Inherited tenant giving me issues on the move out

[George Martin]

Good morning everyone! I’m writing this today as I sit in a bit of a predicament; I’m looking for advice from others who have had this happen before.

I purchased my first multifamily in May of 2024 as a house hack. There are two separate homes on the property, and one of them had a tenant in place when i closed. Her lease with the previous landlord had already expired, and now she was month to month. She had been paying the same rent for the last 9 years, which is well below (almost 50%) fair market for this area in NJ.

When I bought the property, I intended on giving her another month to figure things out, before going in there and doing the full renovation that’s needed. I initially planned on renovating in the winter of 2024, so that I could have it ready to go as a short term rental for summer 2025 (vacation, beach town). She told me that she was having a really hard time finding a new place, and asked if she could extend another month. I wrote up a new lease for her and extended her stay until the end of 2024, giving her 7 months to figure things out. She was very grateful and ensured she would be in a new place January 1st.

..fast forward to December 1st, where she messaged me saying that she found somewhere to go, but the owner there is doing renovations and the unit wouldn’t be ready until April 1st. She gave me a signed letter from said owner, that explained the renovations and an expected April 1st tenancy.. though very upset I wouldn’t be able to do MY renovations in time now for the summer, I felt bad for her and her situation and wrote up one final lease for January 1st through April 1st. She has been periodically moving things out of the house, so it seemed like I was going to finally get in there April 1…

…I get another text a few days ago, with yet another story 😵‍💫. This time, the guy she was going to rent from was a friend of a friend, and her friend lied to her and forged his signature on the letter they gave me. I am LIVID, but I know this is part my own doing for being too much of a nice guy. In her last message, she implied that campgrounds will be opening for the summer on May 1st, and she would be able to go there then for the summer.

At this point, I really don’t know where I should go from here. I’m losing out on close to $800 a month because she’s paying half of fair market rents.. I will now miss out on the summer short term rental revenue for this shore town. I have reserves waiting to be deployed on renovations that are burning a hole in my bank account with inflation and the potential rise in costs due to tariffs. I also have a storage unit that I’m blowing hundreds of dollars a month on that I cannot empty and close until I get this space back 😫.

Should I be serving her with a 30 day notice to vacate? Do I take rent for the month of April? Do I just write up another 1 month lease and have verbiage about the eviction process beginning on May 1st if she’s still there? I know I have a LOT to learn, with this being my first investment property.

[George Martin]

Quote from @Jaron Walling:

You took the nice guy path and it didn't work out. It happens man. Don't beat yourself up over it. Naively, based on what you described, I would have tried that too. I would have increased rent regardless. Not $800 per month but at least $100-200 per month. No pressure was added from the new landlord so little effort has been given from the tenant to find a new place. 

"Should I be serving her with a 30 day notice to vacate?" - Absolutely get this posted on the door tomorrow. Take a picture of it posted for your records. Start gathering everything including that fake letter for a property she was supposedly moving into. 

Have you offered any cash for keys yet? Sometimes that's the trick but plan for the worse. Following because we don't have experience with inherited tenants. I'm other investors will chime in. Best of luck man. 

 Thank you! I forgot to mention that I did up the rent by $100 on January 1st. A small, but doable increment for her, but still nowhere near where it should be. Great advice, I plan on posting that letter today.