Hi Rich,
While the new owner can 'adopt' the PilotAware, it helps greatly if they can provide the name/email address of the unit's previous owner in order to facilitate transfer of any unexpired licence period remaining on the unit. Perhaps more significantly in your case, this also allows PilotAware to remove the previous owner from the database for that unit, ensuring that they won't be sent renewal emails for a unit which they no longer own or have any control over.
In practice, it just makes the whole process much simpler and more straightforward.
Best Regards
Peter