First Time Landlord With Some Questions

[Travis H.]

Hello fellow BP members,

I am excited to say that my wife and I are closing on our first buy and hold/house hack duplex today!

So let me paint a picture first. The property we have obtained came with two existing tenants. Both tenants leases are up the 31st of July. We plan on moving into one side of the duplex and update it to bring it up to market rents. We would like to then update the other unit to bring that up to market rents. The property is in pretty good shape and all of the renovations, we would like to do, would only take about 3 months to complete. This time frame is based on me doing everything and only on the weekends.

Now onto the meat of the discussion. I would like to have one of the tenants vacate the property. I understand in the state of Ohio I will have to give them 30 days to do so, after they receive the Ohio Lease Termination Form. I would like them to vacate for many reasons, most importantly is that they are hoarders, have cats with no pet addendum or deposit and have let their side of the duplex fall to disrepair. Plus they are approximately $200 under market rent for this area. The only upside to this tenant is they have consistently paid their rent on time.

My questions for tenant one are as follows:

1) Is the Ohio Lease Termination Form the only thing I need to do to not violate any sort of laws to avoid putting myself in a bad situation?

2) Would you mail them the previously mentioned form or personally deliver it, to avoid it coming off as hostile and to mitigate any further damages done to the property?

3) Is there anything else I must do other than giving the tenant a Ohio Lease Termination Form?

Now on to the other tenants. These tenants on the surface seem wonderful. They have painted the apartment professionally with great colors, installed a permanent stone fire pit in the backyard, maintained the deck and kept a clean yard. Dig a little deeper and you will find that they consistently pay the rent late and are approximately $150 under market value. I am not sure if the reason they pay their rent late is because the previous owner/landlord trained them improperly and never enforced late fees for rent. So instead of paying their rent on time, they consistently decide to put all their personal things first. Or they just can't afford the place. Also, they have a medium sized dog that has aggression issues (was told this personally by the tenant) with no pet addendum or deposit.

My questions for tenant two are as follows:

3) Would you keep these tenants temporarily on a month-to-month lease until you were ready to update their dwelling (i.e., new appliances, flooring, bathroom updates and new windows) and raise it to market rents?

4) If you would keep them, is it appropriate to have them fill out a rental application and follow through with a screening process?

We look forward to hearing everyone's opinions and comments!

One last thing and I know this is something a lot of people don't like to give out, but I am going to ask anyway. If anyone has any good contractors, in the Hilliard, OH area, that they would be willing to let use know about for flooring, windows and painting. We would greatly appreciate it! If I am unable to complete any of the renovations on my own, I would like to have a quality, reliable plan B.

[Adam Anstatt]

Since the leases are up in a couple of weeks, I think it seems like a great time to run through the screening process.  Even if you have no intention on kicking them out, this would still be a good way to get all their information and to feel more comfortable about who you have living in the unit.  I use an application and screening service from RentPrep that I really like.  Also, taking this step could go a long way toward presenting yourself as a businesslike landlord rather than landlording as a hobby.  Hopefully that will help get your rent paid on time.  If your'e new to this, RentPrep is one of my favorite resources, the podcast is great for the commute to work.  Also, skimming The Book on Managing Rental Properties may be the one of the quickest ways to get most of the information to get you started on the right foot, specifically the chapter on managing tenants.