Sell Your Chicago Rental Property with Tenants in Place — We Handle Everything

Chicago has one of the strongest tenant protection frameworks in the Midwest under the Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO). Tenants with active leases have the right to remain in the property through their lease term regardless of a change in ownership. Month-to-month tenants are entitled to a minimum of 30 days' written notice before being required to vacate, and Chicago's Just Cause for Eviction ordinance provides additional protections in covered properties.

If a buyer expects vacant possession of a tenant-occupied Chicago property, consult an Illinois landlord-tenant attorney about the existing leases, required notices, and applicable Chicago and Cook County protections before promising a move-out date. Lease expiration alone does not establish a right to remove a tenant. A voluntary move-out agreement depends on the parties' consent and negotiated terms; there is no standard payment amount. If a lawful eviction is necessary, timing depends on notice requirements, court scheduling, defenses, and enforcement in the particular case. Do not assume a fixed cost or completion date.

Cash investors who understand Chicago's landlord-tenant framework — including us — buy tenant-occupied properties regularly. When you sell to us, we take over the landlord-tenant relationship at closing. We become the new landlord, inherit the leases, collect the security deposits, and manage the tenant transition. You walk away clean from all landlord obligations.

We buy all types of Chicago rental properties with tenants in place: single-family homes rented to one household, two-flats and three-flats with long-term tenants in each unit, courtyard apartment buildings, and larger multi-unit properties throughout Chicago and the suburbs. We are also comfortable with mixed-occupancy situations — for example, a three-flat where one unit is occupied on a lease, one unit is vacant, and one unit has a month-to-month tenant.

We also buy properties with difficult tenant situations. Tenants who are significantly behind on rent, month-to-month holdovers who have stopped responding to notices, or buildings with ongoing disputes — you do not need to resolve any of these issues before we close. We take the property in its current landlord-tenant condition and manage the resolution ourselves after closing.

For multi-unit properties, we review the existing leases, current rental amounts, and security deposit information as part of our due diligence — but these are informational inputs to our valuation, not conditions of sale. We buy regardless of what we find in the rent rolls, adjusting our offer accordingly.

When you sell a Chicago rental property, you have legal obligations to tenants that transfer to the buyer at closing. Under Chicago's RLTO, security deposits — including any accumulated interest required by ordinance — must be transferred to the new owner at closing. Existing leases transfer with the property. And tenants must receive written notice of the change in ownership within a specific timeframe.

We handle all of this documentation as part of the standard closing process. We coordinate with your attorney and the title company to ensure the security deposit transfer is properly executed and all required tenant notifications are prepared and sent. You fulfill your legal obligations through the standard closing process — no extra administrative burden on your part. When you hand us the keys, your landlord obligations end.