STR Evictions...A Waste of Time?

Question

We have a short term rental property in Columbia, SC where we host traveling professionals for 3 months-1 year on a short term, furnished basis. We currently have a tenant who is in breach of their lease agreement by subletting the apartment without our prior written approval. We have already let him know that this would not be permitted (he did not ask, he just gave us an "FYI" that someone would be staying there in his absence), and today we were made aware that his "friend" has already brought all their stuff and is staying in the apartment while he is away for an extended period. We have cameras on the exterior of the property which is how we know this is happening. Our lease agreement states clear as day that this action is a breach of contract, and it also states that should there be a breach we reserve the right as the landlord to terminate the lease agreement immediately. For safety reasons and insurance purposes, we feel we must act on this and follow through on the termination of the lease as stated, however we are not aware of the eviction process (as we have never gone through it before) and don't know if we would even make any headway on that process before his lease is over. He has approximately 2 months left on his lease with us.

If any STR landlords out there have experience with this, especially as it pertains to tenant laws in SC, we would greatly appreciate your insight and advice on how you executed this or if we are wasting our time given the short time remaining on lease.

Thank you in advance!

If any STR landlords out there have experience with this, especially as it pertains to tenant laws in SC, we would greatly appreciate your insight and advice on how you executed this or if we are wasting our time given the short time remaining on lease.

Thank you in advance!

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

@Quynn Costello This is not really considered a "Short Term Rental' per se, it sounds more like a MTR. The reason that most STR hosts set their maximum stay period to 14 days (or so) is because after generally about 30 days, the STR guest actually becomes a tenant and has tenant rights, which in some states (like CA, NY) means it will be really difficult to remove them, even for cause.

I would call either an attorney or property manager (or both) ASAP and get this problem solved...

Theresa Harris · Answer

Why not talk to the 'new' tenant and add them to the current agreement?  I'd also find out how long they are staying there for (1 week? 1 month? the rest of the lease?).  Explain that only people on the lease are allowed to live there for insurance purposes.

Justin Winn · Answer

@Quynn Costello it’s been a while since I lived in SC, but I would think you could call some of the property management companies in that area and offer to pay them a small consulting fee if they can help you. That may save you some time on researching this problem and hopefully you can keep from taking this to a lawyer, but that may be where this ends up.

I might also consider how much time is on the lease and if the tenant is likely to leave when the lease is terminated or not. But this is more of a judgement call for you to make.

Best of luck with this challenge.

Julien Jeannot · Answer

I'd echo the chat with the new occupants, qualify and get a lease.

Aside from that, I would contact an attorney asap. 1) to educate yourself on local laws and 2) to get the ball rolling as early as possible if things goes the wrong way.

As a point of reference, my state is tenant friendly and if landlords don't follow procedures to a T, the eviction can be delayed and quite costly.

Quynn Costello · Answer

Why didn't I think of that?! What a great idea! Thank you so so much

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

Leases are not enforceable in many states. Talk to landlords in CA....

Quynn Costello · Answer

@Bruce Woodruff that is a great point and one of my biggest concerns as well is the difficulty around actually executing on any repercussions. Kinda crappy and makes we wonder what the point of the lease agreement really is if it can't be enforced LOL

Quynn Costello · Answer

@Justin Winn Thank you so much for the response, that was a really great idea to get in touch with a property management company to see if they have any tips! I will definitely look into that. Yeah,being that there is only 2 months left on the lease, I feel that eviction would cause more headaches than help at this point. My biggest fear is simply liability at this point because our insurance does not cover any persons not listed on the lease, and not having repercussions for the tenant violating our contract feels like it opens the door for more liability to us as the landlord. Definitely a tough scenario and just want to stay ahead of it as much as I can so we don't find ourselves in a poor position and wondering "how did we let this happen?"

STR Evictions...A Waste of Time?

Most Popular Reply