I am thinking about buying an investment property in which the owner of the building is in the middle of an eviction and the owner has a special permit to operate a portion of the premises as a hairdressing solon. If I buy the property what is the status of that eviction and the special permit?

Generally speaking when you buy a property you buy it with all of the benefits and burdens that it has. With respect to your question as to the eviction, you would pick up where the seller left off. You may have to file a motion to substitute the name of the plaintiff if the eviction action is in suit but you would have the benefit of all of the notices that had been sent by the seller. By the same token you would be subject to whatever the defenses that the tenant may have asserted against the landlord. If you buy the building you will be subject to whatever claims the tenants may have against the seller as the landlord. For that reason typically attorneys will suggest to you, as a buyer, obtain what is called an estoppel letter from each of the tenants which is basically a letter stating what the rent is, whether or not there is a lease or a tendency at will, whether or not the landlord is holding a security deposit or last months rent, what the term of the lease might be and whether or not the tenant has any claims against the landlord. The purpose of that is to stop the tenant from asserting any claims after you buy the building that are not set forth in the letter. Any zoning permits that were granted to the current owner should run with the property. However sometimes zoning boards or planning boards insert a provision that the permit is only valid as long as that person who applied for the permit owns the property.  Although that provision is probably illegal, you should review the permit that was granted to be sure that it does not have such a limitation. At the end of the day it's all about local politics and if the board feels that it has retained control, then the smart thing to do would be to have go back to the board to get their permission to continue that use after you become the owner of the property. The thing you should be especially careful of, with respect to any residential tenants, is that the landlord has properly complied with all of the security deposit statute requirements including depositing the security deposit in a separate bank account as required by the statute. The security deposit statute also has specific requirements with respect to the sale of a property and transfer of the security deposit to the buyer so you should be very careful in making sure that you comply with that statute.

If you have questions about this or any other real estate matter, please contact Tom Bennett at (617) 531-6574 or tvb@barronstad.com.