The norm is you are still required to give them proper notice of any changes so if they pay rent on the 1st you would need to give them notice by the 3oth of Nov,, that you will be changing to a written lease as of Jan 1st and this is the terms of the new lease, rate, utility,, what ever,,..I would suggest you do this if you close before Dec 15th,, give them written notice (15 days extra, prior to end of month of Dec... that as of Feb 1st the change will take effect.This gives them about 2 weeks to ponder if they are going to accept or if they are going to give there 30 days notice to vacate to you by Dec 31, that they will leave Jan 31st.Get a lease renewal form made out,, Check forms here on BPAlso do a walk thru within a week of ownership, have them fill out a contact info form for you, Give them your info how to pay, emergency numbers,, and realize their sec deposit,, (they say is none,, no lease right) isn't going to cover any on going damages.. so I'd tell them your going to require a sec deposit with new lease,, Condition of Apartment from date you close is now the NEW conditions check sheet you should fill out to hold them responsible from that date going on.

Give us some more information and maybe we can help more.Feel free to email me if this is an emergency.

Also, you plan on spending the next year researching thus depleting your emergency fund.

Inform them of emergency maintenance number and during inspection make list of things needed for service.Method of payment should not be left for last minute,, I'd set someone to either pick up the current upcoming rent for the first month until you get time to set up another way to figure it out..

David Lindal's "Emerging real estate market" talks about this, worth reading .

(This is important from tenant perspective, in case of emergency, as well as owner perspective.)

"I am keeping an adequate portion of cash, for reserves for my family and emergency issues with my investments." 

Emergency clinics can have similar problem they have business for months backed up but getting the consistent high quality workers is the problem encountered the most.I would have to see the particular property in general OM to give an assessment of what I think.

Now, these aren't code inspectors, they're from the NJ Dept of Consumer Affairs, but they enforce stuff like emergency lighting, painting fire escapes, and other safety issues, so I don't see how they could not be trained to spot combustion in a bedroom if that was a violation.

We aren't losing any money and we have reserve funds now to pay for any emergencies that arise in the future.