Can I Sell My Fayetteville House With Tenants Still Living There?

We talk through the house as it stands, who is living there, what the lease says, how access works, and what repairs are on your mind. You do not have to make the house vacant before we discuss a sale.

You don't always need to evict to sell to us. We buy houses with tenants in place — we've done it many times, including cash-for-keys when that works better for everyone. Tell us about the property and tenancy.

If a move-out arrangement could work better for everyone, we can discuss whether cash-for-keys fits the situation. We will talk through the plan with you rather than assume the tenant will leave.

The buyer takes the house subject to the existing lease and becomes the new landlord. Tennessee's Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act applies only in counties that had more than 75,000 people in the 2010 census. Lincoln County had 34,842 people, below that cutoff, so the Act's deposit-account, sale-notice and transfer, and periodic-tenancy notice rules do not apply to a Lincoln County rental. In counties where the Act does apply, a landlord must keep security deposits in an account used only for deposits and tell tenants where the account is.

Only in a county where the Act applies, and unless agreed otherwise, a seller who sells in good faith is released from the lease for later events only after the tenant gets written notice of the sale and the deposit is transferred to the buyer. In those covered counties, ending a month-to-month tenancy takes written notice at least 30 days before the rent date named in the notice; a week-to-week tenancy takes at least 10 days' written notice. A fixed-term lease and other legal protections may call for a different approach.

We talk through the lease, notice, possession, and deposit handoff with you. The tenant's lease does not disappear when the deed changes hands, and a sale by itself does not require the tenant to move.