Inherited a Tenant with a Bathroom In Needs to be Renovated

[Frankie B.]

I inherited a tenant in one of my properties and they reached out to me the other day and told me about damage in the bathroom.  Specifically, the paint in the tub is flaking off and going down the drain.  There are holes in the shower liner and behind and around the tub which I'm assuming is causing water damage.  They mentioned that this is something that they informed the previous landlord about and they flat out said that they wouldn't fix it.  Looking at the pictures it looks like it's not something that will be a fix, but will require a renovation.  I was going to renovate the bathroom once the tenant left. There's 4 months left on the lease.  They use the property as an office so they said they rarely need to use the shower. What are my options?

[Suzanne Reinbold]

In my opinion, start the renovation project now. Planning, bidding, demolishing, rebuilding, etc…. and time it to be finished when the “inherited lease” is up. Then you are in a better position to increase the rent and improve tenant quality cause the bathroom fix is done and ready to go.