All Forum Posts by: Shane H.

Has anyone else noticed an influx of trolls on here? I first noticed it shortly after someone said the "crazy things applicants say" post had gone viral. The link someone posted to this viral posts was to a really anti-landlord, hate the world, caustic forum. 

Now though i'm seeing all these brand new accounts being created and "chiming in" with their negativity. Anyone else noticing this too?

Not much to be done about it, this is a forum after all. Just thought it interesting =p

@Patricia Steiner Thank you Patricia! I did read through all of our landlord/tenant laws and I don't remember seeing that but it has been at least a year since i read through it. I'll go through and make sure to find out the answer to that one way or another today. I'm really glad you chimed in, thank you!

@Patricia Steiner If they only pay partial rent on the 12th, am I not able to then provide a 3 day pay or quit in response to the remaining rent owed?

I also should've also clarified that these tenants are my neighbors in the duplex i'm house hacking. This is the main reason why we're meeting in person, why i'm stressing about how the interaction will go, worried about retaliation, etc.

The pay or quit is just the most straight forward means of enforcing them to leave but ultimately it has been a series of events that have led up to this decision. (they move people in without asking, rent is habitually late, tons of attitude when i ask for things like vaccination records or application from who they moved in, forgery of vaccination records, police commonly being called from/on them, etc...)

Here's the link to what led up to this: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/727317-plot-twist-tenant-gave-me-a-fake-vaccination-record?page=1#p4285485

I will be meeting with them on the 13th to be asking them to leave. Preferably they would agree to move out. But i foresee some major issues coming up that i could really use some help with handling.

• How much time do i give them to be out? Sooner the better obviously but what is reasonable?
• They are flat broke. I know that isn't my problem, but it's the reality and if they feel that i'm putting them in a desperate situation they could lash out in any number of ways. I can offset this by offering the carrot of giving their entire deposit back once they're out and the place is left clean, but $900 is not enough by itself for them to find and rent a new place in such a short time.
• They have said they'll be paying most of July's rent on the 12th (partly why i'm meeting on the 13th). But chances are i will not be able to collect the rest of July's rent and still have them out. 
• Lastly, do i still proceed with the eviction if they say they will move out willingly? I can stop the process once they're out, or do i just get something in writing that they agree to be out by X date?

Thank you everyone, I could really use some advice on this one.

I could go the eviction route with the 3 day pay or quit. I think that'd be much cleaner than for the false vaccination records. But this is also my neighbor as i'm house hacking the duplex. So my thought was to do a cash for keys scenario where I go over, explain they can either be evicted and lose their deposit or they can move willingly before august 1st and leave the place in good condition.

Besides the concerns of them damaging their property, i also worry they may retaliate against my property. And not to mention that i'd MUCH rather try to re rent it in August instead of waiting for an eviction to finalize in sept/oct+

But if anyone has any suggestions at this point, i am all ears. (or eyes i guess...)

Here's the link i just posted about, but now the tenant gave me a vaccination for her dog 5 years ago and edited the page to make it look like it was for the cat.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/727162-vaccinations-for-esa

This is honestly the latest in a long string of issues from this tenant. The lease is not up until April of 2020, but i don't think i'd like to continue this tenant at this point.

• Rent is habitually late (which the income earner had a heart attack and multiple heart surgeries so i have been working with them)
• They moved someone in and lied saying he was under 18, dragged their feet filling out an application and i provided them a 10 day cure or quit to have him move out.
• And now this most recent lie.

I could give them a 3 day pay or quit to end the lease since they are now late on the rent and are planning to pay on the 12th.

Any other suggestions on what I should do at this point?

Thank you,

@Patricia Steiner That's a great response, but to further the discussion what would you recommend if/when they respond with "Why?". If you answer the why behind it, then they may want to argue or make an issue out of it.

I don't have much to contribute in the way of answers on this as I tend to use FB marketplace to list my rentals which is all text based. But i'm following this thread as I'm curious for those rare occurrences when phone conversations are how they prefer to chat.

I recently had a tenant adopt a cat without giving permission first. When questioned they agreed to pay a deposit and she also had a 4+ year old note from her Dr. stating that she had a need for an ESA.

• They are inherited tenants but have lived there for 8+ years
• They had a dog and cat when i inherited but have since lost both.
  • On that note, they treat the property well and I have not seen any animal damage before
  • Of course this is a kitten and a male that is not fixed so i'm worried about it 'spraying'

Back to my current dilemma, I used the website Petscreening.com to which she said she was having trouble uploading the documents including their request for the cats vaccination records. I offered to try and help but she never would respond with the records so it is still sitting in a pending status. Then she later said that she doesn't believe in shots/vaccinations...

Fast forward to today and she got at least the rabies shot and will be sending that my way, but it prompted me to wonder a few things that I thought i'd ask the group.

1. If she had refused to get the rabies vaccination, could i have forced the issue being that it's essentially what equates to a living wheelchair?
2. If i was opposed to her having the animal, does the age of the Dr.'s note matter?
3. I do not have the ability to upload the vaccination proof to the website, should i just let the website app fall off and call it good? or try to call and get it uploaded?
4. I would like the cat to be fixed, but A) i am almost 100% positive i can't enforce that. The rabies is one thing as i believe it's required that everyone get their animals vaccinated for rabies, but spay/neuter is not. B) So then i'm left with either offering to pay the $50 (we have a great program through the local humane society) for them to have it done, or just risk the cat marking its territory everywhere when it reaches maturity.

Thanks in advance everyone!

The trouble with this is that everybody today LOVES to grab a pitchfork whenever they see someone not being "sympathetic". So if you were to voice that opinion and start gaining any sort of traction, you'd quickly become a target. Unfortunately playing the victim is far easier than defending oneself from "attacking" said victim. My prediction is that it gets significantly worse before it gets better. I am fairly certain it will be well past public knowledge before anything is done about it, if anything is done at all.

Nobody has sympathies for us "greedy landlords", especially not when we're up against the "poor mistreated tenant that just needs her attention cat". And if said cat destroys our property? Then i guess that's just our fault and is what we should expect since we wanted to be in this business.

I am currently in the midst of trying to use this service with one of my tenants and while the idea/concept is awesome, the execution is not so great. So far it's been over a month without them giving a "decision". They asked the tenant for vaccination records which she says she's tried to upload but it "doesn't work". So now i either have to A) try to play mr. fixit and assist them with the process, B) Just give up and let them have the ESA without continuing the due diligence C) deny the ESA and likely get a lawsuit against me.