Rental Property Investor · Medford, MA · Member since 2016 · 288 posts · 171 votes
I might be jumping to conclusions or overreacting, but I'm having an impossible time reaching my tenants. They are Section 8, and 100% of their rent is subsidized by the city so I'm at least getting paid, however both the husband and wife have had their cell phones disconnected and are not responding to messages. I went down yesterday to ring their bell (it's second floor of a multi-family) and no answer.
Should I be concerned? At what point do I call the police if there's a legitimate worry regarding their safety or the safety of their two kids?
@Dave G. I would still need them to let me in correct?
Why? Don't you have a key? Just follow the rules regarding notice - posting on the door should be sufficient since they aren't responding otherwise - then take a witness with you and do your inspection.
Something that may be missing in the advice so far is the fact that the tenants signature is required for the landlord to receive a rent increase. If this is the case then the tenant is in violation of their lease by refusing to sign off. If contact can not be made immediately through notification and a inspection it is a situation that requires the initiation of the eviction process. Lack of contact must be treated the same as a refusal to contact to protect the landlord. Tenants have responsibilities that landlords can not simply ignore.
Obviously S8 tenants do have lower than average IQ quotients and it is therefor some times necessary to wack them in the back of the head to get them to act. Sitting around waiting for something to happen is not productive and how novice landlords dig them selves into deep financial holes.
Something that may be missing in the advice so far is the fact that the tenants signature is required for the landlord to receive a rent increase. If this is the case then the tenant is in violation of their lease by refusing to sign off. If contact can not be made immediately through notification and a inspection it is a situation that requires the initiation of the eviction process. Lack of contact must be treated the same as a refusal to contact to protect the landlord. Tenants have responsibilities that landlords can not simply ignore.
Obviously S8 tenants do have lower than average IQ quotients and it is therefor some times necessary to wack them in the back of the head to get them to act. Sitting around waiting for something to happen is not productive and how novice landlords dig them selves into deep financial holes.
I'm not sure if the actual signing of the paperwork is violation of lease, but if Section 8 has not paid the current rent, then that is for sure a violation. The lease is between the landlord and tenant, not Section 8 so if January rent is not paid in whole then the formal eviction process should begin. The local version of a 5 day notice to pay or quit should be posted.
You could alway contact the local law enforcement department and have them accompany you as you enter the unit. You are a concerned property owner and simply want to ensure that the resident is okay. (Make sure you save your supporting evidence showing that you continuously attempted to reach them). They may have passed away!
It has now been 5 days since last posting. If you have not done your inspection and cleared up this problem I hope yu have begun th eeviction process or taken some form of direct action wiith tennats handler. You can not allow problems to resolve themselves.
@Thomas S. and everyone for that matter. Just wanted to say first of all thank you for all the advice and comments, super appreciate it I love the BiggerPockets community you all are wonderful.
Long story short, it was a worry over nothing. The tenant changed their phone number and didn't think to tell me or anyone else for that matter. Was able to reach her finally by having the neighbor leave the rent increase form under their door and asked her to give me a call or text and that I'd be by this morning to pick it up. She texted me from the new number to let me know it'd be in her mailbox.
All set!
In the future, I'll make sure to give myself plenty of time to expect slow responses, use direct mail delivery / drop-off and keep everything in plain simple English regarding any correspondence.
@Christian Nachtrieb glad it turned out to be nothing serious. Sometimes it is still good to go through the mental gymnastics on options to proceed and I learned a bit from this thread as well.
@Michael Noto I'm not a section 8 landlord (yet) and am curious what the risk of contacting the case worker would be.