While the answers were excellent in the previous thread, none covered this scenario:

We're buying a house from out-of-state owners, and it is being rented to a local family. In short, although they (the family) were supposedly notified to move out, the week prior to closing (Feb 13th) all the animals and yard furniture are still present.  Also we got from our realtor that the family "has nowhere to go."

So, if we sign and become the de facto landowners it'll be up to us to evict them; a process that can take some time. Plus all the legal and insurance factors mentioned in the other thread.

Or, not close, which would be a problem because the current house we're renting is going up for sale, and if we have to move, nobody rents to people with dogs.

Or, signing a lease that binds us up for 3 to 6 months, plus huge pet deposits. And housing around here is tight --mostly huge tracts of agricultural land and small towns .  A mess.

Not a lawyer or anything, but I'd hold my money and let the sellers kick the squatters out.  They'll have more incentive than you to get the ball rolling, and will probably be more effective.  They were supposed to do it anyway, as a condition of closing, right?

ETA:  Look at it this way--if you close now, you STILL won't have a place to live, because some strangers are now living in your house.

Do NOT close until the house is 100% empty.
I think you can penalize them for not being ready for closing, any experts?

Kharn

Quoted: Do NOT close until the house is 100% empty. I think you can penalize them for not being ready for closing, any experts? Kharn

A big +1.

Dont sign anything, HOPEFULLY it is in the contract that the renters have to be out before the closing date.

It is not your problem dont let them try to give you a sob story.

Quoted: Not a lawyer or anything, but I'd hold my money and let the sellers kick the squatters out.  They'll have more incentive than you to get the ball rolling, and will probably be more effective.  They were supposed to do it anyway, as a condition of closing, right? ETA:  Look at it this way--if you close now, you STILL won't have a place to live, because some strangers are now living in your house.

Along with reading the orginal thread, we hadn't planned on closing. A worst case scenario would be the renters could become squaters, and force us to take legal action to get them out, plus how could you sue them for damages (think bact to the "Slumlord's" thread)?  However, its a buyer's market and we're pressed for time.

I suppose I'm fishing for sound advice.

Do not close until they squatters are out and you have had the opportunity to see the property again. Last thing you want to open the door to your brand new place and find out that the renters took a shit on the carpet or busted shit on their way out.

The steps required to legally evict someone are not the kind of headache you want.

Haven't read the previous thread but before you can close one of the things that have to be cleared is that the property is available for you.  Having tenants in the property is the current owners problem.  You should have had a firm date for those tenants to be gone, if they aren't gone by that date the sellers have screwed the pooch and you should have the option of bailing.

If your agent allowed you proceed with a deal that may leave you with legal possession of a house that has tenants from the previous owners I'd kick their ass bloody for screwing up so badly.

My wife and have discussed that: does "taking pocession" mean vacant?  What really blows is the tenants could simply refuse to move (tho its a breech of contract for them), heck they could even stop paying rent and it'd be a while before could deal with them.

Is that YOUR realtor or THEIRS? I would NEVER listen to THEIR realtor. Tell the realtor that rent is 500 per week with a 1 month minimum. House has to be acceptable to you or contract is void. CONTRACT is what you make of it. I would never use their realtor, as they are beholden to the seller. I've always used my own and I could care less who I piss off. Also you have to have a penalty clause nasty enough to be taken seriously. I've had to use it once out of 3 houses when they did not move out on the alloted date. You just have to look at it as theft of the use of your property because thats what it is. SOB stories be damned.

Quoted: Do not close until they squatters are out and you have had the opportunity to see the property again. Last thing you want to open the door to your brand new place and find out that the renters took a shit on the carpet or busted shit on their way out. The steps required to legally evict someone are not the kind of headache you want.

Both my parents are in the aparment buisness.  Even in AR it can take a miracle to get someone out. Never, without a judges order is it legal to enter someones apartment (or rental house) for purposes of eviction. In english that means you can't throw their shit out, you can't shut off their utilities you can't do FUCK ALL!

Sign another lease somewhere else for 6 months or so and go house hunting again. Whatever you have to do will be less than dealing with tenants that will not leave. It kind of makes the inspection invalid in my book. I would simply move on. The seller should have been better prepared to sell.

When I bought my house the owners were still living in it but a lot of their stuff was packed. I got to do a final walkthough before closing but could not move in till about 2 days later as some of their stuff was still there. The house was mostly empty. I think I dropped some boxes off the day of closing though.

What you are describing does not sound right. When they say "they have nowhere to go" that is not the same as packed and ready to go. A little bit of pet deposit will be nothing compared to what you will face if you go through with this deal.

never close on a house with tenants in it.  The agent said "they have no place to go", cry me a river.  And when they do move, if ever, who knows how much damage they will cause that'll you'll have to fix.  Not only that, the original owner might screw you over on the security deposit tht was presumeably paid to them since they were the owner of the property.

Quoted: Sign another lease somewhere else for 6 months or so... (a) little bit of pet deposit will be nothing compared to what you will face if you go through with this deal.

That the advice I'm looking for.  A little bit of back ground: my realtor doesn't seem to have the killer female lawyer instinct that I'd like, and doesn't get along with the realtor from the sellers. IOW, its difficult to get any direct information.  Next time I do this I'm going FSBO.

Quoted:  Not only that, the original owner might screw you over on the security deposit tht was presumeably paid to them since they were the owner of the property.

Thats what we thought.  Once the ink's on the paper, I guess the seller has some free deposit money.