Problem Tenant threatens to Call the News (long)

[Stephanie Lo]

I'll start off saying I know I made a lot of mistakes with this renter/ roommate. I'm a little shy so my spouse does most of the talking and screening. Big mistake this time around. The room they are renting is my garage lightly converted to include a full bathroom.

This tenant and his wife have been problems since they moved in in July. They moved in halfway through the month and paid half the rent with the expectation that full rent would start on the first in August. 

August comes and they don't pay til the 15th. We have a 5 day grace period and we had been in communication via text, every time with them saying they were going to pay. I served them with a 5 day pay or quit and they waited until the 5th day to pay. The cashier's check they gave me was dated for the 10th and had someone named Eugene on it (neither tenant is named Eugene).

At this time they also start complaining about mice. Full disclosure: my house had been vacant for years before I bought it and about 6 months in we had a mouse problem that we handled and hadn't had any issues with until then. I'm not blaming them for the problem reoccurring.  But they only complain about the mice when I ask about the rent. When they first complained I bought them the same baits and traps that fixed my problem the first time.

I have called an exterminator and apparently it was as simple as a some sliding door at the back of the house that was open. He could see where mice had been getting in and closed it. He said the second step was to bait and trap but since we had already been doing that he said we would probably see 1 or 2 more mice but whatever population was in the house would die off. I tell this to them.

It's now September and they didn't pay rent. This time the wife sends my spouse a text on the last day of the grace period saying she couldn't pay rent because she had to bond her husband out of jail due to child support and could she give us 200 today and the rest on the 15th. I said come up with 300 she said all she had was 240. She would give it to me the same day. Of course, its the next day before I see it and the husband knocks, slips it to me between a tear in the door screen and walks off without saying anything. 

I decide its best to cut my losses now because I'm not going to be able to fix this issue to his desire and give them a 30 day notice to vacate. It wasn't because of the non payment, it has everything to do with just being lousy roommates. The lease gives both sides this ability to opt out at any time with a 30 day notice. I even said he can leave the apartment by the 15th free and clear if he wanted to and was wiling to extend it to the end of the month. No response.

The 15th comes and the husband says he has it but he gave it to the city because I didn't do anything about the mouse problem and he has called the health department and will be calling the news. He has a lawyer and the lawyer told him his text messages would be sufficient (tho he never said he was withholding rent because of the problem). The lawyer also told him to call the news.

I called his bluff and asked him how much he had paid to the city court so i could check and verify that all fees had been paid. He never answers.

Yesterday, he sends a nasty gram to my husband saying he will call the city, health department and the news to expose us for being bad landlords. (But he was supposed to have done all that Friday. He didn't). He also said we could do this the easy way or the hard way. All this happened because the lights were off in his room/garage and he thought we had shut off the electricity. When my husband flips the breaker apparently the kitchen and the laundry rooms had no power as well (all these spaces being on the same side of the house) but he didn't realize it because the house is well lit in the daytime and he had no reason to go in the laundry room until he flipped the breaker.

The husband was sitting in the driveway so I go out there and I try to talk to him to diffuse the situation because this seems like odd behavior to me. 

Let's make this short: he says he has to call all these people so he can cover himself just like we covering ourselves and he has to call the news because the city can't come on the property and his lawyer told him to do this so its not like he made it up off the top of his head.

I replied that while this might just be some dump to you this is my home and I don't want to be threatened in it. (I'm also 8th months pregnant). We have never had a problem responding to your messages before so where did this all come from?

Tenant: Y'all playing games. I told you your rent was with the city and they will notify you within the next 15 days. I just did it today. Threatening you would be if I said I was going to do something to you. I got to do it the legal way so i won't have to do it my way.

Me: That's what I'm talking about. What do you mean you are going to do it your way? Isn't everyone owed for it to be done the legal way? Have we made you uncomfortable? Have we threatened you or cut off needed services?

He responds with he can show us how to play this game. 

I said ok, thanks and left.

I tell this to a former realtor I know and she says I can just call the police to have them removed because they haven't made residency requirements yet (living in the house 90 days) or at least have the husband removed since he is making threats. I'm not sure what to do and any advice is welcome. Their 30 days is up in October and I don't think they are really going to move.