Motivating Dirty Tenant To Tidy Up For Showings

[Art Maydan]

I inherited a tenant who's a dirty old hippie who constantly complains about everything. His lease is up 8/31 and I can't wait to get him out. He already has bed bugs and I paid to have pros come out and test for them and they confirmed this. They sent a checklist of steps he needs to complete before they can go in and do their thing (which he asked for), and he keeps complaining but won't complete the steps or schedule for them to come. I just want to get him out and bug bomb the whole place. He sent me a picture of some little maggot looking thing on his dirty hippie rug asking what I was going to do about it. Ummm... I'm going to find a new tenant and scrub this place is what I'm going to do. Quit dropping food under your couch and get a real job.

Anyway, it's difficult to do showings when his place is a gross mess. Meanwhile, I'm trying to play nice as he's dropping hints he's not leaving until the bed bugs are gone... which he won't take the next steps to get rid of. He's not even on the lease. He's subletting from his roommate who is on the lease. But they've both been there long enough that I don't think it matters at this point legally (am I wrong)?

So what would you recommend I do to get him to make the place more presentable for showings? I'm trying to avoid having to eat a month of rent.

Thanks!

[Samantha Klein]

You're gonna have to eat a months rent. I find that the only time you can successfully cut vacancy down to close to 0 is when the tenant cooperates and is a clean person, at least for showings and has kept the unit in good repair.

I would want him fully out, take care of the bedbugs and make any necessary repairs before I started a new tenancy. You may find that if you rush, and miss something, your new tenant relationship will be compromised.