Bad Tenant Question in duplex

[Steve Pavlat]

Hey BP community. I have an upper and lower duplex where the tenants have not gotten along since day 1. More petty arguing back and forth in my opinion. The upstairs tenant asked a couple months back if his friend could move in to help pay rent. I told him yes as long as we filled out an application and added him to lease. He never got back to me so I assumed he never moved in. Fast forward to recently. Upstairs tenant friend has been living there and allegedly got side swiped/hit by downstairs neighbors with car in driveway. Downstairs neighbor called me while yelling at upstairs neighbors. Not sure how to handle a. an alleged accident and b. Tenant friend living there but not on the lease. any thoughts or suggestions? Let cops deal with “accident” if they want to call? Upstairs tenant was moving out by end of month as well. Thanks

[Michele Fischer]

Don't mediate the accident, tell them they need to contact the police.  Try not to get involved in any way.

I don't like to keep tenants who don't follow the process.  They moved in an unauthorized occupant and are likely in violation of the lease.  Sounds like he is moving out, just try to retain as much security deposit as you ethically and legally can.

[Marcia Maynard]

Issue One:  Unauthorized Occupant - address this immediately. Enforce the terms of your rental agreement. If the tenant is breaking one term, they are likely breaking other terms as well. Rule breakers will be rule breakers! Time for a maintenance inspection so you can eyeball what's going on there, so make an appointment with the tenant to do an inspection. If you get push back, then serve a legal notice to enter for property maintenance and inspection. Establish a monetary fine via your rental agreement as a deterrent to tenants allowing others to move-in without your permission. Whenever a tenant asks to move in another person or animal, follow up to make sure they don't do so behind your back.

Issue Two:  If the damage to the car happened on private property, the police may regard it as a civil matter between the two parties and not get involved. Both parties to the incident should contact their insurance agent. The insurance company may require a police report.  The only reason you would need to get involved would be if either party was violating a term of your rental agreement pertaining to parking and use of the premises. If so, then follow-up regarding what they need to do to be in compliance with the rental agreement.