To renew or not to renew

[Tosha Revere]

Long post warning....New landlord here, my first tenants (mom/daughter) moved in Oct 2018. Daughter is 63 and Mom is 85. Mom had just enough income to qualify for 3x rent and good credit.  Daughter had bad credit and no income.  As a newbie, I was a little unsure if I should go for it.  Mom could tell and offered to pay the full lease worth of rent up front(18 months) and double deposit .  Well that certainly took a lot of risk out of the equation, didn't it.  I consulted with a local experienced landlord I knew and ended signing them up.  Mom passed away after 4 months in.  Okay fine, rent is paid.  Daughter had been a peaceful tenant but isn't good at communicating at all.  Then things here and there would happen.  She didn't tell me when she cut off her phone and the only way to contact her was to go to the house.  Not a big deal.  The ditches and flower beds are never cleared.  Still not a big deal but it is in a really nice neighborhood and it's a condition in the rules to keep them clear.  I learned in January this year that she decided to move her daughter and granddaughter in.  No call or notification and no asking if she could.  It was a breach of the lease agreement.  They are not disruptive but again noooooo communication.  She only told me about it when I came knocking on the door.  (I already had a heads up from a couple of the neighbors tho)  No permission asked or can we sign her up on the lease.   Then in the county the property is in, the county utility bill for trash and sewer must have the tenant and owners name on it if it is too be paid directly by the tenant.  If the tenant doesn't pay.... Ultimately the county will place a lien on the owners house. The amount is every other month for 101 bucks.  When I would check the status online, this was often late by one or two cycles.  Keep in mind her rent is already paid, she hasn't had to pay anything from the start, her mom prepaid.

Feb 22nd, I sent them a notice asking their intent to renew or vacate, however there are conditions if they were to renew.  I was willing to overlook moving her daughter in as long as they all get on the lease and can qualify.  They also had to show proof that they made the utility bill current.  I gave them 11 days to address these issues or by March 2nd, 2020(60 days before the end of the lease).  I heard nothing until the evening of March 2nd.  I got a text from a number I didn't have on file, saying that they want to renew.  I still had no proof to qualifying income and no proof the utility bill had been paid.  I decide to be helpful and drop off a couple applications with minimum requirements on March 5th.  I hear nothing and finally decide on the 13th to list it and put a sign on the yard.  Same day, I also

 gave them a notice telling them that since we haven't heard from them and have not received any documents to mitigate the issues, that we can only assume they will not be renewing and we are sorry to see them go.  As I handed her this notice, she tells me of all the happenings, problems with social security, death in the family....

Now I'm really wondering if I was fair enough and should I lighten up on the qualification standards.   March 16th, I call to leave a message to learn what her real financial situation is and to see if we could work with that.  Come to find out, not only is she and her daughter shy of the 3x rent, they don't even have 2x the rent. So then I looked at, should I drop the rent.  Even if I went down to the mortgage payment for their rent, they were just at 2x rent.  She mentioned her daughter is in food stamps and she has an appointment with social security in May.  Lease is up April 30th.   So even with those considerations, we decided to not renew.

Now I understand she is older and has health issues and amidst all that is going on with COVID19, caution should be taken.  I told her, I would not do an open house, I restricted showing the property to 2 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday with one appt at a time and no children to walk thru the property. I mentioned, I will have sanitizer and cleaners for all as well as discuss no touching anything and covering coughs to interested parties.  All of this to reduce exposure and will sanitize all for knobs I touch after they leave.  She was adamant about not showing the property for another week (I've already waited 11+16 days to give them a chance to stay.) She also is demanding everyone to wear masks and gloves!  I get it, but NO ONE is going to find a mask anywhere right now!

Was I too harsh in not renewing?  Am I being inconsiderate in showing the property with all the virus stuff going on even with all of the restrictions I'm already putting in place?  I feel like I've really tried considering everything to help her stay.  I'm willing to fully refund their double deposit if they leave with out damaging anything...even though she moved in 2 additional people.