IANAL but you will generally inherit the existing lease.At the very minimum you want to see a copy of that lease prior to releasing your inspection contingency, so you can ensure that it's a lease you can live with at least until it is up (make sure your seller/landlord didn't promise the tenant anything crazy that you are unwilling to live up to... the tenant isn't a "bad guy" here that deserves to be bait-and-switched on).Various things you could ask for on top of that if any spidey sense is tingling:Estoppel cert, either semi-formal (eg, something you write up and have the tenant sign) or formal and notarized (to 100% validate who actually signed the thing). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estoppel_certificate Proof of receipt of on time rent for 12 months, with it being reasonable for the seller to black out their account numbers and the like.

Probably not. Are

I also think lights and cameras (fake or not) are among the best and least costly deterrents. 

To name a few:- Get authorizations from the owner to talk to the lender, - Obtain reinstatement and payoff quotes from the lender on borrower's behalf so you have figures for the title company to close the sale,- Deal with lien releases (there are quite often liens filed against the owner / property that will need to be released, often with negotiated discounts in order to make the deal work) ,- Deal with multiple owners who might not be talking to each other and get them to agree to sell,- Deal with mutliple heirs if owner(s) passed away and get them to agree to sell (and address various title issues related to legally transferring heirs' interests to you)I had to deal with spouses who can't stay in the same room longer than 3 minutes before starting a shouting match, owners who were only lucid during certain periods of time, heirs in prison, heirs who didn't have an ID to notarize documents, heirs who hated each other so much they refused to sell to spite their kin, etc., etc.Let's just say, it's not everybody's cup of tea. 

There's usually a one page form that you'll have to get notarized and there's probably a small filing fee.

You do this in writing, by signature, and have it notarized.  

The markets in SoCal are getting more and more regulated, and the ones that are not are saturated with inventory.

It’s between them how we get paid, as long as it’s on time and in full.When a tenant wants to be taken off the lease, we require both tenants to put that statement in writing and sign/notarize.

You may need to notarize some documents for your business operations.

@Brett Durfee No I have not. Are