First time landlord tenant problems

[Ryan Havens]

I'm looking for some professional advice on tenant problems. So I am very new at this landlording. I'm using a aveil.co has my property management software. I used a avail's lease agreement Plus I added bigger pockets Missouri lease agreement. 

so here's my problem. Single family residence on one acre. Neighbor has complained multiple times of possible domestic abuse screaming and yelling. I guess the neighbor has called the sheriff on my tenants for a welfare check on the children. Since then I had hoped they were going to act like adults. 

well obviously not I got a complaint from the neighbor which reached me through a friend on Facebook. My tenant screamed her down for being in the driveway which my driveway is shared with other homeowners. She complained again of the screaming and yelling and miserable neighbor relationship. This house was a bird and I never once had a problem with the neighbors everyone seemed very nice. This isn't the only neighbor that has complaint. I'm going to reach out on messenger tomorrow and more or less tell them I don't want to lose them as tenants however I can't have them creating conflict with the neighbors. And I'm letting them know this is not the first time there has been an issue but it's the first time that I have spoke up. I don't know if I'm taking the right steps or not but I am going to contact them tomorrow about the behavior that is expected and if it is not corrected eviction will be the only option. This is a country setting so it must be pretty bad if the neighbors are complaining about hearing them screaming inside the house. Location West plains Missouri. Thank you for assisting me in my learning curve of landlording. 

.  Oh and yes I did do a background check and a landlord screening. They had been in the same location for 5 years and the previous landlord said they got along well with others I'm starting to believe they told me what I needed to hear so they can get rid of them.  They did have a rough background some five years ago. But they had been on the straight and narrow since. Perhaps I should not have given them the benefit of the doubt that people change.

[Joe Martella]

I had a similar issue with this.  Neighbors didn’t like the new boyfriend of the tenant and they would call me complaining that they were fighting all the time.  Told them to call the police.  Then the neighbor called and said that he was punching holes in the walls.  Went there several months later and there were no holes in the wall.  Take some of the information you get with a grain of salt. 

If there is a a domestic violence situation, I am a firm believer that you shouldn’t get involved unless you are trained. 

I would tell the neighbors call the police when they hear the disturbance. It isn’t your job as a landlord getting involved in domestic matters.  

If you don’t have a police report or hearing the disturbance first hand, what are you basing your notice on?   If you go before a judge, what evidence will you use?  Will the neighbor go in and testify?   They most likely won’t take a day off work to sit at a courthouse with you so he/she can testify.  

I would shut the contact from the neighbor down and tell them to call the police with their concerns when the disturbance is happening.