My tenants have infested my home w Roaches! What now

[Joyce Jackson]

We rented our home out to a family on Section 8. It was our first rental and we made errors did not do our due diligence. We discovered several violations against their lease agreement early on but faced the challenge of putting her and her 8kids out on the street. Long and short we added what we thought would be acceptable safe guards. One is a monthly inspection. Due to covid several inspections were skipped. The first since march was performed yesterday. We found an additional tenant, the home is FILTHY black grout (in what was a new construction brand new home) sticky floors and walls,Roach infested.... literally the floor was sticky from all the raid they must have sprayed.( empty cans every where and the video of the home made my skin crawl!) I will advise of a non renewal... her lease is up end of October anyways but in the meantime the house is disgusting and Im just seeing dollar signs... what would you do? Is there a way to terminate a lease early based on this?

[Marc Winter]

Our experience with Sec 8 admin is they will talk the talk, but will NOT walk the walk.  No backup for owners--"not my problem".

So, what to do?  Let the tenant know that you are immediately reporting the extra tenant and destruction of the unit to Section 8.  That will put the fear of the financial gods in the tenant because Sec 8 DOES have the power to revoke the tenant's portable voucher.

Let the tenant know that they must adhere to the lease, including housekeeping (local health codes), and allowed the number of tenants/residents in your unit.  Document everything.  

Remember--the moratorium on eviction is for NON PAYMENT--other lease violations are not included in that moratorium.  (Of course, your local magistrate/judge may say "I'm not hearing ANY tenant-related hearings".)  In that case, complain to the President Judge and ask for a change of venue.

BTW, this is NOT a problem with Section 8 or their tenants.  There are good and bad tenants in all groups.  You just got stuck with a ringer.

Here's one almost-guaranteed solution to get rid of the roach-loving tenant:  call dept of health--they will probably declare the unit unfit for habitation, and force the tenants out.  Of course, then the cleanup and/or process of getting the property un-condemned will fall on you.

Disclaimer:  I am not giving legal advice.  I'm a real estate broker/investor speaking only from my own personal experience with this type of situation.

Good luck and keep us updated.