Buying or selling a rental with tenants in place on DIY landlord software — estoppels, deposits, re-pointing rent

• Is: a side-by-side of how RentRedi, TurboTenant, and Avail handle each half of a sale with tenants in place. Seller side: estoppel paperwork, exports, stopping charges and autopay, archiving vs deleting. Buyer side: adding an occupied unit, connecting the existing tenant, recording an inherited deposit and history, payout accounts, the tenant’s new autopay. It includes a decision table by deal shape, a worked $1,850 Colorado example with wrong-outcome totals, a checklist, and an FAQ.
• Is not: a purchase-contract guide, an estoppel template, or advice on prorations, closing credits, or whether a buyer can end a tenancy. Your purchase contract, closing agent, and counsel control those. The legal orientation uses plain-English sources and one state (Colorado) where we read the statute text.
• Not the same as: the same owner moving to a different tool (see the switch checklist), or a tenant handing their lease to someone else (see subleases & assignments). Foreclosure sales follow different rules (the Texas page notes a 90-day notice for foreclosure buyers who want to move in and points to the federal Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act), and we don’t cover them here.
• Uncertainty rule: the TurboTenant and RentRedi rows rely on help articles dated Apr–Oct 2026. Avail’s current support site is a JavaScript app that returned empty pages to our fetches. Avail’s rows rely on education articles (2022), a 2022 community post, search-index snippets, and a third-party migration guide that quotes Avail support (checked Oct 5, 2026). Treat every Avail row as “confirm with Avail Customer Care.”

• The lease usually survives the sale. The Texas State Law Library (May 16, 2024): if the lease doesn’t say it ends on sale, “the owner cannot remove the tenant or change the lease”, and only at expiration can the new owner “renew the lease, adjust the rent amount, and change the lease’s terms.” Avail’s buy/sell guide (Oct 17, 2022) agrees (“Fixed-term leases do not expire when a property is sold”) and names two exceptions: a lease clause allowing termination on sale, and foreclosure. Texas is the source of the quote, not a rule for your state. Check yours.
• An estoppel certificate is the tenant’s signed snapshot of the tenancy. Tenant-law firm Tobener Ravenscroft (updated Mar 12, 2026) says it typically covers base rent, prepaid rent, the security deposit, lease dates, amendments, defaults, and “any claims or defenses the tenant may have against the landlord,” plus side deals like a parking spot, a pet, or permission to sublet. Two cautions from the same source, both based on California law. A tenant “must sign an estoppel certificate where the written lease contains a provision requiring the tenant to do so,” but “absent a lease provision, a tenant is not required to complete and sign.” And California courts treat the contents as conclusive “even if they are erroneous.” Whether your state does the same is a question for counsel. TurboTenant’s estoppel article (Sep 8, 2026) says “Generally, the buyer or lender will request” one.
• The deposit is still the tenant’s money. Avail’s guide tells buyers to “Ask the owner to transfer the security deposit to you,” because otherwise “you’ll still be responsible for returning the full deposit,” and it tells sellers to give the tenant the new owner’s contact, “How to pay rent moving forward,” and the deposit amount and new location. State rules differ a lot. For contrast, Massachusetts Legal Help (reviewed Jan 2025) says a new Massachusetts landlord has 45 days to send a deposit notice, “a tenant cannot be made to pay a new or additional security deposit,” and “In most cases, the new owner is responsible … even if they never received it from the old landlord.” Colorado’s rule is different (below).
• Prepaid “last month’s rent” is not a deposit. IRS Publication 527 (2025 returns): “Don’t include a security deposit in your income when you receive it if you plan to return it,” but “If an amount called a security deposit is to be used as a final payment of rent, it is advance rent.” If the seller collected last month’s rent at move-in, the buyer needs a credit for it at closing. The estoppel should surface it.
• Don’t hand over the tenant file wholesale. The buyer needs the lease, amendments, ledger, deposit amount, and open maintenance. Ask counsel before you forward applications, screening reports, or ID documents. We didn’t research privacy or consumer-report rules for this page.

• Deposit on sale: transfer and mail notice, or return it. C.R.S. 38-12-103(4): “Upon cessation of his interest in the dwelling unit, whether by sale, assignment, death, appointment of a receiver, or otherwise,” whoever holds the deposit “shall, within a reasonable time: (a) Transfer the funds, or any remainder after lawful deductions … to the landlord’s successor in interest and notify the tenant by mail of such transfer and of the transferee’s name and address; or (b) Return the funds … to the tenant.” Under (5), doing that relieves the seller “of further liability.” Under (6), the transferee, “in relation to such funds,” has “all of the rights and obligations of a landlord holding the funds as a security deposit.” Under (7), any waiver of these tenant protections is void.
• What the statute doesn’t say (our reading): it doesn’t define “a reasonable time.” It says notice goes “by mail,” so an email or portal message alone may not satisfy (4)(a). It ties the buyer’s obligations to “receipt of transferred funds.” Unlike the Massachusetts rule above, we found no Colorado text making a buyer liable for a deposit it never received. A tenant may still look to the buyer in practice, and the seller isn’t relieved until it complies. Whether a deposit credit on the closing statement counts as “transfer the funds” is a question for your closing agent or attorney.
• The new landlord’s identity notice: one business day. C.R.S. 38-12-801(2): a written lease must name the landlord or authorized agent, and “If the identity of a landlord or a landlord’s authorized agent changes, the new landlord or authorized agent, not later than one business day after such change, shall: (a) Provide each tenant … written or electronic notice of the change; or (b) Post the identity of the new landlord … in a conspicuous location on the residential premises.” Our reading: a transfer to your own LLC changes the landlord’s identity too.
• Receipts when the payment route changes. 38-12-802 requires a receipt on request within seven days for non-cash payments, “unless there is already an existing procedure that provides a tenant with a record,” and a receipt at the time of payment for cash or money orders handed over in person. Portal receipts generally cover the first case. Cash rent during a handover doesn’t.
• Selling usually doesn’t end the tenancy. The Colorado Judicial Branch’s JDF 99 C Notice of No-Fault Eviction (R: Nov 5, 2024) lists “Home for Sale: The Landlord intends to stop renting and sell the home” under C.R.S. 38-12-1303(3)(d). The form’s move-out date “must be after the rental agreement term ends” and “at least 90 days after service.” It also lists landlord or family move-in as a separate ground (3)(c). Its exemptions note says the good-cause requirement doesn’t cover tenants “who’ve lived in the home for less than a year” or certain resident-landlord single-family homes, duplexes, and triplexes. Not verified: we read the court form, not the statute text (the legislature’s site timed out for us again), so we haven’t checked relocation-assistance or re-listing rules. Ask counsel before relying on any no-fault ground.
• No second deposit that breaks the cap. 38-12-102.5 caps deposits at “two monthly rent payments.” We found no Colorado statute that lets a buyer demand a fresh deposit mid-lease. That depends on the lease. Accidentally billing the tenant for a deposit the buyer already holds is the most common software mistake (worked example below).
• Purchase contract: Colorado’s Division of Real Estate publishes a standard residential Contract to Buy and Sell for use on or after Jan 1, 2026, but the PDF returned a block page to us. We haven’t verified how it handles leases, rents, deposits, or estoppels. Ask your broker.

• Seller, before closing: export the rent roll and ledger. Send your estoppel PDF (written or approved by counsel) by Signature Request to the connected tenant, then store the signed copy under the tenant’s documents.
• Seller, at closing: ask the tenant to cancel their auto-pay schedule to you, because only tenants control it and the help center doesn’t say Unlink stops it. Delete any future rent charges after the closing date. Then Unlink the tenant (charges and history are kept, per our subleases page) and Archive Property. Archiving is reversible and keeps the property in P&L and Schedule E. Delete Property is final and wipes payments and charges.
• Buyer, unit set-up: add the property and unit. In Property Connections, set the Primary and Security Deposit payment accounts before the tenant pays anything. Add the tenant, create the Rent charge with the real lease dates (the first due date defaults to the next upcoming one), and invite the tenant.
• Buyer, inherited deposit: Other Charge → Security Deposit for the amount you received at closing → mark it received immediately. Or keep it off the tenant’s ledger in your own deposit register. Never leave it as an open charge, because selected tenants can pay it.
• Buyer, history: optional. If you back-date pre-closing months, mark each one received or they show as past due. Usually the seller’s exported ledger in your document vault is enough.
• Whole-portfolio sale only: the primary-owner transfer is all-or-nothing. Download everything first. The buyer can add you back as a teammate if you need read access for taxes.

• Seller, estoppel: Docs & E-Sign → Forms → Tenant Estoppel Certificate (Forms Pack). Fill it in outside TT, since it isn’t one of the five in-app editable forms. Upload it to the lease profile’s Documents and use “Request Electronic Signatures” if TT treats it as “an eligible document.” TT doesn’t say which uploads qualify, so wet-sign or use another e-sign tool if the button isn’t there. Ask the buyer’s lender for its own form first. Lenders often have one.
• Seller, downloads: the signed lease and addenda (TT won’t transfer them), Charges CSV, Deposits CSV, Rent Roll CSV, and condition reports.
• Seller, stop billing: monthly and one-time charges are “sent” about 15 days before due. For a closing in the second half of a month, next month’s charge may already be on the tenant’s screen. Delete the monthly rule and any already-sent future charge, then ask the tenant to turn off Autopay for your lease. Then Convert to Past Lease, which keeps history (tenants can still pay older unpaid charges). Don’t Delete Lease.
• Seller, don’t delete the property: today’s help says deleting removes documents, expenses, and maintenance requests while rent payments, leases, and tenants “remain active and viewable.” An older indexed version said “All data … including tenants, leases, and historical data” is deleted. Treat it as destructive either way.
• Buyer, unit set-up: Properties → Add New Property → Occupied → lease end date → Tenants → Add New (“moving an occupied rental”). Upload the seller’s signed lease and your assignment of lease to Documents. Adding the tenant doesn’t put your name on their signed lease. Create the Monthly rent charge for the first due date you own, and tell the tenant to enroll Autopay on your lease.
• Buyer, inherited deposit: a one-time charge + Record Payment works, but the charge is sent to the tenant first. Time it, label it “Deposit transferred from prior owner — do not pay,” and choose No on the receipt. Or track it only in TT Finances and your deposit register.
• LLC move (same account): Change Bank, or with Pro, Add New Entity and set the bank on each charge before the next one is sent.

• Seller: Avail’s 2022 guide says to review the lease with the buyer, transfer the deposit, and give the tenant the new owner’s name and contact, how to pay, and where the deposit now sits. Export the ledger CSV, the Received Payments report, lease PDFs, and receipts before you touch the unit (third-party guide). Change the lease end date to the closing date so later rent charges drop, and ask Customer Care to cancel the tenant’s existing AutoPay. Don’t delete the unit or close the account until your CPA has what they need.
• Ask Care about a transfer: Avail’s own support title suggests some process exists. Ask whether it moves the lease, invoices, or deposit, or only helps the buyer start fresh. If you get an answer in writing, add it to your closing file.
• Buyer: create a landlord account, add the property, upload the existing lease in the unit’s Leases tab, set up rent for your first due date, and invite the tenant. Manually enter pre-closing payments only if you want them in your books. Use Avail’s free introduction-letter template for the notice. In Colorado, send it within one business day.
• Buyer, deposit: check whether lease set-up created a deposit invoice. If you already received the deposit at closing, delete it or record it as paid so the tenant isn’t asked twice.
• LLC move: change Assigned Banks for the property, then update each already-scheduled payment’s deposit account (per the indexed snippet; confirm in-app).

• Path A, transfer to the buyer (CO 103(4)(a)): the deposit moves by wire or by closing credit, as your closing agent advises. The seller mails the tenant the transfer and the buyer’s name and address. The buyer records the deposit as held, not as rent income (Pub 527), and opens a line in its deposit register.
• Path B, return to the tenant (CO 103(4)(b)): the seller refunds the tenant, with a written statement for any lawful deductions. The buyer gets no deposit credit and may collect a new deposit only if the lease allows.
• Deductions at sale: 103(4) mentions “any remainder after lawful deductions.” Deducting from a tenant who is staying is unusual, and timing and notice rules apply. Talk to counsel before you try it.
• Interest, pet deposits, last-month’s rent: list each one separately in the estoppel and on the closing statement. A pet deposit is still a deposit. Prepaid last month is advance rent, and the buyer needs a credit for it.
• Never both: a closing credit to the buyer and a refund to the tenant means one deposit paid out twice. A closing credit plus an open deposit charge in the buyer’s portal means the tenant pays twice.

• S’s rule survives closing: TT sends the Dec 1 charge around Nov 16, and T’s Autopay pays S on Nov 28. T also sets up RR auto-pay with B and pays Dec 1. That’s $3,700 collected for December, and S owes $1,850 back. Converting to Past Lease alone doesn’t fix this: ending a lease “does not automatically delete scheduled payment request rules,” and past-lease tenants can still pay already-sent charges.
• T never told where to pay: S stops billing, but nobody gives T the new instructions. December is unpaid on B’s ledger. In Colorado a late fee can’t post until rent is seven days late and is capped at the greater of $50 or 5% (38-12-105), so $92.50 at most here. And B also missed the 38-12-801(2) notice.
• Deposit charged twice: B creates a $1,850 Security Deposit charge in RR to “record” the transferred deposit but doesn’t mark it received. T sees it and pays. B now holds $3,700 in deposits, exactly the Colorado two-month cap, and one of them shouldn’t exist.
• Deposit never transferred, no mail notice: the closing statement has no deposit credit, and S keeps the $1,850. S isn’t relieved under 103(5), and B may face T’s refund request at move-out anyway. If a court finds willful wrongful retention, 103(3)(a) exposes the holder to treble damages: up to $5,550 on $1,850, plus attorney fees.
• Phantom balance: B back-dates Aug–Nov charges in RR “for history” and forgets to mark them received. T’s portal shows $7,400 past due. Delete them or mark them received the same day.
• Prepaid last month missed: T actually paid July 2027 rent at move-in, but S’s estoppel form had no prepaid-rent line and T didn’t add one. B bills July, T disputes, and someone is out $1,850. Pub 527 treats it as S’s advance rent, so B should have received a closing credit.
• S deletes instead of archives: S deletes the TT lease to “clean up,” which permanently removes the signed lease and documents. In a later deposit or tax question, S has only whatever CSVs were downloaded.

1. Read the lease for a sale clause, an estoppel clause, deposit terms, and prepaid rent. Pull every amendment and side agreement.
2. Seller exports a dated folder: rent roll, ledger or charges/deposits CSVs, signed lease PDFs, condition reports, open maintenance (rent roll, document vault).
3. Estoppel: use the buyer’s or lender’s form, or TT’s Forms Pack form reviewed by counsel. Send it by your tool’s e-sign or on paper. Reconcile it against the ledger before closing.
4. Agree the money in writing: rent proration convention, deposit Path A or B, prepaid rent, any open balance, and who collects pre-closing arrears.
5. Pick the cutover due date: the first rent the buyer collects, usually the first due date after closing.
6. Seller, closing day: delete future rent rules and already-sent future charges (TT sends ~15 days early). Ask the tenant to cancel autopay to you (Avail: via Customer Care).
7. Seller, deposit: transfer or return it. In Colorado, mail the tenant the transfer and the buyer’s name and address (38-12-103(4)).
8. Buyer, identity notice: in Colorado, within one business day (38-12-801(2)). Include new payment instructions, contact info, and maintenance requests (tenant notices).
9. Buyer, payout accounts first: RR Property Connections, TT Rent Payments, Avail Assigned Banks.
10. Buyer, unit and tenant: add the occupied unit, connect the existing tenant, upload the lease, assignment, and estoppel.
11. Buyer, rent charge from the cutover due date. Side charges (pet rent, utilities) too (pet rent, utility billing).
12. Buyer, inherited deposit: recorded as received or kept off-ledger. Never an open charge (deposit register).
13. Tenant autopay: confirm it’s off with the seller and on with the buyer before the first due date (late fees & autopay).
14. Walk-through with the tenant’s cooperation and proper entry notice. Avail’s guide warns that without a condition record you may not be able to justify later deductions (condition reports).
15. Seller, after the first post-closing month clears: archive (RR) or Convert to Past Lease (TT), or end-date (Avail). Don’t delete. Forward any stray payment to the buyer and document it.
16. Books: each owner reconciles its own period and keeps the closing statement for the CPA (bank reconciliation, accounting & Schedule E).

Can I just transfer the property to the buyer’s account in the app?

Not per property in any of the three, as far as we can find. TurboTenant says it doesn’t support transferring leases or documents between landlord accounts. RentRedi documents only a whole-account ownership change. Avail has an article title about transferring to a new owner that we couldn’t read, so ask Care.

Does the tenant have to sign a new lease with the buyer?

Usually not. The existing lease generally binds the new owner until it ends (Texas State Law Library, Avail). The buyer can offer a new lease at renewal. Put the buyer’s name on the record with an assignment of lease and the identity notice.

Does my tenant have to sign an estoppel certificate?

Per Tobener Ravenscroft (a California firm), only if the lease requires it, though many tenants sign anyway to protect side agreements. Check your lease and state law, and don’t pressure the tenant into signing something inaccurate. California courts treat the contents as conclusive.

Who holds the deposit after closing in Colorado?

Whoever it was transferred to, after the seller transfers it and mails notice to the tenant (38-12-103(4)(a)). Or nobody, if the seller returned it to the tenant (4)(b). Until the seller complies, the seller isn’t relieved of liability (103(5)).

How fast must I tell the tenant I’m the new landlord in Colorado?

Not later than one business day after the change, by written or electronic notice, or by posting conspicuously at the property (38-12-801(2)). The seller’s deposit-transfer notice is a separate notice and goes by mail.

Will the tenant’s autopay follow the house?

No. Autopay is tied to the seller’s charges in the seller’s account. The seller has to stop those charges and the tenant has to turn off that autopay. Then the tenant enrolls on the buyer’s new charge. TT says a new lease or new recurring charge needs a new enrollment.

Can the buyer move in or sell again and end the lease?

Not mid-term under a typical lease. In Colorado, the court’s no-fault notice form requires the move-out date to be after the term ends and at least 90 days out, and lists specific grounds. Ask counsel, and see holdover & month-to-month before relying on month-to-month status.

• Seller who wants a built-in estoppel form: TurboTenant (Forms Pack). Remember the 15-day charge send-out when you pick the cutover.
• Seller who wants reversible clean-up: RentRedi Archive Property keeps P&L and Schedule E intact and can be undone.
• Buyer on a budget: Avail free or TurboTenant Free both handle an occupied unit and existing tenant at $0. RentRedi is a flat subscription.
• Moving rentals into an LLC: RentRedi per-property payment accounts, or TurboTenant Pro multi-entity. Both keep one account and one history.
• Any tool: none of them tracks deposit transfer, the 38-12-801(2) notice, or who owns the proration. Those live in your closing file.

• Avail: both relevant support articles (“Transfer My Property To A New Owner,” “Change the deposit account for scheduled payments”) rendered as empty JavaScript shells. Bank-change behavior comes from a search snippet, and delete/close behavior from a third-party guide quoting Avail support. The education articles are from 2022.
• TurboTenant: Forms Pack pricing conflicts. The pricing page shows $199, the help center says “$199, or … our Premium Plan,” and our Oct 16 check saw “Included” on Essentials/Pro. Delete-property help conflicts between current and older indexed versions. Whether an uploaded estoppel counts as an “eligible document” for e-signature isn’t documented. The estoppel article’s “security deposit will be transferred … at the time of sale” oversimplifies, because Colorado also allows returning it to the tenant. Its month-to-month advice may conflict with Colorado’s for-cause rules.
• RentRedi: we found no per-property transfer, no estoppel form, no statement on whether Unlink cancels a tenant’s AutoPay, and no explicit confirmation that one tenant login can hold units from two different landlord accounts (the multi-unit article covers units “they rent from you”).
• Colorado: statute text is from colorado.public.law (2024 C.R.S. compilation), and we didn’t check 2025–2026 session changes. “Reasonable time,” mail-only notice, closing-credit-as-transfer, and buyer liability without receipt are our readings, not settled answers. The no-fault sale ground comes from the court form (Nov 2024), not the statute text. We didn’t read the 2026 Colorado Contract to Buy and Sell (blocked).
• Other states: the Texas, Massachusetts, and California sources are there to show how much rules vary. They are not rules for your state.