Need advice on a bad tenant

[Dean Klein]

This will be a long post so if you read through it all and get to the end, thank you! In mid 2020, I was working on a siding project at one of my rentals with a handyman who had done some work for me in the past, he was laid off from his full time job and had time to work on the project. His work called him back and he couldn't find the time to finish, so I looked for someone to finish for me. This is where I met the tenant from hell. Let's call him Steve (not his real name), I hire him to finish the siding job, and tell him I have other jobs he could do if interested. He does 5 or 6 jobs for me, mind you he's an excellent carpenter, he asks me one day if I had any rental properties available because his current landlord was planning on selling the house he had been renting for the last 12 years. I did have one that would be vacant but initially I told him no. I decided to let him know about it because I didn't want to ruin our relationship if he saw me post it online for rent. I made a mistake and took his word for the things he had told me. He said he only needed the rental for a few months because he had bought a home recently across town that was gutted and planned on remodeling it, and moving in there but needed short term housing until he could finish it. 

I agreed to rent my apartment to him, and he started paying rent Sept 2020 but didn't actually move in until Dec 2020, I later found out that he was not paying the other landlord rent for 6 months, and when they finally evicted him in Dec, him and his wife and kids moved into my place. It wasn't long before problems started. My upstairs tenants and him did not get along and in May 2021, the upstairs tenants moved because they did not like him. They were fantastic tenants (told me Steve was a "meth head" and they could not keep their kids there). The next tenant was only there for about 9 months and moved out because of him as well) Steve pays rent late most of the time, and you have to chase him down usually to get it. They (Steve and his wife) have a dog and cat they never told me about or asked permission to have. Steve is the kind of person that seems very narsassistic and doesn't take responsibly for his actions. 

Long story short, he's been working on this other house (very slowly) and a "few months" has now been almost 3 years and I've been ready to get rid of him for 2+ years now, but the problem is I have a gut feeling that if I gave them notice (they are m2m), that he would retaliate and damage the unit on purpose (He has a world is against me attitude, nothings my fault type of guy). This year alone, he's been arrested 3 times now (no prior arrests in the last 15 years), once in Jan, once last month and just last week for misc charges like drug possession, felony bail jumping (since he has other cases pending), ect. The reason I haven't taken action much sooner is because he keeps telling me he's gonna be moving in a "few months" and I want him to move on naturally so he doesn't do anything stupid to my place. The rent is current, and there's no major issues being caused right now. It seems as though he's not working on his house much, but more getting himself into trouble. I don't want to wait forever for him to move on his own. According to county records, he has not paid the property taxes on his other house since 2019, so 3 years of unpaid taxes, and I'm not exactly sure why. I've driven past the house various times, and he is sometimes there working. It would be a win win if he leaves, rent has gone up in the area, and would get better tenant. I tried raising his rent March 2022, only by $100 and he barked saying "I can't afford that, we're gonna move anyway in a few months, if I don't have to pay the extra, I can use it towards the other house and get that done", so I let it slide and told him to get that house done. He could have afforded it, he was working for a big mold restoration company making 5k a month, rent is only $900. He lost his job also in Jan this year, not sure if he has another one or not, I assume so.

It's a crappy situation and I've just been kicking the can down the road not wanting to rock the boat since he always paid rent, and I wasn't losing money so yes part of it is definitely on me, but I'm to the point of just wanting him gone. What would you do? Give him notice and risk him destroying the place, or wait it out longer?