Tenants with fleas, end of lease, any advice would be appreciated

[Kylynne Kennedy]

We are big fans of the forums and we love to absorb as much as we can but we are in a situation that we feel needs a post.

We own a duplex and live in one side with our dog. The tenants on the other side are inherited from when we bought the property. We have had issues with them since we took over. They have been difficult when it comes to scheduling repairs. They act like they are the ones in charge and running the show and are very disrespectful of our requests for maintenance and cleanliness of the property. They have indoor/outdoor cats, which we do not allow in our rentals, but since they were inherited and this was previously allowed, we didn’t want to ask them to stop allowing their cats to go outside. They aren’t destructive to the property, they just wander all over our side of the property and all around other neighbors properties, which we do not like. They leave their garage door cracked open at night and for days at a time when they are away. We have asked them to keep it closed at night, due to rodents and other pests being seen around the property (we are surrounded by wooded areas), and due to the recommendation of our pest control guy. They gave us a run around answer about how they would not keep the garage door closed if their cats were out because they needed a place to go, and that they “would let us know if they do begin to see any pests, but in the 2+ years they’ve lived here, they never have”. Now, we just found out that they have fleas on their side of the duplex. Their lease is up for renewal at the end of the month. We were going to renew it, and we have their intent to renew form, just to allow us more time to complete the renovations on our side before having them move out and renovating their side. We do not have a new lease signed yet, and our current lease states that it ends and does NOT go month to month automatically on July 31. Also, the state of Washington does not require us to give notice to not renew. However, now that we know they have fleas, we do not want to renew their lease. We want to have them move out at the end of the month and be able to rip out all of the carpet and renovate their side, and rent it to new and more respectful tenants. We also would like to ask them to make the cats stay inside for the remainder of their lease, so they do not carry the fleas over to our side of the property and to our dog. Are we bad landlords or bad people for making them keep their cats inside and for not wanting to renew their lease due to this issue?! What would you do in this situation?

Sorry for the long and choppy post.