All Forum Posts by: Bhaskar Upadhyayula

My question: When lease comes up for renewal next year, can we decide not to renew it, even if tenant is willing to sign? Reasons given below.

Details: One of our tenants in a 4-plex in Austin, TX is causing lot of "trouble", more like "very high maintenance". We manage the property ourselves. We get calls from her at least twice a month, if not more. 90% of her calls are "vanity" requests. Some of her requests so far has been:

a) Remove closet door and few weeks later add them back
b) Request to change direction of door (make it open another way)
c) Request to change racks in closets (instead of clothes hanger, have racks).
d) There are flees and mosquito (we increased lawn mowing frequency to 2/month; spoke to neighbors to manage their pets and some more measures)
and many more. Some are legit requests and we addressed them immediately.

Her language is very abrasive, almost bordering on insulting. There's a language barrier (she speaks Spanish only). We communicate via texts using Google Translate. So, I attribute part of it to "lost in translation". They do pay rent on time, just to be clear. But we no longer wish to renew lease when it comes up early next year.

We serve the other 3 tenants well and they are very happy with us.

So, legally, are we allowed to NOT extend the lease next year even if tenant wishes to continue?

@Laura Kayes, @Dennis M. @Account Closed

Thank you for these suggestions. We will follow steps mentioned by Laura and will start with Demand Letter.

@Greg H.

Thank you. I'll start on this right away.

Thank you all for very helpful feedback. 

Couple of follow up questions.

1. If tenant and I come to an agreement to part ways, is there a "legal" document that's officially used to terminate the lease?

2. Please suggest attorneys in Austin area who work with RE investors.

Hello All,

I'm a first time owner of a 4-plex in Austin. I bought the property couple of months back and inherited 3 tenants (and 1 vacancy). All tenants have long term lease (mid to late 2019). I examined their lease, rent rolls etc from previous owner and did my "due diligence".

Tenants in one unit are having personal issues (marital problems), financial issues (loss of job) and domestic violence problems. They have been late in paying rents in last two months and pretty much said they can't pay December's rent. 

I would like to initiate eviction process and conveyed this to tenants. I want to seek advise from the community on following:

1. Is eviction the only recourse now?

2. If so, is there a inexpensive, legal alternative to break the lease and tenants part ways with us, instead of eviction?

3. If formal eviction is only move, can you please recommend a lawyer in Austin that I can work with?

Thank you.

Hi @Account Closed. What is overall credit? I have my brother and a real estate agent helping me out. The agent sent me credit history and my post was based on that. 

Thanks @Thomas S. and @Vivek Khoche

I have 620 minimum credit score on my rental application. Just shouldn't get swayed from my own policy :) Thanks.

@Dale Walker Thanks for the suggestion. This is valuable.

Hello All,

I would like your advise on renting a property to prospective tenants with low credit history. 

I'm trying to rent a SFH in Austin for prospective tenants with low credit history (600 and below). Their income is more than 3X monthly rent and looks a steady job. Their criminal and rental history is clean and looks good too. However, the credit report shows high balances and one tenant has few unpaid collection agency amount.

For me, this is first time renting this SFH. So, any advise from your experience will be very helpful.

Thanks.