Inherited Tenant

[Wade Garrett]

I have inherited a tenant on a fourplex that i closed on last week and would appreciate some advice.

Some background:
- She is on a month to month, with 60 days notice.
- She pays $900, market rent $1,100.
- She also has the entire two car garage, which i want to reassign to another unit.
- When she got wind that the old owner was selling, she stopped paying him rent. He filed for eviction and she eventually paid up.
- She has told me she may be late with rent this month. I said she had until the 20th (according to her lease) then i charge a late fee, also in the lease.

I am going to raise her rent and kick her out of the garage. I may also file for eviction this month if she doesn't pay up.

My question is: how long should i wait to offer a new lease? Honestly i would prefer to keep the unit rented as a first time landlord. I want to give her a month or two to see if she pays rent in order to even offer a renewal option. If she doesn't, no offer. But if she does, i don't want to wait to fix inefficiencies in my new property. I want her paying more ASAP.

Thanks

[Thomas S.]

She is likely in the process of training you as a new landlord. Give her notice of a rent increase to $1200, without the garage, and allow her the choice to pay or vacate. If she stays draw up a new M2M with your terms. She has proven already that she is not a good tenant worth holding on to so the likely hood is if she stays at some point you will need to evict. The M2M will give you this option.