We are family (Just like the song)

[Alton Williams]

In November I purchased a house free and clear that my aunt was renting because the owner was planning on selling it to a random person that was considering kicking my aunt out of the home. So I figured I would buy the house to help her and make a few dollars to help myself. I took it over and dropped the rent from $675 to $600 to "help her out". Fast forward to now and she owes me $300 for the water bill I paid off when I purchased it and $300 for half of the rent from a few months ago ($600 total) and to top it off she presented me with a list of repairs that she wants me to take care of namely painting the house and replacing the kitchen floor and carpet, although she never gave a list to the previous owner that was charging her more rent. Obviously I am not making any cosmetic repairs until she is current, but I'm in the position where if I do all of the repairs I am going to want to raise the rent to at least the market price point because that just makes sense to me.

Is it customary to paint and replace carpet while you have a tenant in the property or is that more of a process you take during tenant turnover times? I love my aunt and I want to help her but there has to be some limit to said help.

[George C.]

Alton, Oh man, you got yourself in a pickle. I've been there, done that with family & rentals...99% of the time it doesn't work, and trust me you'll be the bad guy.

You're the boss now, it's your call if you want to invest more money. I've painted with tenants in place & put flooring in, but they were good tenants paying market rent.

I no longer will rent to family or anyone that I know. It's strictly business, I don't get too friendly with long term tenants either, I'm friendly, but they don't know anything about me.