Tenant’s son has parked about 6 huge motorcycles in garage

Rental Property Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2018 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes

As a motorcyclist myself I can assure you he has plans for the motorcycles. They're probably bikes from the mid 90's to early 2000's and you'd be shocked what some of those bikes are worth. Unless the bikes are scattered around the yard I don't think you have grounds for eviction. Can you pursue it? ABSOLUTELY. Is it worth it? That's up to you as an investor. Motorcycles are not heavy enough to damage concrete. My dad has had bikes sitting in his garage for years.

Personally unless he is smashing holes in the walls, tearing up the yard, or annoying neighbors with loud exhaust pipes I'd let him stay. The mother is on your side clearly and wants to help get rid of the junked truck. I'd focus on that battle, get the truck gone, and see what happens. I wouldn't ruffle all the feathers if the tenants are friendly, communicate well, and pay rent on time.

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Nathan GesnerBusiness Member

Moderator

Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes

4y

Quote from @Jane S.:

I just saw my rental’s single garage stuffed with about 6 motorcycles in various states of repair. OMG! The tenant did NOT indicate these “toys” on his rental app, and the lease states “tenant agrees not to store and/or park any trailer, camper, boat, or any similar recreational vehicle on the Premises or on (Street). Tenants are not allowed to store any ‘dead’ vehicles on Premises or on (street).”

There is also a “dead” pickup truck parked in the driveway that his mother says “will be picked up” by his father but I didn't get a date when it would be gone. Its engine is sitting on the garage floor. It’s very much a junker.

So do I have a shade tree mechanic? A hoarder of anything that looks like it could be driven? Their lease says any hoarding must be removed within 5 days.

The fact that he didn't admit to owning all these “recreational vehicles” on his application could be cause for eviction. His mother completed his rental app because she said I could never read his writing. He has had most of the cycles for a while, there is thick dust on one of the leather seats so she knew about them.

I don't want to evict them but what should I do? The mother is a Mrs Clean and is taking care of her half of the house wonderfully. But the son lives in the finished lower level and the carpets are already needing professional cleaning. he has used every wall and ceiling area for flags,posters, giant signs etc and has a snack area with a microwave and all kinds of open food items that could attract rodents and insects. Altho I didn't see any.

Their lease expires Sept 30 this year. She pays on time and is taking good care of the yard. She said her son wants to stay there 2 more years.

Can I ask him to rent an off-site space for his hobby? I couldn't see enough of the concrete floor of the garage to determine whether its damaged. It was built in the mid 60s and I’m sure the architect didn’t plan to have all this weight sitting on the concrete … or the driveway.

Never dreamed I would encounter such a situation.

BUT glad I know about it. Seems like a pretty flagrant abuse of their lease.

Jane, you know what to do. They are in clear violation of your lease. The mother keeps half the house "wonderfully" but the other house is trash. You know this is not a good tenant. You have three options: continue looking the other way and hope it doesn't get worse (it will), sell the property and invest in bitcoin, or act like a businessperson and enforce the lease. Just an example:

Dear Tenant,

Paragraph X of your lease states you will not use the property to store recreational vehicles and that all vehicles must be operational. You've turned the garage into a hobby mechanic shop, you have a truck in the driveway that is not operational, and the entire property is unappealing to the neighborhood. I also see half of the home needs a good carpet cleaning and has an excessive number of items hanging on the walls.

I hereby give you until midnight on [DATE] to comply with the lease by removing all recreational and/or inoperative vehicles from my property, cleaning the carpet, and removing the excessive wall hangings. If you've damaged the walls, I expect them to be properly repaired and painted.

I will contact you on [DATE] to schedule an inspection within 24 hours and verify compliance. If you are unable/unwilling to correct these issues and remain in compliance with our agreement, I will seek termination.

Your Landlord

The DIY Landlord Book4.7243 Reviews

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Jane S.

OP

Flipper/Rehabber · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2016 · 502 posts · 167 votes

4y

Oh boy

The response goes from burning hot to ice cold.

All he would have to do is rent a self storage locker and put the motorcycles in there as well as his endless collection of tools.

When they moved in I was there and didnt see any of this hoard. They were also avoiding me looking on the lower level which he didnt move into for about a week … waiting me out i think. Then I got busy with other projects and she was really being careful with the condition of her “space”.

I am gonna pursue getting the dead pickup truck gone ASAP and move on from there. Which way I dont know. I would like to avoid losing more rent I already had an eviction this year which cost me plenty.

I just cant survive another eviction this year, I had to evict in February and they really did their best to wreck the property. Im still in pain from all the physical labor I did to get it almost as clean as it was when they moved in. I just cant go through that again …

2 Reply

Joe Miller

Real Estate Broker · Columbus, OH · Member since 2021 · 203 posts · 247 votes

4y

Quote from @Jane S.:

Oh boy

The response goes from burning hot to ice cold.

All he would have to do is rent a self storage locker and put the motorcycles in there as well as his endless collection of tools.

When they moved in I was there and didnt see any of this hoard. They were also avoiding me looking on the lower level which he didnt move into for about a week … waiting me out i think. Then I got busy with other projects and she was really being careful with the condition of her “space”.

I am gonna pursue getting the dead pickup truck gone ASAP and move on from there. Which way I dont know. I would like to avoid losing more rent I already had an eviction this year which cost me plenty.

I just cant survive another eviction this year, I had to evict in February and they really did their best to wreck the property. Im still in pain from all the physical labor I did to get it almost as clean as it was when they moved in. I just cant go through that again …

I am very sorry to hear of your eviction issues. Our team has had evictions and I can see how messy they can become. I would confront the issue and have them aware it is a direct violation of your lease agreement. That pick-up truck MUST go.

I know hind-sight vision is always 20/20 but I would recommend when screening tenants for future rentals to be ruthless and never bend your rules. Over the past 2 years we have tightened our screening terms and have seen a significant decrease in our evictions and an increase in the quality of tenants we receive. Totally worth it in the long run.

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Matt M.

Specialist · Easton, PA · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes

4y

It’s a garage… what’s the big deal with a few bikes in it.
mid give them 10 day notice to get rid of the dead truck or face eviction. It’ll be gone..

1 Reply

John Clark

Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes

4y

Quote from @Jane S.:

Their lease expires Sept 30 this year. She pays on time and is taking good care of the yard. She said her son wants to stay there 2 more years.

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This the the real red flag. She'll move out and leave the pig and he won't take care of things. I would give them a notice of non-renewal of the lease NOW and also give notice to move the "dead" vehicles out NOW.

He'll argue that the motorcycles are not recreational vehicles. Fine, go with the "dead" vehicle descriptions.

1 Reply

Jane S.

OP

Flipper/Rehabber · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2016 · 502 posts · 167 votes

4y

They gave me a lot of excuses why the son couldnt get the truck registered at DMV because he works 6 days a week. Turns out he is the truck’s owner and it is in running condition. the mother was spouting nonsense. So I gave him 7 days (now 5) to get it registered and apparently he is unable to get to the DMV due to his work schedule. Which is not my problem. Maybe he should park it at his employers parking lot until he can get it registered? We’ll see. Their lease expires sept 30, so 90 days in advance I am required to give them the non-renewal notice and I will have to monitor the condition of the property to make sure they don't wreck it before they move out.

Im finding it very difficult to helicopter these tenants, I don't like doing it and I don't have time, but I guess it goes with the territory. I will add a para to the lease that gives me permission to inspect the property once a month with proper advance notice. I am also adding a para that forbids hanging anything from any ceiling without express written approval from me. The para about dead vehicles and hoarding were already there. The moron ignored the lease he signed.

Impossible to predict the aggravation and damage tenants create. I like blaming my refusal for everything they want on my homeowners insurance!

Someone posted to FB looking for a rental with 5 dogs and refusing to rehome any of them. I posted back she needs a kennel not a rental. Probably going to FB jail?

Thanks for all your wisdom. Helps me realize I am not alone with these conflicts.

1 Reply

David Avery

Flipper/Rehabber · Phoenix Arizona · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 686 votes

4y

Go down to Pueblo . Any Bar at 1.00 AM and get some biker guys/gals and leave the garage unlocked one night !

Just kidding!

Have an inspection of the house with your agent and tell tenant that the District Attorney needs to inspect because he may partner with you on some deals.

Or a banker that needs to do a inspection for a new loan.

It's your property and you can do both of these pretty easily.

Then you will get a better eye of the interior.

Generally if the yard is nice the inside is the same.

0 Reply

Colleen F.Pro Member

Investor · Narragansett, RI · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes

4y

@Jane S. average motorcycle 400 lb, big motorcyle 1000lb, Pickup truck 5600 lb. The weight of the motorcycles is not an issue. MC are vehicles so he might not have considered them recreational vehicles (since you describe them as if they were street bikes they would be like having additional cars). However if your lease says no unregistered vehicles then you can have a point. I would ask him to get rid of the truck in the driveway as a violation and prove he is not running a business out of the home. I would not care about the garage stored vehicles. You can't control how well the tenant keeps the house you can just get rid of them if you don't like it. Even your description of the lower level doesn't sound horrible, he has a snack area, people do that. Charge him for the walls and carpet on move out and lose the carpet. Mom sounds responsive deal with the unregistered vehicles and express your rodent concerns or just non renew. You are never going to get a perfect tenant.

0 Reply

Scott Mac

Austin, TX · Member since 2019 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes

4y

Hi Jane,

When fixed up the value of some of those big old motorcycles can be very substantial.

He says they are not his, maybe they belong to a group of is friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anmAvGrgzgQ

Carpet is probably already totaled, walls the same, probably meaning high hide primer before paint.

Why force a turn and pay for it before you have to (over non running vehicles) when they continue to pay the rent. Turns are expensive.

Some of these blue collar mechanic types (greasy work boot types) are going to track up the carpets with filth.

Good Luck!

0 Reply

Theresa HarrisPro Member

Member since 2019 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes

4y

Just give them notice to cure as it is a violation of the lease. When it comes time to do a lease renewal, schedule an inspection 30 days (or 60 days) ahead to see if you want to do an inspection. The holes in the walls from hanging things up are already there, so whether you patch them in Sept or in 2 years, it doesn't really matter.

1 Reply

Theresa HarrisPro Member

Member since 2019 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes

4y

Quote from @Jane S.:

They gave me a lot of excuses why the son couldnt get the truck registered at DMV because he works 6 days a week. Turns out he is the truck’s owner and it is in running condition. the mother was spouting nonsense. So I gave him 7 days (now 5) to get it registered and apparently he is unable to get to the DMV due to his work schedule. Which is not my problem.

Sorry but that is a BS excuse on their part. He can go on his lunch break. What does he do if he has a medical appointment or something else?

3 Reply

Tenant’s son has parked about 6 huge motorcycles in garage

Tenant’s son has parked about 6 huge motorcycles in garage

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