We are waiting to hear if our tenants are going to renew their lease. They are playing poker with us. The point is that they changed the locks without telling me and took over a month to send me a duplicate key. They are renting the home, they do not own it. One does not change the keys to a rental home without permission. They made a bunch of changes without permission to the home that I didn't approve of or like. These are 12 reasons I decided to raise the rent expenses associated with the rental and it is a soft way to ask people to leave. The kids were pretty wild while I was there. They have done a lot of damage which was poorly repaired without my knowledge or permission.
People can be very nasty when they are asked to move. I cannot tell you the amount of trash we take out EVERY move out. My husband pondered how I will eliminate 2 bedrooms. They are in the basement. I am going to convert them into locked landlord storage. I can keep the supplies we need every year to maintain the property. It still leaves space in the basement for the laundry area. People love to fill up storage. I had to make sure that the furnace room was clear when I was at the property. I made our tenant move everything out. We couldn't get to the furnace. Common sense informs you that the furnace room is to be empty, yet, every tenant fills it up.
This morning, I put the advertisement for the house in the paper, on the state rental site, and online. This gives me time to find the tenant we want. It is a four-bedroom home. However, we are going to be advertising it as a 2 bedroom, not a 4 bedroom. I don't care for the wear and tear large families put on the house and septic. A property manager needs to put a ton of stipulations in the lease, especially in the area of this rental to avoid issues. Under the fair housing act, one has to be very careful about how they word the housing ad. By turning the 4-bedroom house into a 2-bedroom, I can make sure I don't have 8 people taxing our septic system and the wear and tear on the house. This may sound terrible to want no more than a family of 4, however, in the end, we pay the costs of having too many people in the house.
There are issues that we see time and time again. Another child or two will end up moving in. A dog or cat will be added. It gets out of hand quickly.
We do require a tenant application fee. I refund this after 6 months of paying rent on time and not causing issues.
I do have sympathy for people who rent from me, I really do. People always look good on PAPER. I have learned to ask questions that trip people up to allow me to get a more truthful view of people. However, in my 20 years of property management, people tend to take advantage of landlords and have no respect for rental property. One of the things that I try to pay attention to is not becoming too jaded about our fellow human beings. In our current rental, the tenants have been given too much of a free reign with their previous rental situation. Our lease is very clear and they have broken every one of the rules.
I flew out for a one-day trip to view the property this week. It was a surprise visit. When my tenant picked me up (in the back) told me I was going to be "pissed" when I got there. He was right.
Here are the rules they have broken:
- Changing the locks. I do this after every tenant cleanout.
- Painted 2 bedrooms black
- Moved in 2 additional children
- The breed of dogs, they lied about. The pet deposit was for 1 elderly dog that the kids were attached to. I found 6 young pit bulls.
- Late on the rent every month.
- filled up the furnace room
- Unauthorized burn pit.
- Filled up the garage with toys (dirt bikes, vintage cars)
- Tore up the landscaping with said toys.
- killed the front lawn
- Cut down a 100-year-old tree because they didn't like it. This was a beautiful tree.
- They have tried to convert the basement into an apartment for a work friend who appears shady. (Nope, that is not happening.) I called the housing code officer and that was shut down quick.)
Now, I could evict them now for violating the lease. However, they have children. I would prefer to have them leave because of the rent increase. They aren't getting their pet deposit back or security because of the tree and the landscaping damage.
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