am asking, not what is best practice, most practical, or easiest.

@Patrick Liska - thanks for your reply. Having them send me payments is not my concern, that is easy to change over by sending the tenant my new address (or having them sign up for online rent payments like I use). The reason I want to change the tenants over to MY lease is because my lease is MUCH stronger/detailed than their existing one. I want better protection and if they are on a basic/generic lease, I cannot enforce any rights (other than ones set by law) that are not listed in the lease agreement.

My main question is whether it is legally acceptable to have the tenant sign a my new lease as soon as I purchase the property, assuming they are willing to do so, and can I reduce the term (month-to-month) if their previous term was longer, again if they're willing to do so?

Hello, I am purchasing some apartment units with existing tenants and leases in place. When I acquire a new property, I have the seller give me a lease assignment agreement, assigning the leases legally over to me. This not only ensures that I have legal rights to collect the rents, but it also ensures that should the tenant violate the terms, I can enforce the terms of the lease since I now own it. When the "old" lease expires and if I like the tenant, I will then have them sign MY lease agreement instead of using the existing one that was on the property when I bought it.

My question however, is it legally possible or recommended to have the tenants sign MY lease right away, assuming they are willing to do so? What do you guys do? Obviously, I prefer them to switch over to MY lease as soon as possible because I am most familiar with it and it is very detailed.

An attorney had mentioned to me in the past that I may need to extend the term of the lease beyond the date it is set to expire if I do it this way, since to be considered a contract both parties need consideration and to give up something of value to the other party. I would think just regardless whether I reduce the term (like change from annual to month-to-month) or increasing the term wouldn't really matter.

Do you any of you have a better answer on this, whether it is legally acceptable to have the tenant sign a new lease as soon as I purchase the property, assuming they are willing to do so, and can I reduce the term (month-to-month), again if they are willing to do so?

@John Bauer, thanks for your feedback, I will contact you if I need future advice.

@Chris Forbes, I have decided to just let this go as well. I think there would have been more mental anguish and time involved that wouldn't be worth it. Depending on the dollar size in these situations, sometimes I think it makes more economical sense to just let them go. I guess it all depends on the situation:)

I did a little bit more research and decided to tell tenants the following:

"Unfortunately we are unable to hold mail for you at our office according to Postal Service regulations since the mail was not addresses to us, and due to tenant privacy we do not permit former tenants to approach new tenants. We do however inform new tenants to write "Wrong Address, Return To Sender" on the envelope and stick it back in the box--this should eventually make its way back to you if any mail slips through."

@Mike McCarthy I did recommend my tenant to complete a Change of Address request on the USPS website to forward the mail to their new address, however I am deciding what do do with mail that comes through before this Change of Address took effect, or for other things that happen to slip through.

I have a tenant who recently moved out of my rental unit, and the new tenant has moved in.

The former tenant asked if I could have the new tenant hold any mail that still comes in his name, so he could pick it up. Or he asked if I could pick up the mail from the apartment and hold in my office for him to pick up one day.

I am happy to help tenants, however I do not want to get into the business of holding and collecting mail and wasting my time with that.

My initial thought is to tell him that I am sorry, but we are unable to hold tenant's mail, and that we advise new tenants to write "Wrong Address" on the envelope and return to sender. In addition, I am not sure the mail laws, but I might believe that I cannot pick up or hold someone's mail that isn't mine.

What do you guys do in these cases?

@Account Closed I wonder if GA law is any different than OH regarding the "illegal eviction"? As far as I am aware, if I serve a 3-day notice and she leaves, why would I need to continue to pursue an eviction if she is already out? I completed an inspection the day she left with photos and a time/date stamp to document for proof, I believe that would serve as proof she vacated and not just taking a vacation (the unit was empty).

@Account Closed thanks for the opinion! I don't want to waste my time either, as it is very valuable to me, however I also don't like the idea of just letting the tenant get away with this (damage/fees), so I want to see the opinions of other full-time landlords and professionals in this business.