Informed tenant of raising rent, they claim they can’t afford it.

[John Gach]

So I bought my dads property, it came with a tenant who has lived there since the day he bought it 30 years ago. He never raised rent, it’s at $400/month. The unit isn’t very nice, she’s a smoker and there’s nicotine on the walls so I can’t even slap some paint on the walls to make improvements. Besides that it needs a lot of cosmetic repairs. Not a huge deal as atleast the property was bought at a good price.

Luckily the tenant is month to month, she supposedly is a nurse, which she should easily be able to afford more rent. I figured fully renovated apartments around mine would be around $1,000/month. So I sent a 90 day notice stating the rent will be $750/month. Would be hard to find an apartment for less than that around my area now a days.

She replied that she can’t afford that much, and that she lives here for a reason, and that she could do $500/month.

I haven’t replied yet because I’m trying to figure out the best response.

I know she has a boyfriend, so maybe I could tell her to have him move in if he fills out a rental application, and passes background checks.

Or maybe she could apply for Belmont or section 8, I’m not sure, although I imagine she makes plenty of money if she is indeed a nurse. Even if she is a nurse and is bad with her money, that’s her problem to figure out.

Any tips on handling this type of situation?

She has a lot of belongings in there, it’s not very neat, and I can’t renovate properly with her living there, so it kinda ruins my plans. I was planning to renovate, get market rate rents, and cash out refinance.

Thanks