All Forum Posts by: Rachel Lamory

you're right, we have had mostly good luck with tenants to this point..  

It sucks because she herself is a good tenant and you can tell that she cares about what we think.  She clearly cleaned a ton before we had an appraiser over a few months ago.. The place looked great.  

Even her dog is good!   Darn kids ruin everything!

yes, I would imagine the expense wouldn't be worth it.  I lived there myself for 2 years, so I have an idea of the amount of noise you can hear, and I think it's reasonable for an apartment.

We've never had a problem before, and the downstairs tenant never complained until after the mom basically left.. I imagine there is music playing etc, but I don't know for sure.

Downstairs tenant told us that she was leaving because she was buying a house, not sure how much is due to upstairs tenant.  If I am remembering correctly she gave us pretty advance notice that she would not be renewing, long before her noise complaints started.

I do like the ideas mentioned about getting her to stay, otherwise.  I like that kind of flexibility.

Haha, Matthew!  That's why I moved out at 18!

Thank you for the advice.  I also don't know what I would have to do to make the first floor sound proof.  

My husband wants to attempt to appeal to the mother again.  Before this situation with her not staying at the home much, she's been great.

I'm going to read him your replies.

Thank you!

Hi, this is my first post here, thank you for any help you can give me, in advance! 

We have a duplex that we rent out.  There is a single bedroom unit on the first floor, and a three bedroom unit taking over the top two floors.  This is a very nice building in an area that is going through redevelopment.  The building was completely remodeled when we bought it 6 years ago. 

The big upstairs unit is rented to a woman who is very nice, and always pays her rent on time.  When she signed the lease, my husband specified that she and her son were the only ones allowed to live there. 

Recently, we've been hearing that she is staying elsewhere for long periods of time, and her son basically lives there alone (he is old enough at 18 or so) with many people constantly coming and going.  We've been told that they are up and loud until 3-4am. 

We talked to the mother about the noise issue, and she talked to her son, but he is acting out and slamming doors etc when he knows the first floor tenant is home.  Previously, we had to deal with the son smoking pot in the common area, but that seems to have stopped upon our request.  Pretty sure the group he is hanging with is not a bunch of upstanding citizens. 

The upstairs tenant that we are having issues with has her lease coming up soon, but she wants to renew.  We were happy to renew, until we heard about this new situation.

My husband was considering just raising the rent to accommodate all of these people, with the other option being to just refuse to renew. 

It's a little scary having both units open at once (first floor tenant is leaving this month, her lease is up). We also will have to replace the carpets (the sons room is COVERED in stains), and it's going to be pretty pricey. The upstairs unit is bigger than many SFH, so getting it ready will be a decent sum.

My other thought, was what if we put them on a month-to-month?  Then, if we hear anything about this continuing to be a problem, we can just not renew. 

Here is my list of pros and cons for each issue:

Raising rent:

Pros: more rent, will not replace carpets right now, won't be empty, less hassle
Cons: If this pattern continues, we will not be able to attract quality tenants downstairs, and the place will lose it's value overall.   Potential for damage to the house done by these kids.  

Not renewing:

Pros:  Headache over with, can probably raise rent a bit
Cons: Cost to get place rentable, having both units empty at once, dealing with potential fallout from angry son, potentially purposefully causing damage.

Month to Month:

Pros: Can potentially keep us from having both units empty, can choose to not renew as soon as it's clear the problem won't be solved, won't require an eviction if things go awry. 
Cons: concerns of property damage still apply. 

If we do choose to do month to month, should we be explicit in why we are taking this route?  The hope would be that the mother would take this seriously in this case?

What are your thoughts?  Thanks in advance!