The rent roll and leases
Current rents, lease end dates and who pays which utilities.
Donate a rental property to charity with the tenants still in place
Rental property specialists: (888) 228-7320
Donate a Rental Property With Tenants in Place
Selling a rental with tenants usually means waiting out leases, giving notice or discounting the price for a buyer who wants it empty. Donating it does not. Real Estate with Causes accepts rental houses, duplexes and small multifamily buildings with tenants in place: the leases transfer with the property, we take over as landlord, and you are done managing it the day the deed records.
Tell us about the house
Every property gets a look. Name, phone and email are the only required fields.
Fully IRS Compliant
We Handle the Paperwork
Form 8283 Done Right
501(c)(3) Recognized Charity
What happens to the tenants
Nothing changes for them except who they pay. Leases stay in force for their full term, security deposits transfer to us with the property, and each tenant gets a written notice of the new owner and where to send rent. We answer their questions directly so you do not have to.
Tenants who are behind on rent
Tell us. Unpaid rent and a tenant in default lower the property’s value and may need to be resolved first, but they are reviewed, not refused.
Month-to-month tenancies
These transfer too. We follow your state’s notice rules if anything about the tenancy needs to change later.
Depreciation and the tax math on a rental
A rental you have depreciated for years is where the tax difference between selling and donating is largest. A sale triggers capital gains on the appreciation and recapture of depreciation you have taken. A gift does not trigger gain the same way, but depreciation can reduce the deduction itself.
For a rental held more than a year, the deduction is generally based on fair market value, limited to 30% of AGI with a five-year carryforward, and adjusted for depreciation under the rules that apply to your property. Your advisor should run both routes with your depreciation schedule.
What to have ready when you call
Landlords usually have all of this on hand already.
Security deposits held
How much is held for each tenant and where. The deposits transfer with the property.
Your depreciation schedule
Your advisor will need it to estimate the deduction. We do not need it to start.
Rental property donation questions, answered
Do I have to tell my tenants before I donate the property? +
You do not need their permission, and most leases do not require notice of a sale or gift. After the deed records, the tenants receive written notice of the new owner and where to pay rent, which we send.
What happens to the security deposits? +
They transfer to us with the property and we hold them under the same terms. Some states have specific rules for transferring deposits to a new owner, and we follow them.
Can I donate one unit of a duplex and keep the other? +
Only if the units are separately deeded, as with condominium units. A duplex on a single deed is one property, and donating half of it would be a fractional interest with its own rules.
Will I owe depreciation recapture if I donate instead of selling? +
Recapture is triggered by a sale. On a gift, depreciation you have taken can instead reduce the size of the deduction, depending on the property and the depreciation method. Your tax advisor should confirm the numbers.
My property manager handles everything. Do I need to be involved? +
Only to sign the deed and the gift documents. We can work directly with your property manager on leases, deposits and the handover.
We do not provide tax or legal advice. See IRS Publication 526, Publication 561 and the Form 8283 instructions, and consult your own advisor.
Related guides
Tell us about the rental and we will review it
Send the address, the number of units and the current rents, and we will tell you plainly what a donation would look like.