All Forum Posts by: Marcia Maynard

How long has this been going on? When did you first become aware of it? Have you talked with your tenant about the matter? What does your rental agreement say about use of the garage, guests, unauthorized occupants, and subletting?

So, the tenant and her daughter are your tenants? And the daughter's father is the one staying at the property? Do you know his name? Have you checked his background? You may be able to find out some info about him from public records on line. Do you know what his offense was that caused him to be incarcerated?  Do you know if he is on parole? If so, did he list this address as his residence with the parole officer? Do you know how to contact his parole officer?

You may have an unauthorized occupant if he has established residency, not just a guest. Is he receiving mail at that address? Is it possible he pressured your tenant to allow him to stay?

Serve a legal Notice to Enter. Find out the facts. You need to know more about what is going on. If the tenant is violating one aspect of the rental agreement they are likely to be non-compliant with other terms as well.  Observe whether it appears the guy or his buddies are living in the garage or living in the apartment. Don't go alone, take someone with you who is also keenly observant. Take note if there are unusual odors in the garage or apartment. If the daughter is a child, you may find she will spill the beans if you ask her about it when her mom is not in ear shot.

Tell your tenant about what you need her to do. Serve a legal Notice to Cure and send a copy of that to her Section 8 case manager too. Your tenant should have a chance to "come clean" and save her tenancy, unless she has been non-compliant in other ways as well. Some case managers with Section 8 will go to bat for you, so try to establish a good rapport with them and the other folks at your local Housing Authority.

Lastly, learn about CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) to make your property uninviting to criminals and safer for your tenants. Add security lighting to the garage area, motion detectors, and/or security cameras. Increase your visible presence at the property and check in with your other tenants too to see what they hear and see going on. Take care for your own safety and that of others.

Good luck!

Easiest way for a tenant to pay rent may be different than the easiest way for you to collect rent. :-)

I suggest you check with your tenants as to what works best for them.

If the tenants have bank accounts, they will have more options available to them. Some tenants can only pay by cash or money order. Computer savvy tenants with bank accounts do fine with online payments. So it really depends on who your tenants are and what they can easily do. 

I believe providing options works best. We have some tenants who direct deposit, others who auto pay with their banks sending checks that arrive by the due date of the 1st. Most mail personal checks or money orders to our P.O. Box (which is two blocks from our bank and on my way to work - easy to pickup and deposit) and occasionally a tenant will bring cash to our home. Note: most of our tenants have lived in their places 10 - 30 years and we're community minded, so we're flexible on this!

Not much info to go on. What type of property is it? How many units? What do you know about the current owner and how well the property has been managed? What do you know about the current tenants? In what way are the current tenants uncooperative and why do you think that?

@Brian Gibbons is spot on. Get this eviction underway! The security deposit will help pay for what this has already cost you. The tenant is not entitled to any of it at this juncture.

I'm curious as to why the unit is considered an illegal unit and what it would take for you to make it legal. Could you expand more on that?  Perhaps the attorney can shed some light and help you in getting out of hot water too if you've been in violation of city/county code.

@Thomas B.  Welcome to Bigger Pockets and the joys of landlording.

Here's my take on your situation....

• The attitude of this tenant... I don't like it.   He's trying to call the shots.  You caved to him before, so he's going to continue to push the envelope. He appears to be demanding and disrespectful.
• Consider first what you want for this property. Imagine what you want for the property for the long term, not just what will appease this tenant.
• Do you really want a 6 foot fence for this property? What will it do to the sight lines? Have you heard about CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design)? Consider design changes that will enhance security.
• You need to do periodic inspections of your rental property and charge for damages as they occur. The dog will do more damage over time, so prepare for it. Most of us have paid to repair tenant damage at one point or another and then regretted not holding the tenant accountable for it. Don't set the wrong precedent.
• Why bend over backwards for this tenant? Learn how to say no in a diplomatic way. Our standard response when declining a request is...  "We're not prepared to do that." It's a diplomatic way to say NO, gets the point across, is easier for tenants to accept, and better for maintaining an amicable relationship.
• As others have mentioned, there are other options available to the tenant for containing and controlling his dog without encumbering you.
• Realize that a fenced in yard with a 6 foot fence will attract dog owners and families with children and those who want a great amount of privacy (for either good or bad reasons). If you do decide to put up a fence, make sure you can see through it so you can keep an eye on your property.
• Ditto about checking with your city/county code for erecting fences. It's common for the max height to be 6 foot in residential areas.
• About leases.... I much prefer the month-to-month rental agreement over long-term leases. Tenants will move when they need to move, so no lease will keep them there. A lease might encourage a tenant to stay for the duration of the lease, but if the tenant wants to move and is only staying to ride out the lease, they may be miserable and more likely to make you miserable too. We prefer month-to-month rental agreements, especially when a tenancy turns bad since it's easier and faster ending tenancies that are month-to-month. It is also easier and faster to change the terms of the agreement when necessary.

Good luck!

This is why communications need to be in writing and and signed off by both parties.

You state two different dates in your post here.... "amend my lease agreement so that I may move out March 1" and "consistent communication with them that my move out date was Feb 28."

I know it may seem unfair, but the reality is you did not return possession of the unit to them by February 28th or even by March 1 if you still had a vehicle parked on the premises, had not turned in your keys, and did not sign a "Return of Possession" form or something similar to demonstrate both parties were in agreement as to the actual last day of tenancy.

In any case, from what you shared here, the property manager reconfirmed by email that your move-out date was March 1, which is consistent with the amended lease.  So it's reasonable that you will be charged at least for that day, prorated, and this will be deducted from your security deposit.

Is there a reason you didn't leave the keys in the unit? Although we prefer a tenant to do a walk-through with us at the end of tenancy so we can both attest to the condition of the unit at that point in time, if a tenant chooses not to, then we can ask the tenant to leave the keys on the kitchen counter and lock the door behind them. That demonstrates the tenant is returning possession of the unit back to the owner as of that moment. When you failed to get the keys back to the property manager in a timely manner, it became a gray area.

Also, look at the calendar.... Feb 28 was a Thursday and March 1 was a Friday. You had full possession of the unit through March 1 (1159pm) as per what you agreed to in writing with the amendment to the lease. The property manager would naturally contact you on the next business day, which was Monday, March 4 to ask for your keys since you had not returned them to the office nor left them in the unit.

Did the property manager actually tell you they would charge you for 6 more days? Reread that email. From what you said, it sounds like they are still considering March 1 as your final day of tenancy, which is what you all agreed to in the first place. Hopefully all your possessions are out of the unit and you've moved your vehicle by now!

Take a deep breath and call the property manager tomorrow (Monday) when the office is open and clarify what they intend to do. Check your anger too. No need to get riled up.  Talk it out in a congenial manner. My guess is that you will be paying for tenancy through March 1 (or longer if the car was still parked there), which is reasonable, so accept that. As you realize, they've already done you a great favor by not holding you accountable through March 15th!

Length of tenancy depends on the property, the type of tenant, and your management style. Our longest term tenant has lived in the same apartment for 30 years and another for 26 years. Three other tenants are passed the 15 year mark. Most of our tenants stay at least 5 -10 years, but some only 2 or 3. Shortest tenancy was 2 months when "best girlfriends" learned they couldn't stand living with each other. 

Regardless of how long a tenant stays, it still may be possible to renovate while the tenant is in place. We've done upgrades, changed flooring, painted, switched out appliances, changed plumbing fixtures, changed lighting fixtures, and all sorts of things, without requiring the tenants to move.

Thanks Scott for sharing how you do it.   

How to send the letter depends on the landlord-tenant law for the jurisdiction.  We hand deliver or mail via regular first class mail for regular communication letters, such as our Rent Past Due letter. For legal notices such as "Pay Rent or Quit" we must serve in a specific manner, starting with trying to hand deliver to the intended person. If that's not successful, then hand delivery to another person at the residence of suitable age and mailing first class. If that also is not possible, then posting notice and mailing first class, known as "Nail and Mail".  In Washington State we don't need a process server or third party for this. If the tenant doesn't respond appropriately to the initial legal notices to comply with the terms of the rental agreement, then we turn it over to our attorney to proceed and their process server will deliver subsequent legal notices.

For simple communications, some landlords have success with email and/or texting. If we don't receive rent on time, we will first reach out to the tenant by phone or text.  Most tenants respond favorably to this and we are able to resolve the matter amicably and quickly.

For serious matters, when we mail by USPS First Class Mail, we pay extra to get a "Certificate of Mailing" ($1.45 by 2019 prices) to have proof we mailed the item (letter or legal notice) when we said we did. For example, when mailing the "Final Report" letter about use of security deposit after move-out, we get the "Certificate of Mailing". We just need to show we did what we are required to do by our law. We can't control how it's received on the other end and we're not held accountable for how it's received.

When something is sent "Certified", "Registered", or "Return Receipt", it will cost the sender more and may not be necessary, unless the landlord-tenant law for your jurisdiction requires it.  If a tenant is required to sign for the item, they may try to avoid signing or may simply not be at the residence when delivery is attempted.  This may cause an unnecessary delay. Doing both First Class and Registered may give you peace of mind that the item was delivered and received by the intended person. The only question remaining, did they open it, read it, understand it, and respond appropriately?  The jury is still out on that one. :-)

We encourage tenants to do a move-out walk-through with us. During that time we casually ask "What did you like best about living here?" "What did you like least?" "Do you have any suggestions to help us improve?"  That's it.

Allow time for your tenants to become familiar with your management style and for you to get to know your tenants. Meet with them and share your values and expectations with one another.

Be FRIENDLY (professional & polite), FIRM (establish a clear rental agreement and enforce the terms), FAIR (abide by the law and consider what is reasonable),  FAST (attend to matters in a timely manner) and FLEXIBLE (if the situation warrants it.)

Make the effort to establish and maintain a good landlord-tenant relationships.  Landlords need good tenants and tenants need good landlords.

When a tenant is late with rent, we call or text them to let them know we haven't received their rent and check in with them to find out what's going on. If they don't have the rent that day, we give them our Rent Past Due Letter, which reinforces the terms of the rental agreement, our expectations, and the consequences of not being timely with rent. If they don't respond to that favorably, then we serve the legal notice to pay rent or quit. You must be prepared to follow-through after serving a legal notice and realize this is the first step toward eviction. Some tenants won't really respond until they get the legal notice. If it gets to that point more than once, then the tenancy usually can't be saved.

Here's our Rent Past Due letter. Feel free to modify it according to the laws of your jurisdiction and the lease agreement currently in place.

[Your Company Letterhead with name, address, phone info]

[Date]

Dear _____________________________,

Your rent is now past due.  Please pay your rent promptly so you may continue to live in the unit that you now occupy.

As per your rental agreement:

Rent is due on the first (1st) day of the month.

Rent is late on the second (2nd) day of the month.

We allow a grace period through the fifth (5th) day of the month to pay your rent without incurring a late fee.

On the sixth (6th) day of the month we charge a late fee of fifty dollars ($50.00).

If we do not receive your rent in full in a timely manner, we will serve you with a 3-day legal notice, “Notice to Pay Rent or Quit”.  Each time we serve a legal notice, we charge an additional twenty dollars ($20.00) posting fee.

If you do not follow the terms of the “Notice to Pay Rent or Quit” we may then begin eviction proceedings against you and you will be charged with the crime of “Unlawful Detainer” if a judge upholds our claim.

The amount of rent now due, as of today’s date _________________, is as follows:

Current Month Late Fee_______________

Current Month Rent_______________

TOTAL DUE_______________

Time is of the essence.  If you have not already posted your rent via the mail, please call us immediately to make arrangements for us to collect the rent in person.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter!

Sincerely,

[Your signature and title]