Tenant cannot find a new place

[Francis Dinh]

Hello All,

I have my tenant on 1 single property. She is supported by the Housing Department.  I wanted to sell my house, so my agent told me it is better if the house is empty. It is convenient for open-house, and the contract ended in last 01/2019, but the housing department agreed to extend month by month until the end of March. Now, the tenant told me she could not find another house in the area with the same price range and does not want to move out and want to sign a renewal contract to avoid losing her housing voucher. I know when I renew it, it will get stuck there for another 12 months and the potential buyers might hesitate to buy if they need a house to leave or don't want to deal with housing. Please advise me. I really appreciate. I am only afraid if I am so hard on her, she might damage my property even I have her deposit.

Thank you.

[S Harper]

Talk to her Housing representative.

I had a similar situation this fall - I also didn't want to be hard on a single mom trying to find a new place, but her lease was up and I needed her out.  The rep assured me that housing was tight, but all of her other cases were finding housing. 

Tenant didn't want to make time to look for a new place, and she didn't want to pay the increased portion for the more expensive properties that were available. 

I kept in contact with the representative and ended up having to go through eviction proceeding, but the rep was trying to help from her side. Document everything, make sure the tenant is aware you are in contact with the housing rep and that they will get a copy of the move out condition documentation. Housing benefits can be very difficult to secure, and people can lose the funding if they don't take care of the property.  Hopefully she will find a new place soon.