Real Estate Professional · McCalla, AL · Member since 2008 · 67 posts · 23 votes
WE provide an apartment-size washer and dryer in our apartments because they are on a septic and we want to control how much waste water is going into The septic tank & field.
We have a not-pleasant tenant who remove them and installed his own full-size set, then put ours in the garage and put his own lock on the door. We no longer have access to the garage because of his own lock being on the door. He says our washer and dryer are in there, but I cannot confirm that.
We tried to talk to him about these things but he turned on a leaf blower while we were trying to talk to him and walked away saying we were too picky.
This tenant has been a pain to work with all along and has 6 months left on his lease.
Can we serve a notice to quit for locking us out of our garage? Or is there a different form?
JD, CCIM , Real Estate Broker · Tuscaloosa, AL · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
5y
Under Alabama law:
(1) Unless the lease provides otherwise, you do not have any rights of access during the lease term and cannot cut the lock and put on your own. There are limited exceptions.
(2) You can ask for permission to enter. Under the Alabama Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act, the tenant is not allowed to unreasonably deny permission. It's apparent to me he is being unreasonable. You can give him a Notice of Default and Opportunity to Cure, and describe the "cure" as allowing you access to confirm the storage of the w/d. If he does not cure within the stated period, you can terminate and evict. The question is, do you want things to go that far? If you give the notice and then he does not let you in and you do not terminate and evict, have you lost all credibility for future notices? That's what you have to think about.
(3) There are other exceptions for the "no access" rule, but they don't really apply to your situation.
Real Estate Broker · Salt Lake City & Oklahoma City · Member since 2018 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
5y
Hi @Nancy Carr, I'm sorry to hear about this frustrating situation!
Most normally what you'd do here is hire a locksmith to open the lock and rekey it back to the original key, then bill it to the tenant. The treatment for "tenant not allowing entry" or similar situations should be dealt with in your lease agreement, or if not then in your state's Landlord Tenant Act laws.
Rental Property Investor · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
5y
This is frustrating but not something I would lose sleep over and not really something I would push too hard on to try to avoid retaliation from the tenant. I would think running a full sized would be more water efficient assuming they are running full loads than running more small loads but could be wrong. Even if they agree to switch it back they will most likely just switch back after you inspect. Just be prepared to non renew and hopefully you get better luck next time. Hopefully they are paying and you can bill them the cost of rekeying from the deposit.
JD, CCIM , Real Estate Broker · Tuscaloosa, AL · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
5y
Under Alabama law:
(1) Unless the lease provides otherwise, you do not have any rights of access during the lease term and cannot cut the lock and put on your own. There are limited exceptions.
(2) You can ask for permission to enter. Under the Alabama Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act, the tenant is not allowed to unreasonably deny permission. It's apparent to me he is being unreasonable. You can give him a Notice of Default and Opportunity to Cure, and describe the "cure" as allowing you access to confirm the storage of the w/d. If he does not cure within the stated period, you can terminate and evict. The question is, do you want things to go that far? If you give the notice and then he does not let you in and you do not terminate and evict, have you lost all credibility for future notices? That's what you have to think about.
(3) There are other exceptions for the "no access" rule, but they don't really apply to your situation.
More small loads = more waste water. Larger machines are far more efficient, which is a big part of the reason they’re going bigger as they get more efficient. On that same note, running a dishwasher, even when it’s not full, is almost always more water efficient than hand washing. Unless you have some stipulation that they must use your appliances, you probably don’t have much to stand on as far as what they use, especially since it’s based on a nice, but inaccurate, theory. Obviously there is still the issue of the lock and questionable location of your appliances, but I believe that’s been addressed nicely.