Bad tenant in rent by the room

Salem, Massachusetts
General Landlording & Rental Properties
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Bad tenant in rent by the room

Natalia Perlova
South beach, Miami · Member since 2023 · 33 posts · 8 votes

Hi Fam,

I really don't know where else to turn to: i have a tenant with a 1 year lease in rent-by the-room unit in Salem MA, who is driving everyone crazy.

Other tenant called Police on him because he started recording her resting on the living room couch. It has become unbearable for all, and lawyers here in MA say 1 police report is not enough to evict. He sends me 4 emails a day complaining about the conditions in common areas, such as this below. what do you recommend? thank you!

"For the record.

On September 14 at 7:30 PM one of my small grey blue plates was in the kitchen sink with food residue on it. I did not use that plate and I did not put it there. I reported this to you the same evening.

This morning the dishes have been washed. That plate is not in my kitchen cabinet where I keep my dishes. It is in another person's dish rack to the left of the sink.

On August 31 at 9:56 PM I sent you a photograph of my cabinet with all of my dishes in it.

Photograph taken this morning are attached."

I asked him to move and he wouldn't. He is also on RAFT.

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Tony Christian
Real Estate Consultant · Ft. Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2012 · 38 posts · 38 votes
1d

I would consult your eviction attorney. You're in South Beach, so you should brush up on your Florida Statutes, particularly chapter 83.52 Tenant’s obligation to maintain dwelling unit. section 7. It says "The tenant at all times during the tenancy shall: Conduct himself or herself, and require other persons on the premises with his or her consent to conduct themselves, in a manner that does not unreasonably disturb the tenant’s neighbors or constitute a breach of the peace.".

I would serve him with a 7 day notice to cure his offending behavior. If the problem persists then evict him for non-compliance. I'm not a lawyer, so this isn't legal advice. It's best you consult an attorney.

Another thing you should consider, due to the potential unstable personality conflicts of rooming houses, is making your leases month to month. Maybe even quarterly that automaticly renews with an option to cancel upon advance written notice.

https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0000-0099/0083/0083PARTIIContentsIndex.html

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  • Richard F.
    Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    3d

    A tenant is a tenant. You need to follow local law and the specified terms of the rental agreement and issue the appropriate notice of a breach of terms if he is violating properly implemented House Rules. Same goes for the person using his personal property. Do they not have separate, defined, storage space for their kitchen/bathroom/recroom areas? Who is responsible for cleaning the dishes and/or common areas, and on what timeline?

    What screening did you perform in approving each of your tenants?

    1Reply
    • Natalia Perlova
      OP
      South beach, Miami · Member since 2023 · 33 posts · 8 votes
      2d

      I performed the screening through Zillow.

      My lease tenants must maintain clean conditions, with no specific schedule. Do you recommend creating a schedule? These are 30 and 40 yr old tenants.

      0Reply
    • Richard F.
      Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
      2d

      Expecting Adults to "adult" is asking a lot. I have not seen a Zillow report, so have no idea what the validity of their screening process is. You need to look into all areas of a persons background to properly evaluate what I refer to as their Bad Habits. Usually the difficult tenants will have plenty of signs so you can easily deny them. Having a subsidized tenant adds another layer, which, in a rent by room situation does not bode well. Personality conflicts are difficult at any level, but for those under serious financial pressure (or whatever pressures drove them to this type of living arrangement) everything escalates.

      You also need to address the other residents, who need to respect boundaries, even if they are unclear. A spat over a dish is ridiculous, and you are rental manager, not a counselor. Shut them both down for this petty stuff, and give them both an easy out to vacate with no penalty if their space is left clean and rent is paid to the day they vacate.

      Regardless of all that, you certainly need clarity of responsibilities and of personal use storage spaces for all. Implementing changes after the fact creates its own problems. Check local law for notice periods of House Rule changes affecting all residents.

      1Reply
  • Stacy RaskinBusiness Member
    Lender · Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 494 votes
    2d

    I have seen some real horror stories in rent by the room. They can often be eliminated or greatly reduced by doing strict vetting of an application. Some landlords don't do this and they get nightmare tenants. The worst situations I have seen where people stole from other tenants and try to burn down property when no background checks were done. I have seen nightmare situations when landlords didn't vet an application by running a credit and background check, verifying references- in short, doing all the checks that are done with regular tenants when you rent the whole unit.

    Consulting a real estate attorney who knows your local regulations is something I would want to do to see what my options are based on what you are describing as this doesn't seem to be just a simple misunderstanding. Recording other tenants resting is not normal behavior.

    [email protected]818-770-0340
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    1Reply
  • Tony Christian
    Real Estate Consultant · Ft. Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2012 · 38 posts · 38 votes
    1d

    I would consult your eviction attorney. You're in South Beach, so you should brush up on your Florida Statutes, particularly chapter 83.52 Tenant’s obligation to maintain dwelling unit. section 7. It says "The tenant at all times during the tenancy shall: Conduct himself or herself, and require other persons on the premises with his or her consent to conduct themselves, in a manner that does not unreasonably disturb the tenant’s neighbors or constitute a breach of the peace.".

    I would serve him with a 7 day notice to cure his offending behavior. If the problem persists then evict him for non-compliance. I'm not a lawyer, so this isn't legal advice. It's best you consult an attorney.

    Another thing you should consider, due to the potential unstable personality conflicts of rooming houses, is making your leases month to month. Maybe even quarterly that automaticly renews with an option to cancel upon advance written notice.

    https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0000-0099/0083/0083PARTIIContentsIndex.html

    2Reply
  • Jules Aton
    MD/DC · Member since 2024 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    1d

    I would offer him the option to go without penalty since he is so unhappy and reconsider if running this type of establishment is actually worth it. The other one sounds a little questionable also unless I’m misguided to think it’s inappropriate to lay around on a communal sofa especially when there is a strange dude living there.

    1Reply
  • Drew SygitBusiness Member
    Property Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
    1d

    Your lease should outline rules pretty well and also state that the landlord will NOT get involved in intra-personal issues.

    Then supply a list of allowed remedies including:

    Filing police reports

    Documenting violations via pics/video

    Early lease termination

    Etc.

    You do NOT want to be a babysitter!

    [email protected]248-209-6824
    Logical Property Management4.9450 Reviews
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  • Stuart UdisPro Member
    Attorney · Philadelphia · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    18h

    I continue to be astonished by the apparent surprise that renting individual rooms to unrelated adults in their thirties and forties leads to conflict. When tenants are reporting that their roommates are using their plates, it may be time to consider whether the additional rent is worth the aggravation.

    Renting individual rooms to college students near a campus is one thing. Building a model around unrelated adults who cannot secure suitable housing on their own should raise obvious concerns. It reflects a broader problem with many investing strategies today: they are designed entirely around a spreadsheet, with little consideration given to the practical realities.

    [email protected]
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