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Updated almost 7 years ago,
need advice on a tenant that wont give me a key
Hey everyone. So I am a new investor and bought a few properties this year and things have been mostly good. The last property I purchased is a nice low income unit. The tenant was inherited. I realize i should have gotten her out as soon as possible but I let her stay. The seller insisted I let her stay saying she always paid on time etc, so I agreed. She was evicted in June from her previous place. Today I looked her up again and 2 months ago she sued the landlord who evicted her. So I am trying to be very careful about this. She is on a month to month lease. She is now complaining about mold growth on a wall. My maintenance people and I plan to bleach and kill the mold then prime and paint. She got some mold tests and is telling me this is not the best way to fix it. The mold is not due to negligence on my part. This is in Charleston SC so humidity is around 100%. She didnt pay her power bill for several months so the power company cut off power from Oct 3-30th. So no AC would be the reason for mold growth. She has refused to let my handyman come in for a week or so. We are going there tomorrow to fix this problem. Also the front door has 2 locks, one has a code and the other is a key. I have the code but not the key. I told her to have me a key when we got there. She said "do i have to provide that?" So my plan is to also change the lock while we are there and give her the key. That way I have one as well. I am not locking her out or anything like that, just making sure I have a key as well. When I google this everything that comes up talks about landlords locking their tenants out, but I cant find anything on this. Is this ok? I also plan on giving her her 30 day notice so having a key to the place would be nice. Im pretty sure she is gonna file a civil suit so really want to watch my steps. Any advice? Thanks