Seeking advice on violation of lease or possible eviction

Seeking advice on violation of lease or possible eviction

Property Manager · Central Virginia · Member since 2022 · 20 posts · 7 votes
Hello,
I bought this multifamily property few months ago and acquired the lease of tenants. One of the tenant who pay rent on time seen smoking multiple times, I gave him a warning notice first and then after a month of so sent another notice for smoking and charged him for smoking fee as defined in the lease. This tenant has list 1 occupant in the lease while there are 3 people living in the apartment. I have also received multiple complaints about loud music from his apartment, which I have sent notice to him.

After multiple notices for smoking and noise, I decided something needs to be done therefore I sent him notice of lease violation with mentioning all 3 violations.
1. More occupants than listed in lease
2. Multiple instances of smoking
3. Multiple instances of nuisance, loud noise.

I also had a verbal discussion with the tenant about these issues but he refused to talk about any of these issues. In my notice, I gave him option to either vacate the property in 30 days or cure the lease violation and gave him 2 weeks time for curing the violation (removing extra person from the apartment). Today after 2 weeks of sending the notice and verbally telling him, when I went for inspection and found the extra person was still in the apartment. They threaten me to leave the apartment and provide them privacy and told me I do not have any right to enter their apartment. Even though I gave them 24 hour notice for the inspection as per the lease. Since the situation become very tense I decided to walk off and discuss it later.

Need advice, what should be my next step? Should I pursue to evict them? I know eviction can be expensive, but do I have reason to evict them? This property is in central Virginia.
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Brandon DunnPro Member
Property Manager · Raleigh NC · Member since 2023 · 5 posts · 3 votes
1y

Just dismissed up an Eviction in NC today and currently am in the middle of 2 more. Never fun, but necessary. I can't speak to the specific costs and time associated with evictions in Virginia.

I will say often times residents will never make a change until they realize you mean business. Doubling down by proceeding with an eviction filing shows they aren't just empty threats. Your situation sounds like it constitutes a breach of the lease to me

Best of Luck

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  • Brandon DunnPro Member
    Property Manager · Raleigh NC · Member since 2023 · 5 posts · 3 votes
    1y

    Just dismissed up an Eviction in NC today and currently am in the middle of 2 more. Never fun, but necessary. I can't speak to the specific costs and time associated with evictions in Virginia.

    I will say often times residents will never make a change until they realize you mean business. Doubling down by proceeding with an eviction filing shows they aren't just empty threats. Your situation sounds like it constitutes a breach of the lease to me

    Best of Luck

  • Property Manager · Central Virginia · Member since 2022 · 20 posts · 7 votes
    1y

    Thanks Brandon for reply. I have not done any eviction yet, but I know it will be expensive and since the tenant is being hostile, they might turn to property damage. How do we ensure minimum damage to the property?

    • Brandon DunnPro Member
      Property Manager · Raleigh NC · Member since 2023 · 5 posts · 3 votes
      1y
      Quote from @Bocondo Williams:

      Thanks Brandon for reply. I have not done any eviction yet, but I know it will be expensive and since the tenant is being hostile, they might turn to property damage. How do we ensure minimum damage to the property?


      I always aim to work things out with the tenant when possible. Even after filing for eviction, I typically offer terms that—if met—can result in the eviction being dismissed and the tenant allowed to stay. (They must cover court costs in such cases.)

      Regarding potential excessive damage, I’d consider two points:

      1. By allowing them to stay despite ongoing lease violations like smoking, you're accepting guaranteed damage in an effort to avoid the possibility of retaliatory damage. Smoke damage, especially over time, can be difficult and costly to remediate.

      2. Regardless of whether you file, you always have the option to offer an early lease termination without penalty—and even consider offering them a set amount of money (ex.$500) to vacate by a specific date, provided the property is left in good condition. Cash for keys concept

        Thanks

  • Rental Property Investor · Malvern, PA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 936 votes
    1y

    You might be missing the forest for the tree.

    You wrote you have a good tenant who pays on time, but has a friend and smokes. I would ask the tenant to have the friend apply to join the lease if you have no objection to the person otherwise.

    Smoking is problematic if it has been going on for a little while because the damage is done. Keep charging the smoking fee if they are paying it. That fee is good to have. Be careful to not set an expectation smoking is allowed with payment of the fee.

    • Property Manager · Central Virginia · Member since 2022 · 20 posts · 7 votes
      1y
      Quote from @James Mc Ree:

      You might be missing the forest for the tree.

      You wrote you have a good tenant who pays on time, but has a friend and smokes. I would ask the tenant to have the friend apply to join the lease if you have no objection to the person otherwise.

      Smoking is problematic if it has been going on for a little while because the damage is done. Keep charging the smoking fee if they are paying it. That fee is good to have. Be careful to not set an expectation smoking is allowed with payment of the fee.

      This is interesting take, I might try this before going into eviction process. There are multiple violations and they may not change the behavior after adding this extra person to lease, but seeing the cost of eviction, plus lost rent plus risk of damage to the property, this may also be a good idea.

  • Property Manager · Central Virginia · Member since 2022 · 20 posts · 7 votes
    1y

    Thanks for response, I am trying work out a some deal with them at the same time I will be contacting a lawyer to start eviction process so they can see the worse is coming and force them to negotiate instead of being aggressive.

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