Suspicious tenant - potential illegal activities?
Hello BP!
I just signed the lease with a tenant today. We signed via zoom because he is out of state. Here is the back story:
I do room rentals near UNCG in Greensboro, NC. I am also living in one of the rooms at the property that I am leasing out. The wife of the tenant called me a few days ago, looking for a place for her husband to stay in Greensboro, NC. She said he's a truck driver that is constantly delivering between Greensboro, NC and Chicago, IL. And said that he needs a place to stay on the weekends maybe a few days out of the month. So I had them fill out the application via avail. Background and credit check seemed good. The only thing that was a flag was that he had an eviction judgement against him at his current residence. I asked him about it and he explained the situation and said he caught up and settled the case. He is still living at that same residence and has been there for the past 8 years.
I accepted his application last night and today we did the lease signing. He wanted the lease to start as soon as possible and last for 4 months. While we were doing the lease signing on zoom, he said a few things that seemed a little strange to me. He said he would be there in 3-4 weeks but wanted to go ahead and set up his mail to be delivered to my house. He said it would be things like bank and other bills - but I have my suspicion. Why set the lease to start tomorrow if he wont be utilizing the room for another 3-4 weeks? It seems like he just wants a place to send the mail. And he also asked several times how the mail situation works and wanted to make sure none of the other roommates will touch his mail. I told him no problem, I'll hold onto it and give it to you when you arrive.
The whole situation seems quite odd to me. Pay $605 a month for a room but only use it a few times out of the month. But at the same time, receive all your mail at the property. He has signed the lease and has initiated ACH payment for first month rent and security deposit. I have not signed the lease yet and I am wondering if I should back out now and return his money when it comes through or if I can possibly cancel it? Or if I should just continue business as normal. I saw him and his wife on zoom and they seem like normal people, but it is just a very strange situation and I don't fully understand it.