Tenant is dirty but Pays on time

[Paul Stewart]

Hi Everyone

 So I currently House hack my home in Long Island NY.  I have owned the property and lived in it for almost 3 years. I'm on my 3rd tenants that are a couple. They are very nice and always pay on time but being that I live on the premises I notice how dirty they are in many aspects. I have tried to speak on the issue with them before and they were receptive and apologized but yet its still the same thing. I have been inside the apartment several times to pick up rent and to fix a bathroom fan and a jammed window on another occasion and every time the apartment smells there is a sink full of dirty dishes old food laying around and just overall dirty... I have had mice in the apartment a few years ago and I know it is only a matter of time before I get mice again or worse Roaches...Other then them being dirty and their trash outside over flowing I have to say they are good Tenants... Any idea's on how to drill the message home to them that they need to clean the premises more..lol I know weird issue to have especially when its a house hack so we share the overall property. I have the main house they have a smaller 2 bed room on the side of the house. Any creative Idea's would be appreciated. Thanks 

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Paul Stewart:

Hi Everyone

 So I currently House hack my home in Long Island NY.  I have owned the property and lived in it for almost 3 years. I'm on my 3rd tenants that are a couple. They are very nice and always pay on time but being that I live on the premises I notice how dirty they are in many aspects. I have tried to speak on the issue with them before and they were receptive and apologized but yet its still the same thing. I have been inside the apartment several times to pick up rent and to fix a bathroom fan and a jammed window on another occasion and every time the apartment smells there is a sink full of dirty dishes old food laying around and just overall dirty... I have had mice in the apartment a few years ago and I know it is only a matter of time before I get mice again or worse Roaches...Other then them being dirty and their trash outside over flowing I have to say they are good Tenants... Any idea's on how to drill the message home to them that they need to clean the premises more..lol I know weird issue to have especially when its a house hack so we share the overall property. I have the main house they have a smaller 2 bed room on the side of the house. Any creative Idea's would be appreciated. Thanks 

 As landlords we have to understand that our tenants aren't going to live how we live. Some of them are just dirty savages. It's part of the business. You have people who say that "the lease says this" ok great still have to enforce it. There is a cost to enforcing it & is it really that enforceable? Evicting a paying tenant is damn near impossible. A magistrate is going to look at you side eyed if you bring that case to court. Is the fact that they live like savages really going to hurt your bottom line? I mean damage is already done. House is already nasty. All you'd be doing trying to change their lives is making your life harder.

Take a look at these steps below.

These are steps from one of the properties in my portfolio. Those are friggin gross & I'll be the 1st person to say that the dude who lives in that property is a total savage.............So what? I've gotta pay the same amount of money to repaint those steps if he moves out 5 years from now as I do if I forced him out tomorrow. How does spending time & money removing an income stream from my life only to replace it with another one that may or may not be worse increase my bottom line?