Should I raise rents right after buying an apartment building?

Not before you have read every lease. Most leases fix rent until they end, and your state sets notice rules for increases.

Do I need to tell tenants the building was sold?

Yes, practically, so they pay the right account and know who to call. Some states require a specific notice; Texas, for example, requires a signed statement about the deposit.

Should I rekey the building after buying it?

Many owners rekey common doors and mechanical rooms right away, since they cannot know who kept copies. Give tenants notice before changing unit locks.

First 30 Days After Buying an Apartment

Use the first 30 days to take control and learn the building, not to change it. Secure keys and emergency coverage on day one, send tenants one clear letter about how to pay and report repairs, walk every unit, review every vendor contract, and run your first rent cycle cleanly. Hold off on rent and rule changes until you know what the leases say.

Days 1 to 3: control and safety

Collect every key, fob, code and remote from the seller, and decide which locks to rekey, starting with common doors and the mechanical rooms.
Confirm your insurance is in force from the closing date.
Make one emergency list: who answers at night, a plumber, an electrician, a heating contractor, and where the water and gas shutoffs are.
Confirm owner-paid utilities are in your name so nothing is shut off.
Take every tenant file the seller hands over and store it securely.

Those files can include screening reports. The FTC's Disposal Rule names landlords among the businesses that must dispose of consumer report information in a way that keeps it from being read or reconstructed, so do not simply throw old files away.

Week 1: one clear letter to every tenant

Tenants worry when a building changes hands. One short, calm letter answers most of their questions before they ask.

Tell them	Why
Who the new owner is and how to reach you	So they know who to call and do not keep paying the old owner
Exactly how and where to pay from next month	Prevents payments going to the wrong account
How to report a repair, and the emergency number	Keeps urgent issues from waiting
That their lease and deposit carry over unchanged	Removes the biggest worry
When you plan to visit units, with notice	Sets up the walk-through politely

Check what your state requires on a sale. Texas, for example, requires the new owner to give each tenant a signed statement acknowledging the purchase and responsibility for the deposit, with the exact dollar amount (Texas Property Code section 92.105). The bookkeeping side of deposits is in what to set up in your books after buying.

Weeks 2 and 3: walk every unit

Give notice as your lease and state require, then see every unit, every common area, the roof and the mechanical rooms. Photograph each room, test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and note anything unsafe. Sort what you find into three groups and act on the first group right away.

Example a made-up owner walks 24 units and the common areas. They find 3 safety items (a missing smoke alarm, a loose stair rail, an exposed wire), 9 ordinary repairs (drips, sticking doors, a broken blind) and 12 units with nothing to fix. 3 plus 9 plus 12 is 24. The 3 safety items are fixed that week; the 9 repairs go on the work order list and are done over the next month.

The walk also tells you which units will need work at turnover, which feeds your capital reserve plan. For the rules on alarms, see smoke and carbon monoxide alarm rules.

Weeks 2 to 4: vendors and contracts

Get every service contract the seller had: trash, pest control, landscaping, snow removal, elevator, fire alarm monitoring, laundry.
For each, note the price, the term and how to cancel. Keep what works; do not cancel anything safety-related before a replacement starts.
Collect a W-9 and proof of insurance from every vendor you keep. Hiring maintenance vendors has the checklist.
Set a spending limit above which a vendor must ask you first.

Week 4: the first rent cycle

The first rent day under your ownership tests everything above. Match every payment to the rent roll, follow up quickly and politely with anyone who paid the old owner or the wrong account, and close the month in your books. A clean first month makes every later month easier.

Then set your routine. The weekly and monthly routine for self-managing is a good starting point.

What to wait on

Rent increases. Read every lease first; most leases fix rent until they end, and notice rules apply. See rent increase notice requirements.
New rules for parking, pets or common areas. Learn how the building works before you change it.
Big projects. Get two or three bids after the walk-through, not in the first week.

How DoorKeeping helps in the first month

DoorKeeping gives each tenant a payment memo like 12B SMITH and an exact amount with its own cents, so first-month payments into your own bank are easy to tell apart. Each property keeps its own books, and you can ask Claude or ChatGPT for the rent roll or which units are vacant while you settle in. Anything with money or a legal step waits for your one-tap approval. DoorKeeping does not give legal advice; check your state's rules on sales, notices and entry.

Sources

FTC, Disposing of Consumer Report Information? Rule Tells How, read Oct 29, 2026
Texas Property Code, Chapter 92 (Residential Tenancies), read Oct 29, 2026

Questions

Should I raise rents right after buying an apartment building?: Not before you have read every lease. Most leases fix rent until they end, and your state sets notice rules for increases.
Do I need to tell tenants the building was sold?: Yes, practically, so they pay the right account and know who to call. Some states require a specific notice; Texas, for example, requires a signed statement about the deposit.
Should I rekey the building after buying it?: Many owners rekey common doors and mechanical rooms right away, since they cannot know who kept copies. Give tenants notice before changing unit locks.