Trying to be reasonable

[Jennifer A.]

I bought a duplex at the end of 2016.  Both sides are occupied (I inherited both sides).  I had an estoppel agreement from both and that is fine. Upon taking ownership, I sent a written lease to both sides and asked them to sign it and return it or I'd take that as their notice they were vacating on March 1.  One side returned it, the other side asked for more time to review it.  Fine.  A couple times now they've asked for more time to review.  Great.  I'm glad they want to know what is in the document, but I'm out of patience.

Last week they called me that their sink was all backed up.  I got someone there within 4 hours to fix it.  No problem.

Today though they text me and say they are short $100 on rent and will have it next week, will I work with them?  My response was that I was not inclined to work with them.  They have not yet returned the written lease that I requested by January 5 and in that lease there are late fees provided.  They are now asking me to call them or meet with them.  I haven't responded.

I'm not interested in negotiating them regarding the lease.  The rent is exactly what they were paying the previous landlord.  Same responsibilities for utilities.  It is what it is.  As far as I'm concerned they can sign it or go.  They've previously taken up hours of my time with some petty complaints when I first took ownership.  I dealt with the ones that were legitimate complaints and some that were minor.  I told them I wouldn't fix other things (stain in carpet, etc.) but I wouldn't charge them when they moved out.  They were fine with that.

Am I being unreasonable?  What would you do?

[Christopher Morin]

Send them your state equivalent of a pay or quit notice via certified mail.  They are on a month to month agreement, and to terminate you might be required to give them formal 30 days notice to terminate the rental agreement.  

I'm sure you are happy to address all reasonable needs of theirs with the unit, there is nothing wrong with addressing a tenant's concerns if they are a paying tenant.  But they are establishing the nature of the relationship by making demands of you, pulling your into lease negotiations, and not paying the lease.  They are establishing control.  Make it clear that you're not about that nonsense.