Or the second? If they were served properly they are still in effect, the change of ownership makes no difference. You should be able to proceed with the eviction with no further delay.
I know in my area, a new owner can evict a tenant to get the property for his own use or for a relative. This is considered the most iron clad eviction by the courrts, even better than non payment of rent.
And I can’t believe you didn’t ask the seller if he had a lease, you should have found that out before you made an offer. And if there is one you should have gotten a copy as you are now bound by it.
The only other comment is that you can’t depend on anybody, you have to check up on people. Don’t feel bad we all had to learn the same way.
but this one involves ME (I swear I never thought it would happen to me).
I just purchased a two family for my Brother and I to live in. The seller was supposed to serve the existing tenant with a 60 day notice to vacate on May 1st. This would have allowed me to move in on or after July 1st.
Well my lawyer (who does all my RE deals for me and who has up to this point been flawless) failed to request proof that proper notice was served. Guess what? It wasn’t. Instead, the seller served the tenant with a notice to vacate on May 1st. But the notice said that she had to leave by May 24th. The seller then sends out another notice on June 1st referencing the May 1st letter and informing her that she had to leave by July 1st. In the meantime, I closed on the house last week thinking my “flawless” lawyer did his job.
My lawyer tells me that this may not stand in court and that it’s best to serve her a letter now that she has to vacate by August 1st. We’re assuming that she doesn’t have a lease. But if she does (she claims she does but this is doubtful), I may have to wait out her lease before I can get her out. To add insult to injury, her rent is $150-200 below fmv.
So now I’m stuck paying a mortgage on a house that I can’t live in (my Brother has already moved into the other apartment as agreed between him and I earlier.
. . . that’s my personal best. Tenant’s friends punched a hole in every single wall and ceiling in a two bedroom apartment. Police wouldn’t even pursue charges claiming it was a “civil matter.” Had she ripped off an 89 cent loaf of bread at the store next door, they’d have hauled her off to jail.
The upside? I got really good at fixing holes in sheetrock.
That’s a horror story. Your’s is a walk in the park.
Now that you own the house, instead of relying on the papers that were filed by the old landlord, file some papers of your own. Here in NY, you can evict a tenant if you or a family member want to live in that apartment. If the Court wants proof, show them the Deed and the Note with your name on it. That should be proof enough you intend to live there.
You know, Hi my name is IB nd I am your new landlord. I wanted to verify you received my notices and if there is anything I can do to help please let me know.
See what she says. Your post does not indicate she is fighting this just that she has a lease. You may be worrying about nothing.
IB,
You may also want to check with your attorney, but my understanding is that in Texas (and I assume other states), the notice must be served prior to the end of the month.
In other words, a notice received on May 1st doesn’t really require the tenant to be out until July 31st, if your “lease” runs on monthly cycles. Granted, most tenants (and landlords) may not know this, but that’s what I’ve been told. In essence, it’s notice that the tenant must be out by the end of the next “cycle” if that makes sense. I’ve never had it become a problem, but having that knowledge makes it easier to plan in case I happen to run across a “professional” tenant. You may want to check it out.
This isn’t exactly a “tenant/landlord horror story”. I mean when I clicked on your post I expected to see some really good stuff. What I read instead is a story about an error. Maybe it was your lawyers error. But frankly if I were in your shoes I would call it my error. I would think you should have been checking a key document like that yourself, or supervising the checking of it by your lawyer.
Either way, it’s not exactly a “horror” that you can’t move in for another month. I presume you bought right, and another 30 days isn’t going to kill your deal.
Come back with this headline when you rent to a tenant after you rehabbed, the tenant trashes the place, won’t pay the rent, and find technicalities wrong with your eviction filings so that the eviction drags on. Now THAT has the makings of a good horror story.