Pushing my Buttons

[Jimmy NA]

I recently started to notice that one of my tenants was dumping the trash from her car (Newport cig. boxes, candy wrappers, plastics junk , Mcdonalds bags, etc.) in the same spot in the driveway of my 3 family. Now, of course I can not prove that it is a certain tenant that is cleaning out her car in the driveway, but she is the only tenant that consistantly parks in this certain spot AND smokes Newports. Suck it up you say.....well maybe I should but... it is blowing my mind becuase she is such a thoughtless pig. Do I mention it to the tenant or just chalk it up to my duties as a prop owner? I did find a note among the trash with a bank account number. I checked it against the tenants rent check, its a match so....chances are the trash is hers. Just don't know if I should accuse her or not?

[Richard F.]

Bag it, take it to her, smile, show her the bank statement, and say "I think you, or another family member/guest dropped this. The dumpster is over there->"

[Ken Bateman]

I love it - and agree whole-heartedly......people are disgusting......!!!

[Account Closed]

Herding cats comes to mind.

There are limits to how easily you can train tenants. At some point it is best to change out the tenant. Granted a bit of trash is not much of an issue if they pay up on time every month.

[Michael Rossi]

Someone must be in charge of your rental. It can be you or the tenant. They are just trying to find out who is in charge. In a multi-family environment, you can not afford for the tenants to think they are in charge. That can be like a cancer that will rapidly spread. I would certainly give the tenant the trash and tell them that this can NOT occur in the future. If you have this or other problems with the same tenant, I would get rid of them before things get worse.

Generally, when you have an idiot like this, the little trash problem will just be the tip of the iceberg.

Mike

[Account Closed]

Originally posted by "MikeOH":

Generally, when you have an idiot like this, the little trash problem will just be the tip of the iceberg.

Mike

Very true.

[Sue In Denver]

Hi CT,
I agree with the posts here. It has to be nipped early. Why not collect all the garbage and sit it in the front seat of her car, dead ketchup and all? LOL :oops:
Likely there is something in your lease pertaining to their keeping their place and the common areas free from their garbage as well as respecting the other tenants (for whatever reason). That's enough for me to stop by to drop off a letter of lease violation, indicating that if it happens again, they will be moving.
You have evidence it's her trash and you can indicate that in your letter as well as reference that you have witnesses. You may want to check with the other tenants because likely they've seen her do it.
In any event, she's in violation of the lease (it's in there!) and if you address it now, she'll either do it again to test your eviction muster or stop.
Just my two cents!