I have tenants in building that have been fine to deal with until now. Now in the summer months, they are up till all hours drinking and swearing to the yard. They pay early and have not caused any other problems yet. They appear to be having some domestic issue. The brother of one tenant moved in. He clearly has a drinking problem. I see him drink in the morning, afternoon, evening. He is always polite when I encounter him but he is the source of the friction at the property. The late nights can not continue, it is disturbing others. So, approach the orginal tenants and tell the he has go or tell them they all have to go?

Send them a letter outlining these concerns and asking for them to correct the offensive behavior immediately.

Make sure your tenants understand that what is going on at the property will result in an eviction if it continues.

Also it is not really your business how much your tenants drink. It only becomes a concern when it is a disturbance or the property is being damaged or neglected. Most renters do not expect their landlord to be involved in their lifestyle choices.

Hopefully the original tenants can work with the brother to resolve this without you losing an otherwise good set of renters.

Does your lease contain a provision addressing them allowing the brother to move in?

I like the response in the post above myself. Do you live close to this property? I noticed you mentioned seeing the brother in the morning, afternoon, and evening.

Has there been any complaints filed with law enforcement?

Our lease specifically lists the number of adults and children permitted in each unit, and then has space to fill in the number of each that will actually be residing. Lease clearly states that friends and relatives may visit overnight, but anyone staying more than 7 days 1) must be approved in writing; 2) must be added to the lease; and 3) a rent increase will occur immediately.

I had to go to that because of the type of problem you described! I've also had to define "living here" vs. "staying here" for a couple of people to get them to move along. Good luck!

We had super nice tenants living on our farmette surrounded by 12 acres of nature. All was fine until their cousin Junior moved up from Arkansas to try to get work up here. Even he was great, not the sharpest knife in drawer but very helpful. Would help my Dad fix his tractor and whatever. Only later did we find out that Juniors motivation was staying ahead of the cops that were getting ready to nail him in AR. Seems he was a serial rapist and the AR authorities were just waiting for the opportune time to bring him in when he slipped away. Life was great with 27 year old Uncle Junior babysitting the tenants granddaughters. One day he started bawling to his auntie like a baby saying he wanted to go back to AR because he missed his mom. She drove him all through the night down there. When she returned back the next evening, she learned that Uncle Junior had raped both her young granddaughters. Things caught up and he is serving 7-10 in the AR state pen.

The good tenants moved out and rerented it to yet another criminal family, a child abuser under false identity who had kidnapped her non custodial children.

Since then I dont care much for multi-adult tenancies. It also puts our property at great risk not knowing who is on it at any given time.

A friend of mine has a problem tenant right now. A 72-year-old woman who has more belongings than can fit into the studio apartment she JUST rented. Her excess belongings are piled on the porch, also in the interior hall, which needs to be kept clear as another tenant who lives downstairs is in frail health and there's always the possibility she may need to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. The new tenant's turning out to be a beligerant person, practically accosting the other tenants in the building and refusing to move the excess items into storage. The owner lives out of town.

Obviously this tenant needs to be relocated asap. Owner has not deposited the checks received for the rent and security deposit, nor were rental documents signed with the tenant.

Does this mean no landlord/tenant relationship exists? Any advice welcome.

Neudot ~

Even though the deposit & rent checks have not been cashed, they were accepted, although I'm surprised she was able to move in with no rental agreements signed.

I think the only thing your friend can do with the uncashed checks is use them to try to negotiate a move with her by offering to give them back. If she's not agreeable, the only choices your friend may have are either moving her to a larger unit or evicting her.

This woman may have been forced to move to a smaller place because of income limitations so she's probably not any happier about it than your friend and the other tenants are. She probably can't afford a storage unit either. That could be that's what's making her grouchy.

If it were me, I would probably talk to her and find out what her situation is, then see if the living arrangements could be worked out to suit both parties. Is your friend in a position to offer a larger unit at a discount to her?

Linda

My friend does not want her as a tenant, as he is being informed she has been a problem wherever she has been. I believe she was evicted from her prior apartment, possibly because of her confrontational attitude. This seems to be her history...I'm sure we don't know the whole story at this point, but it doesn't look good from what we've been told.

I have advised him to contact our local Office for the Aging, also Social Services. I think she used most of her available money to move in. He would be more than glad to give her back her money and assist her in relocating. Don't know who would take her in, is the problem right now.

I think he was over-anxious to get this unit rented, as it has been vacant several months, and it's not making him any money. I don't think he made any screening phone calls...just went with it. Unfortuately, I have a role here also, as I showed her the unit, and my radar should have picked up on her unsuitability, but didn't.

Thanks for responding, Linda.

Too bad he didn't do the screening and check references. Now he's put himself in a bad position. But it's good that he's willing to help her relocate. Hopefully, she will allow him to to do that. If not, he's got a lot of work ahead of him.

If she's so confrontational, perhaps she belongs in a house instead of sharing walls and walkways with other tenants. Is there any way for you to find a small house that fits in her budget?

At 72, she's probably tired of moving and I wouldn't be surprised if that didn't add to her demeanor over the years. I'll bet she'd be relieved to live in a place that wasn't quite so close to others.

Linda

Linda, she probably would like a little place that gave her some distance from her neighbors. Even more, the neighbors would like a little distance from her!!!

Last night I had a phone call from one of the other neighbors, accusing said newbie of dump picking with a grocery cart (she doesn't drive) and adding even more to the pile of stuff she is compiling. To my knowlege, she was using the grocery cart to move in her clothing.

Is there such a thing as a compassionate eviction? We are trying to enlist the assistance of a senior housing organization to help her get into alternate housing.

Oh, my. Maybe she's slightly senile on top of everything else? Or maybe she's a hoarder and that's why she's dumpster diving.

Myself, I enjoy wide open spaces, and keep as little in my own "space" as possible but some people feel validation in being surrounded by "things".

I'm sure compassion is involved to some extent any time someone faces the decision to evict. I've never had to evict anyone but I've been involved in plenty of lockouts. It's always tough to watch people become disposessed, regardless of whether it's deserved or not.

I think I'd look for a small, suitable house first. Maybe something with a garage and/or a shed, then take her to look at it before evicting her. Perhaps once she sees the house, it will be easier to talk her into moving.

Maybe your friend can help her with the difference in any deposits she might need to get her utilities turned on. In my opinion, it would be a small price to pay for the cost & time involved in the eviction process. Also, it might make him feel better about any guilt he might be having over his decision.

Just a thought.............

Linda

Well, it sounds like the friend will pay to move her to a new place (if we can find one that will take her) and will pay to have her excess belongings removed to a storage facility. One of the other tenants is also elderly, and the excess stuff is blocking her front door. She is concerned because twice since she's lived there, she's been taken to the hospital by ambulance, and they won't come get her if she needs them with all that stuff in the way.

Part of my day today has been arranging for a truck that will take the stuff to storage. A police officer will supervise the transfer of goods. It's a codes violation for her belongings to be blocking the entrance. A senior housing expert has been enlisted to help.

So many problems. These posts just help highlight how important it is to do a real background check on potential tenants. It is really tempting to just take the first one with cash in hand and a job, but a quick chat with a previous landlord is really a must.If they were bad tenants on the past (although maybe you can excuse the occasional late pay, as long as it was once or twice only.) chances are they'll be bad tenants for you.

Good to hear that it worked out well.

Checking with past landlords is no guarantee of being told the truth. Some landlords lie in order to get rid of bad tenants.

Oh Noooo; Tell me it isn't so Neudot !

Sorry, Vermont, it is true. And some rotten tenants are so ballsy as to request a good letter of reference as they vacate. This happened to me once with a mobile home I owned. Tenants removed a wall between two bedrooms, overflowed the toilet, ruining the floor...the place was so bad after their three weeks of occupancy I couldn't rent it again for months. I couldn't believe their nerve!

I always love when they ask you to lie to the new landlord and say that they pay on-time (as they leave owing you money).

Yup, that too.

Tricky situation, for sure. However, pretty common. You may want to send them a "friendly" note at first just letting them know of your concern about disturbing others around. You may even want to say that you're being proactive just to ensure that no disturbance are creating, as there is nothing worse than creating animosity amongst tenants...meaning that you don't want these tenants trying to guess who is complaining about them. Just be friendly, fair and firm. If the problem persists, then I would take more formalized action...but things can usually be worked out without having to file eviction paperwork. Good luck!

True. The current landlord will lie. Best to obtain the last two landlords and call both.

That's so true. That's why credit history is so important. That being said, always have contingency plans and expect risks to go bad sometimes.

we put a clause in our leases that undo noise issues that disturb neighbors is a breach of the lease. we have had it enforced when we went to evict.

I like to check with at least three previous landlords. We also have access to a database that landlords report bad tenants too. This is in Canada not sure about the US.

I also agree that credit checks can tell you a lot about the person too.

Jen
www.realestatefirsttimers.com

Items in hallways are not allowed. They are fire hazards.