Improvements with tenant in place

[Josh Gibson]

Hi,

Looking for some advice. I currently have a tenant in a duplex that I acquired about a year ago. Nice older lady (72) on fixed income. I am her 3rd landlord in 15 years. When I bought the place she was on a month to month paying only $700/mo. I told her then that I would not raise the rent for an entire year. We signed the new 1 year lease which is about to end at the end of September. I sent her a letter letting her know that her rent will be going up $50 a month to $750. A couple of days later she called me and wanted to know what kind of improvements I was going to make. I asked her what needed to be done? She said the the carpet has a ripple in the front of her bed and she’s worried that she may trip so she wants new carpet. However she has no way of moving her things in order to have new carpet installed. Secondly she wants new flooring in the kitchen because there is a small cut in the vinyl where a knife dropped. Thirdly, she was complaining about her tub and surround.

So what I’m thinking of doing is to get a carpet repair company out there to restretch the carpet since she stated that it’s a safety concern and then I will get a new tub, surround and plumbing fixtures because it actually could become a problem down the road. Not to mention it could use a replacement.

Just wondering if anyone has gone through anything like this with tenants in place?

[John Underwood]

I have done things like this with tenants in place with not problems. If the bathroom takes longer than a day and there is only one you can put the tenant in a hotel for a day.

I agree with the carpet stretching as opposed to replacing it.

You might be able to have the tub reglazed instead of replaced.

Did she drop the knife that damaged the kitchen floor?

Sounds like wants upgrades for paying an extra $50 per month.

Tell her the extra 50 is just due to inflation. Ask if the other upgrades are worth her paying more rent than the 50? Usually this results in a big fat no.