THE BEST WAYS TO SUCCESSFULLY SELL TENANT-OCCUPIED PROPERTIES

A situation that often crops up in realty is you, as a property owner, want to wash your hands of that particular location. Usually this isn’t that big a deal. You’re done with a property, want to sell it, you do, everything is coming up roses.

The issue becomes complicated when you’re ready to get rid of a property but the people currently living inside are not.

Some tenants are perfect and understand; they have the ability to find somewhere else to live and you’re breaking off your relationship on friendly terms. Other tenants are the kind you have nightmares about: they wreck the property, constantly give you push back and are late on rent all the time. No matter what kind of tenants you have, though, they have rights afforded to them. Even if you wish you could dump your horrible renters into a ditch, that’s simply not how the law works.



This is the truly tricky part. It’s your duty as a landlord and property owner to understand the legality of having tenants, but sometimes you’re not as well prepared as you’d like to be. Learning the situational rights of both yourself and your tenants is the best place to start.

Lease Issues

First of all, the laws relating to tenant rights can sometimes be vastly different depending on your location. The property laws in California or Nigeria aren’t the same as they are in other Countries for example. So do research on the laws specific to your state for more hyperlocal information.

In general, though, tenant vacation clauses are usually somewhere between 30, 60, 90 and180 days. These notifications usually have to be written and in accordance to the lease that you established with the tenant. Your lease agreement should have an early termination clause, and your eviction of tenants should follow in accordance with these preset stipulations.

Remember that in the case of nightmare tenants who have violated their lease in any way, you have a right to terminate the lease. If this isn’t the case, remember this: without an early termination clause or violation of the lease, it’s best to let the tenants live out the lease before selling the property. If you do feel the tenants are reasonable, talk to them about the situation, if only to let them know that their release won’t be renewed with as much advance notice as possible.

Ways Out of It

You have three real options to consider when it comes to actually selling or getting rid of the property at hand:

• If you really need to get the property off your hands fast, consider selling it to an investor. This is a harder situation to sell to some investors, but shop around and you’re sure to find someone who will bite.
• If you’ve got money to burn, consider paying your tenant to leave the property. The amount of money can be negotiable, but try to make sure they break even. This means paying off the rest of their lease, their moving costs, and even tossing in the security deposit if you’re feeling generous or REALLY want them to take the offer.
• The last effort is simply selling the property to the tenant themselves. If they really don’t want to leave, have them make an offer. Talk about mortgages, refinancing, etc. Whatever it takes.