When To Ask A Tenant Who Pays Rent On Time To Leave

[James R.]

As landlords, we are delighted to have tenants who pay their rent on time, but at what point should we ask such a tenant to leave?  

I had a tenant who paid her rent on time, but was always very belligerent to me and the upstairs tenant.  I was very busy with my job and the upstairs tenant was afraid of the lower tenant, so she rarely said anything to me.  My gut told me that I needed to ask the belligerent tenant to leave asap (I am very accommodating to tenants' needs, but this woman also had some mental problems).  I ignored my gut feelings and sure enough when November came, she got into a big row with the upper tenant and threatened her with violence.  The belligerent tenant demanded that I ask the upper tenant to move out asap.  Instead, I asked the belligerent tenant to leave and because she was on a month-to-month, I could do so right away.  The only problem was it was winter and I could not get another qualified tenant until March 1st, resulting in me losing 3 months rent.  I believe the belligerent tenant timed it this way on purpose.  

The moral of the story is:  if you think that it is time to ask a paying tenant to leave, do it on your own terms, not when you have to or when he/she finally causes a problem.  As landlords, we need to be in the driver's seat at all times.  Had I followed my gut feelings, I would have gotten rid of her in the summer and gotten the unit re-rented right away.