Sell a Rental House With Tenants in Place

This page is for Dallas-Fort Worth landlords who are done with a rental house and do not want to wait out a lease, a difficult tenant, or a repair list before selling. Maybe the rent no longer covers the costs. Maybe the house is far from where you live now, or the calls about plumbing and air conditioning have worn you down. A direct cash sale lets you sell the house as a rental, with the tenants still living in it, and hand the landlord job to the buyer at closing.

How a cash sale works for a landlord

Start with the property address and a few basics: the current rent, whether there is a written lease, and roughly how long the tenants have been there. We estimate what the house will be worth after repairs, using recent sales of similar homes nearby, and subtract the repair cost, the costs of holding and reselling the house, and a modest margin. What is left is the offer, and we will walk you through the numbers if you ask.

You do not need to end the lease or start an eviction for us to make an offer. The tenants can be current on rent, behind, or living there without a written lease. If you accept, we sign a contract, and the sale closes at a local title company, often in about 7 to 14 days when title is clear. At closing, the lease paperwork and any security deposits you hold transfer to us, and from that day the tenants are ours to deal with.

There are no commissions and no fees from Ready Estates, and we typically pay standard closing costs. Your loan payoff and any taxes or liens that must be cleared for the sale come out of the proceeds at closing and appear on the settlement statement, which you review before signing.

What Texas law says about selling with tenants

In Texas, selling a house does not end a lease. A buyer takes the property subject to the existing leases, which means the tenants keep the right to live in the house on the same terms until the lease ends. Selling with tenants in place is lawful and common, and it is how rental houses change hands all the time.

That rule works in your favor as the seller. You do not have to wait for a lease to expire, and you do not have to empty the house to put it on the market. It also means the buyer cannot simply tell the tenants to leave the day after closing. Whoever buys the house steps into your place as landlord under the lease that is already there.

Security deposits and lease paperwork transfer at closing. The title company handles the transfer on the settlement statement, so bring the current lease, any amendments, and a note of the deposit amount you are holding. If the tenants are on a month-to-month arrangement or have no written lease, say so. That does not stop a sale. It only changes what the buyer is stepping into.

If the tenants have stopped paying

A rental with non-paying tenants is worth less than the same house empty, and any buyer will price it that way. What a cash buyer offers instead is certainty: you do not have to file an eviction, appear in court, or wait to see whether the tenants leave the house in good condition. The eviction process, if it is still needed after closing, becomes the buyer's problem. Tell us the situation plainly, including whether an eviction has been filed, and the offer will reflect the real picture.

Your other options

Selling to a cash buyer is one route, not the only one. You could list the house with an agent, either with the tenants in place or after the lease ends and the house is empty. An occupied rental can be harder to show, and some tenants cooperate with showings better than others, but a listed sale on the open market will usually bring a higher price than a direct sale if you have the time and patience for it. You could also keep the house and hire a property manager, which trades the day-to-day work for a monthly fee, or raise the rent and hold on if the numbers are close to working. If the house needs major work before anyone will buy it the ordinary way, the page on selling as-is covers how that affects your choices.

Questions landlords ask us

Do I have to tell my tenants I am selling?

There is no way to sell a house completely in secret, since a buyer will want to see the inside at some point and the tenants will notice. Many landlords tell the tenants early and keep it simple: the house is being sold, their lease stays in force, and their home is not changing because of the sale. What changes is who they pay rent to after closing.

Can you buy if the tenants are behind on rent?

Yes. Tell us how far behind they are and whether an eviction has been filed. The offer will reflect the arrears and the work of resolving the tenancy, but a non-paying tenant does not make the house unsellable to us.

What happens to the security deposit?

It transfers to the buyer at closing through the settlement statement, along with the lease. You are not paying it out of pocket at the table. The title company credits it against your proceeds so the deposit money follows the lease to the new owner.

What if the house also has back taxes or a lien?

Tax balances and liens are usually paid from the seller's proceeds at closing, as long as the sale price covers them. The page on back taxes and liens explains how that works and when a balance can block a sale.

Where we buy rentals

Ready Estates buys rental houses across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, in Dallas and in the surrounding cities listed on our areas we serve page. Single-family rentals are our focus. If you own more than one rental and want to sell them together, mention that when you write or call (469) 248-7237 and we will look at them as a group.