I guess my tenant wants to live elsewhere

[Dustin Beam]

Hello beautiful people of BP, 

So yesterday I got a voicemail from a tenant who was obviously mad.  I wasn't going to return the call as soon as I did but I'm on vacation and I didn't know if something serious had happened. So I called. 

He goes on a tirade about the supposed mess the exterior painters left the building. I obviously don't know for certain but they painted my other identical building next door without a serious mess. I let him know in no uncertain terms that he was not going to talk to me that way and I was going to govern the conversation. He managed to tell me he didn't like the fact that Mexicans were doing the work and for reasons I can't even remember he dropped the "n" word in even though no AA person was even part of the conversation (not that it would even come close to excusing him for that). I cut the conversation off and said I wasn't going to listen to that and if he wanted to speak to me about it when he was calm, I would listen. 

Now,  I won't claim to have held my composure as well as I should have,  but I didn't lose it either.  In any scenario,  he and his wife will be looking for a new place when his lease expires. I have no idea what his end game was,  but it will be a new mailing address now. 

[Account Closed]

I'd let the tenant know that if they aren't happy in the building they are welcome to move out with 30 days notice as long at they give notice by _______________ (in case there's a bad time of year for you to find renters).  Otherwise, just say they are welcome to move with 30 days notice at any time.

Then, if they were still in place at lease renewal time, I'd not renew.  Once anyone crosses the line like this with me, it's over.  Tenant or whoever.  If it was me, I'd stay professional, but get rid of them as soon as I could - either by letting them leave early, or by me giving them notice.

No rent check is worth being abused over.