Tenant with criminal history

[Susan Herschell]

Hi All,

I have a tenant whose boyfriend was a frequent guest at her apartment. As time went on it was apparent that he was permanently living on the premises and I knew that I needed to get him on the lease right away, but since several months had past and he was already living there full time, I neglected to perform a background check as I felt it would complicate things more. Well, I was wrong! It has come to my recent attention that the tenant is a registered sex offender and has a list of other felonies, including kidnapping! on his record.  Both tenants have been problematic and there are frequent unsavory visitors to the property and I get reports from the neighbors that they're noisy and there's a lot of foot traffic. I don't have any evidence of illegal activity and other than them being messy tenants and having a lot of visitors, not a whole lot of ground to evict.  I should mention that they are on a month to month lease. I am looking for the best way to get rid of them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Nathan Gesner]

You recognize you made a mistake. Fix it and ensure it doesn't happen again.

I would hit this from two angles. First, I would issue a written 30-day notice that I am terminating the lease and expect all tenants out. Second, I would provide a separate written notice explaining that I know the tenant is a registered sex offender and they are not permitted on the property, even to visit. If the tenant steps foot on the property again, call the police and report it, ask for a no-trespass, or whatever they allow. Once you gain knowledge, you need to take responsibility for the actions of the individual so get rid of them before anything happens!