When do you handle a bad tenant?

[Nathan Gesner]

I'm not referring to eviction!

I'm talking about tenants that are always walking a fine line. These are the renters that cause death by a thousand cuts, small infractions or problems but the sheer volume becomes a regular irritant.

• They constantly complain about "problems" like mold in the corner of their tub that could easily be cleaned or that the neighbor's porch light is too bright and shines right into their bedroom
• Habitually late with rent. They pay, but it's always just before the eviction deadline
• Constant complaints from neighbors about (name the problem) but you can never catch them in the act
• Every time you drive by, the lawn is barely alive, never edged, and there are 16 bikes, skateboards, and scooters piled up. It looks like the Clampetts compared to neighboring properties, but it's not bad enough to evict

How do you handle this? Do you wait until their lease is up and not renew? Ask them to leave? Clamp down on them and fight for compliance? Shut down and ignore them?

I have a few suggestions for specific issues, but I'm curious to hear how others handle these tenants that tend to walk a fine line.