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[gervaso81]

We purchased our house as a short sale. We closed on November 13, 2009. The house was previously being rented because the sellers were divorcing. The tenants currently living there by law were allowed a month and a day to move out (They were to get out by December 14th). During this time they did not have to pay us rent. (We have an FHA mortgage and could not write rent into our mortage because it would be considered income 2 months. This doesn't make sense because they are not our tenants. They had a month to month unproperty). The date has come and gone and the tenants will not move out. We cannot get them out of the house and have never received any rent from them because we purchased the house as an occupance, not a rental unit. We have been living in our apartment, but our lease is up January 1st. We were told we have to file eviction papers through the court to get them out and it can take up tosigned lease with the seller. They are two months behind on the rent that they owed the seller. I need advice- if they dont move out soon I will have no place to go and a mortgage payment! How do we get these people to move out of our house so we can move in?!

[dallen47]

Give them 3 days written notice to quit, then get the sheriff's department involved.

[cadby]

Simple advice. They are not "tenants" by your own facts and circumstances. Call the police and have them removed for trespassing.

[mate]

Have you tried calling your local police department? Maybe if you can get them to go talk to the tenants they might be more motivated to move out. Your whole agreement sounds very confusing and you should have never agreed upon it. During a normal sale the people living in the home have less than a week to move out. Since there is some kind of rental agreement I guess the rules change. Go ahead and take the proper eviction procedures. If they do not move out by the new year you can sue them for your extra bills.

[chavivi]

You answered your own question. You have to go through the legal eviction process. It takes time and is a huge pain but there is no legal way around it.

Most leases go to a month to month when they expire so you should not have to move out right on Jan 1st. You need to talk to your landlord and get some leeway on moving out so you are not homeless.

EDIT: You will not be left with court fees. You can pay those directly from their deposit. They do not get their deposit back the day they move out. You have 14-45 days to refund their deposit. I'm not sure what it is for Michigan.

[eadweald71]

Yes, you will have to evict them. Unfortunately, depending on where you live this may take months. Have you offered to pay them to move out asap?

[giulio]

Don't pay them!! What kind of moronic answer is that??

[forde]

Who on earth structured the terms of this purchase for you ? Whomever it was (including you) needs a good swift kick in the backside. It was a HUGE error to close with tenants still present ton the premises. You should have made it the responsibility of the sellers to have these tenants OUT before you closed the deal. The only reason that they have a month and a day to leave after closing is that YOU allowed them to be there while you were closing. Doing so made landlords (albeit landlords receiving no rents) out of you.

That being said and done, now your only legal option is court eviction process. That MAY take you beyond January 1 to get them physically removed. Your options ? Try NOW to extend your existing tenancy for a month while this is cleared up. If you cannot do so, start calling friends to see if you can crash there starting New Year's Eve, or start looking for cheap motels. Odds of you getting them out before January 1 are slim, given the approaching holidays.