Need Urgent Help - Tenant water abuse

[Jason Thomas]

Hello fellow BP members, I am in need of some urgent assistance and advice regarding a 5 unit complex I own that has one water meter that I pay. One of the tenants seems to be upset at the world and now causing numerous issues. Aside from yelling obscenities at the other tenants and having her dog defecate everywhere, she is now running her shower and faucets all day long and through the night. I know this because the other tenants have told me they hear the water running through the walls. There is no separate water valve to her unit that we can shut off or control. We even see the main water meter reading exponentially high on a daily basis. We can start the eviction process but by the time she is evicted (months) the water bill will be massive. Any help or guidance would be extremely appreciated. Can we call the authorities regarding something like this...property damage? Thank you!!

[Jeff Copeland]

This is a tricky one!

Am I correct in assuming this tenant is also behind on rent? If so, you can't actually start the eviction process anytime soon if the property is in Florida. Governor Desantis' Executive Order banning evictions for non payment of rent was extended through at least July 1st (and the CARES Act extends if even further if you have Fannie/Freddie financing in place or accept any type of Federal assistance such as Section 8).

Even an eviction attorney's hand would be tied right now, and the courts are a gamble. 

In my humble opinion, your best option here is Cash for Keys. 

You might consider having a candid conversation with the tenant along the lines of "Look, you're clearly not happy here. Rather than run up our water bill, damage the property, lose your deposit, and wait it out for an eviction that will stay on your record for the rest of your life, why don't you sign this mutual termination of your lease, and I'll hand you $1000 (or whatever amount gets the job done) when you hand me your keys, if you can vacate by the 15th" (or whatever date you can negotiate). 

The key is in getting the right paperwork* signed up front. Once you have that, if the tenant doesn't follow through, you can likely move straight to a holdover eviction without having to issue additional notices, etc. 

*Happy to share a copy of Harry's form if you want to drop me a line.

Good luck!