Tenants Late On Rent

[Wendy Lavana]

I recently acquired a four plex that was fully rented. The tenants in the first unit have consistently been problematic. They leave trash outside their unit, they've clogged the pipes with baby wipes, they smoke pot in their unit with the children inside and they don't have any power. They are currently somehow using one of the other tenants power, I don't even know exactly how they are doing this. They are currently late on their rent payment this month and I have asked them kindly to leave before the end of the month at which time I told them I would return their security deposit if all was well with the unit. I told them that if they have not left by the end of the month, they would be evicted. I do not want to go through an eviction process, especially since they have a 2 year old toddler and a new born and I feel they will most likely be protected from having to vacate immediately because of the small children. I have often read that landlords evict their tenants, but my question is what happens if the tenant is irate before they are evicted and they damage your unit? Has this happened to anyone? I'm afraid my tenants may be the type to take revenge on me.

I am also disheartened by the fact that I have worked to keep the building clean, to make it at least one of the better looking buildings on a block that is obviously overrun by inept landlords and that inspite of my efforts, tenants simply don't seem to care about keeping tidy surroundings. I almost feel like setting up a newsletter about the importance of cleanliness and hygiene. I'd like to attribute my tenant's lack of cleanliness and care to their busy schedules, however when I come around most of them are sitting around watching tv, doing nothing at all. How can I help make their neighborhood better, when they won't help themselves.

[Jon Holdman]

OK, a little tough love here.

1) Forget about damage or revenge.  Maybe it will happen, probably not.  Or at least not deliberately.  But little you can do to prevent it if it does happen.

2) find an attorney who specializes in landlord/tenant law from the landlord side.

3) figure out the eviction process.  Best to let the attorney handle this the first time.  But some steps are ones you can do.  Maybe there's something that protects them because of the children.  Not likely, but I don't know FL law.  The kids are NOT your problem.

4) Post the "pay or quit" notice.  Tomorrow.   Or exactly however this works in FL.  Waiting for a month with no rent is like putting the cash in the fireplace and lighting it on fire.  You wouldn't do that if you had it in your hand.  Don't do that with money you've not received.

IDK the pay or quit timeline in FL.  Here rent is due on the first and late after the fourth.  If the tenant and I don't have a plan for getting me the rent I post the pay or quit on the morning of the fifth.  Then I can start an eviction on the eighth or the next business day.  Which I will do if we still don't have an agreement and they haven't left.  The one time it got this far they left.

YOU MUST DO THIS ASAP!  This should be the first thing on your agenda tomorrow.

If you don't want to do this I recommend you choose one of two courses of action.  One is to hire a property manager and let them deal with this.  Expensive, but it gets you away from being the bad guy.  The other is to sell.  If you can't do this and don't want to turn it over to a PM this isn't the business for you.