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Bryan Watts
  • Westerly, RI
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Handling inherited month-to-month tenants

Bryan Watts
  • Westerly, RI
Posted Nov 3 2016, 07:33

Hi there - I'm currently analyzing a 4 family and each tenant is on a month-to-month (not uncommon in my area, following the initial 1-year lease term). I'm told by the owner that we likely won't be able to get into one of the units because the tenant "never answers her phone or lets anyone in, and has a just-shy-of-hoarding problem." But she apparently pays on time and is completely trouble free otherwise.

It makes me apprehensive not being able to see one of the units before formalizing my offer, so my first question is would this be a deal-breaker for you from the get-go?

Assuming that we can work through this and I can get in to see the unit, I'm curious as to how you would handle this inherited tenant going forward. Would you do a blanket re-screening of all tenants and only allow those who pass your criteria to stay, or deal with each unit as you go, provided they're all current on rent? And more specifically, I can already say confidently that I'd rather not have a tenant that won't be responsive and let me into the unit (with appropriate notice and for good reason of course). So with her in particular, would you provide her a new lease with terms committing her to responsiveness and allowing entry to the unit, as well as cleanliness - basically give her a chance to conform but assume that you'll probably need to evict in short order? Or is there's a better way of handling a situation like this?

Thanks for the advice

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