Headache Tenants (Warning: Long Post)

[Jims B.]

Hi there,

Just wanting to see what everyone in the Fresno/Clovis, California area is doing regarding headache tenants. I am at my wits end and just need to vent this out to the forum as it has been frustrating and stressful on my end.

Here's a not-so-quick background to this headache. We just recently accepted tenants for a property that we have in Clovis, CA and they are already becoming a problem, and it's not even a month. On our original posting on Zillow, the property was scheduled to be completed with renovations on December 15,  but when these tenants came and saw the property, they wanted to give cash right away as initial deposit because they liked the property. We were skeptical at first that they wanted to give a deposit right away, but we were also in a time crunch as to we needed a tenant secured before the 15th. We disclosed to them early on that there was still work needed to be done and full completion will be on the 15th, primarily interior painting. Since moving in, they have already pinpointed many things needed to be worked on, which we addressed as quick as possible, but I suppose they are not happy with workers still being in the house and some work that still needed done. They started calling us slum land lords and started accusing us of various things such as discrimination and numerous code violations that the property has. 

We did not force them to sign the lease agreement. They seemed like honest people initially. They even pinpointed that the initial lease agreement sent to them stated that utilities were part of the rent, which is not, and we apologized for sending a lease agreement with that error. So, we sent them a new one stating utilities are not included with the rent, and verified with them if they still wanted to proceed with the lease. We even offered to give back all the money they have already given. They stated they still want to proceed, so they signed the updated lease agreement. 

Fast forward to today, there have been numerous instances where they would complain about the smallest details in the house. The painters that we have had in the house finishing the job even told us that they were verbally unbecoming and, per their term, "crazy". There was even a point that our painters were already worried about their safety in the property because the renters were becoming verbally abusive. Our painter even requested a day off because he could not stand them. Poor guy just wanted to finish his job, but he got more than what he asked for. Since then, we have established that our communication will only be via email and text, and text messages are only for urgent matters, such as if the painters are coming in or if any repair personnel is coming in to address some repairs that they voiced out. We want all these situations documented as much as possible. The good thing, I guess, is we have a paper trail of all these conversations and if push comes to shove, we have documentation to prove the headache in this ordeal. 

So finally, the million dollar question, how do we get rid of these tenants? They have not completed the whole month yet have already been like this to us. In one of our text messages with the tenants, he even stated, verbatim, "you two can have this house back. This has (house) looks like a crack house and your trying to rent out like it's this mansion of (a) house...You guys are slum land lords". 

We corresponded via email continuously until last night and stated that we will still return their full security deposit, granting they leave the house in the condition it was in prior to moving (we have photos of the house prior to their move in) and pro-rate the rent based on the number of days they have stayed in the home, which was from the beginning of the month, once we agree on a date for them to move out. The tenants also stated they were willing to break lease and move out within 24hours if the full rent and deposit was returned, which is $5400. Are we approaching this fairly and legally?

If you've read through this post, thank you for taking the time to do so. As a newbie landlord, this is frustrating, but I certainly appreciate any feedback from this community. Thanks guys!

[Ned J.]

Take their offer to refund the entire rent and deposit and get them out NOW. Forget about any pro-rated rent for the time they stayed..... its not worth it in ANY way. Cut your loss now and move on.

Bigger question..... how did you screen these people? That's key to not being in this position. Its sounds like you were really fast on trying to get someone in even before the work was done.... why? Having the work be done and unit vacant for a couple of weeks/month or whatever is WAY better than making a quick, rushed decision on your tenant. Screening is EVERYTHING.....and it sounds like you wanted someone in right away and took the first person that showed you some cash..... BIG MISTAKE. You want the RIGHT tenant.... not the first one that says they want it. $$ lost with vacancy is WAY better than having a crap tenant. 

I also highly recommend MTM leases... for just this reason. Even of you screen really well, you can have an anomaly and get a nightmare tenant. With MTM, you have WAY more power to get rid of them ASAP and not be stuck with them until the longer lease ends.