Getting rid of paying tenants...

[Joel Katsma]

I am a newer investor under 30 yrs old with 10 doors in 3 years - so in essence, I am a newbie.  I have learned a couple of things and one is that I'd rather buy a property that is vacant than inherit some tenants who don't meet our normal standards.  So my question today that I am looking for advice on is how to get rid of a tenant that I have who causes 90% of my work and headaches. 

They're on a month to month lease, and they pay every month... The boyfriend of the tenant was living with tenant when I purchased the property but was not on the lease - the prior landlord who I thought was good, vouched for him.  In talking to the tenant she wouldn't tell me his last name - long story short he was trying to hide his background (multiple criminal, evictions, 5 owi's, etc).  I want to call her out on this and force her to add him to the lease as my lease says, but unfortunately, I think that if I try to do this - they could say he's been living there for 2+ years and they never did anything about it! 

I know, this was mostly my mistake for not getting all of the info and underwriting the tenants on the front end. My other tenants are all very strictly underwritten and I have zero issues - knock on wood. Since it's gone on for this long I am not sure how much of a big deal about this I want to make.  They do pay their rent on time each month, but I would like to get new tenants in as they've trashed the place, always cigarette butts in the lawn, and they complain about everything. Oh and they're $150 under market rent (we increased from $500 to $600 2 months ago - market is around $750). 

There is a shortage of rentals in our area so re-renting will be very easy. Although these seem like low rents, they're in the mid range in my area, the place isn't a slum or a dump it's a nicer 3 bd townhouse it's just in a low cost of living area.  Any advice anyone could give me about options that I'd have or actions I could take would be greatly appreciated! 

Love the community here and thank you all for your input in advance.