Should I ask the tenant to leave?

[David Tiemann]

I have a tenant who has lived in one of our properties (SFH) for about 1 1/2 years now. On the original lease it listed the Husband, wife, and 3 kids. Blended family. They divorced about 6 months ago. They asked that she and her child be removed from the lease. Should now only be 3 people living in the house, all males. At that time the ex wife warned us that he was bad at managing money and would likely get behind on rent. He has paid late, with late fees, every month since then. Not my favorite type of tenant. I stopped by that house today to check out a minor plumbing issue. It is obvious that he has moved another woman and her kids into the house. There are 4 extra kids there, and both bathrooms have feminine products in them. The house smells bad, and is very messy. Both bathrooms have mold/mildew growing on the walls and ceilings. Too many people showering and not running the exhaust fans. We would not have allowed that many people in a house of this size. This house will be destroyed if I let this go on, so I want to ask them to leave. He is on a month to month lease right now. I would not give a reason for asking them to leave other than ‘we need to do some renovations’. I did do this once before with a TERRIBLE inherited tenant, and it worked out okay. Tenant got upset, but she left. So what is your advice for me? And have any of you faced similar situations?

[Steve Vaughan]

Yep, I'd provide proper notice to terminate for sure. Your reason that worked last time sounds good, but you don't need to give cause unless you're in a LL hating city like Seattle. 

It's been real...  happy trails...  Don't let the door hit you....