HELP....I HAVE THE TENANT FROM HELL!

[Sharon C Hartless]

Hi all, I am a newbie to BiggerPockets and am still learning to use the site. But... I need some help Now! 

I negotiated a discounted rental rate on a 24 month lease back in February with a single woman and her dog because she would be the perfect tenant.... WRONG!  She called to complain about something almost every day.... She was complaining about the HVAC not heating or cooling and after I sent HVAC guys over there 4 times I found out that she was refusing to run the unit because she was worried about her electric bill. I finally texted her telling her that she had to let it run ... I was done! 

During all of these repair attempts she insisted on being present because she told me "her dog can be vicious".  I pulled her file and discovered that the form I require for dogs in my properties had not been completed by a Vet and did not state that the dog was not aggressive toward humans.  Based on these grounds, I sent her a certified letter giving her 30 day notice to vacate. She sent back a certified letter saying she would not and included a completed form from her vet and, paraphrased, I was stupid. 

Next, she called my husband on Saturday night and told him a small area in the kitchen floor was flooded. He went over and turned the water to the ice maker on the frig off and vacuumed as much water as he could and asked her to watch it and let him know.  A week passed and on Saturday (again) she called and asked my husband to turn the ice maker back on.  He was supposed to return Sunday morning to do that but he told her how to turn the water back on at the shut off valve under the sink.  She had water and ice in the door again. At that time she said she was concerned that there might be mold growing in that area and asked him to come back over and check that.  I told my husband NO! 

Today he told her that since she takes her dog to "doggie Care" on Tuesdays he would go over today to check it out.  She informed him that she doesn't feel comfortable with either of us in the house without her being present.  I'm at the end of my patience with this woman.  I'm considering burning the house down!!! (just kidding).... HELP?????

[Alexander Felice]

Yeah I would recommend being a little more "solution" oriented and not getting into pissing matches with your tenants.

I don't see any way that your email is going to make things better. Stick to the lease, when it's broken you can evict. I will also say this: There are plenty of people in the world who are a pain in the ***, and they need a place to live too. You must learn to deal with them.

This isn't the tenant from hell, it's just your average pain in the ***, of which you should expect to meet many more. Your job is to keep her happy and paying