Problem tenant in my first home that I turned in to a rental.

[Moises Acosta III]

Hello all, I have been renting my first property for about 5 months now to a section 8 tenant. This property was my personal home for about 5 years and I decided to rent out and test the landlord setting out. The home sitting for 2 months because of hurricane Irma and busy I ended up rushing this individual in. Per her it is 9 ppl that would be in the property and due to rushing her in I tried yo get last minute repairs in which where completed. My first visit my heart sank as I saw random ppl within my home as well as the smell of marijuana (no smoking was stipulated in contract. Than after they blew a fuse in my electrical box downing power on one side of the house. (Repaired) Now the last issue was a newer Samsung slide in stove that I bought for 1600 1.5 years old I had service company from warranty company come out and state due to abuse it was filled with roaches and that the circuit board blew he than declined to fix and he said the house was being abused. I than had a second company come out and they replaced the board to no avail they then said it was another board and yet again it would not work so they suggested I get a new stove. Which kills me as I know the stove was brand new. Also I have on the contract pest control as needed which I never did not have one prior to renting only occasional water bugs and a small issue that was corrected immediately. Now I am paying 525 for a fogging in the home as well as having to replace the stove as well. The worst part was. Having the service/pest control people say I had around 17 ppl living in the home. I would love to know how some of my fellow landlords would handle?? I am in Broward County florida and would appreciate some feedback. Thank you

[Joe Splitrock]

@Moises Acosta III you should take it personal when someone destroys your property. You strike me as a nice, good person and probably believe others are respectful like yourself. 

The first sign of trouble here is section 8, which tells me the individual is not financially responsible. The second sign of trouble is she told you 9 people would be in the property. That many people will place heavy amounts of wear on a property. I am not sure how big the property is, but many cities have occupancy limits based on the number of bedrooms. It is a safety hazard to have too many people in a property. Next sign of trouble is roach infestation which is completely caused by tenant cleanliness issues. Marijuana beyond your lease saying no smoking, is a banned substance so there is evidence of criminal actions. Then when someone tells you 17 people are living in the property, that is beyond crazy. I owned a six plex and there were 13 people living in the entire building. That building had 11 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. How could 17 people live in a house without destroying it (or even 9 for that matter).

Call section 8 if you want to, but what you really need to do if file eviction immediately on multiple causes. Make sure the eviction includes not only lease occupants, but other occupants. There is no workable solution that keeps them in your property. That ship has sailed, so basically Section 8 needs to be told they must leave. Be careful of those sappy social workers who may try to talk you into keeping these tenants. They will NOT change.

I am sorry you are going through this, but you need to understand this is the result of bad decisions, not bad luck. Start making good decisions, which means hire and eviction attorney today.