What's the Most Common Lease Violation You See?

Question

What are some of the most common lease violations you see? I plan on strengthening my lease for my next property and I'm sure there are things I'm not covering. Aside from moving out in the dead of night and not paying rent, what are the thorns on everyone's side? Thanks for sharing!

Nathan Gesner · Answer

• Non-payment of rent
• Breaking lease early
• Adding unauthorized tenants or animals

Those are probably my most common three, but they aren't much of a problem since I have policies and procedures in place to handle them quickly and professionally.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

The most common things have already been mentioned. My lease goes into even more detail for those unexpected things. Here are just a couple less considered items:

- We specify minimum and maximum temperature. (I have had tenants turn the AC off when they move out or the heat in winter)

- We require they have someone check on the property if they leave it for more than 5 days (This is to make sure there are no water leaks or HVAC issues that lead to problems while they are gone)

- No businesses can be run from the property (to prevent day care, laundry services, gambling, drugs or who knows what)

- We specify yard care includes week spraying and cleaning up sticks less than 1" in diameter (otherwise tenants think yard care is mowing only)

- We state that tenants utilities can be used for routine maintenance or repairs (I once had a tenant complain the roofers were using his power for their compressors)

- We have a whole section on mold stating that mold is naturally occurring and results from excess moisture. We give examples of how tenants can avoid the problem. Do not run humidifiers, run exhaust fan when showering, clean bathrooms regularly with solutions designed to remove mold, etc.

- No trampolines, no swimming pools over 2 feet deep. (this is for our insurance)

- Tenant must report all safety concerns immediately including broken hand rails, etc. We give multiple examples.

- We prohibit open grease cooking, meaning no fish fry or fried chicken on the stove top. (this is after a grease fire and another case where grease damaged cabinets)

That is just a few items contained in my almost 20 page lease. My lease is far more detailed than any off-the-shelf lease. It is true that having something in a lease doesn't stop someone from doing something, but nobody can say "it isn't in the lease". It leaves no question what the rules are.

Whatever you put in your lease, make sure you are prepared to enforce it. I tell tenants the lease is a legal agreement that we must both follow. I expect nothing more and nothing less from tenants. It is all in writing, so expectations are clear.

Dave Spooner · Answer

@Kristyn Grimes One common weakness I often see in landlords' leases is the way they handle their late fee. A very common late fee is a $50 charge on the 5th of the month. To get there, many landlords will set their due date to the 1st and say there is a $50 late fee charge after a 5 day grace period.

Unfortunately, the above actually means you can't charge late fees until the 7th. If rent is due on the 1st, unless otherwise stated, a payment delivered on 11:59PM on the 1st is not late. With a 0 day grace period, late fees would kick in at 12AM on the 2nd. So if you add 5 days of grace, you are giving the tenant the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th to pay with no penalty. If they pay by 11:59 on the 6th, they are not late, meaning late fees start on the 7th at 12AM.

A true grace period if you want late fees to kick in on the 5th would be 3 days. Alternatively, you can call out the specific day late fees will take effect. That doesn't work as well if you often have tenants with due dates other than the 1st, but whichever route you go, just pay attention. You want your late fees to align with your expected charges.

Account Closed · Answer

The lease won't keep tenants from breaking whatever you put in it.  The key is screening.  You don't want to end up having to sue a tenant for a lease violation or evict them.  It's a mistake to think that it's the lease that makes a tenant do what you want them to do.  This is a very common mistake.

So, I agree that the simplest thing to do is just use one written by an apartment association, etc., which should be correct on your state law.  Some aren't, but it's your best bet.  I've even seen apartment association leases, written by lawyers, that weren't correct on the law lol.

I like the Nolo Press contracts.  They're simply written and I'm pretty sure they're correct on the law.  I used them and didn't find any mistakes.  I used their California landlord book, which had them included.  I think their website has contracts/leases for every state.  You could check.  Their contracts are written simply and in a manner that isn't confusing for tenants, in my opinion they're the best.

This is the link to their leases.  Check out their site for other landlord books, too:

https://store.nolo.com/product...

Marcus Auerbach · Answer

We are pet friendly and charge a monthly pet rent, so nobody is sneaking a pet home. We have also had very few issues with pets, if the owner is clean, the pet is too. Comes down to screening. You have an occasional scratched up door, but they are very happy to pay for that.

Rent is on autopay, that eliminates most of the late payments. Not all of course.

Our number one issue is delinquent water bills. In Milwaukee you get the bill only every quarter so people are not in a rythm and the amount is higher compared to monthly payments. If water bills are delinquent at the end of October, they get added on to our tax bill including a penalty.

So I have my admin chase down everyone in August and September who has been late in order to get the balance down and deal with the rest in October. We usually pay delinquent bills in bulk to avoid the penalty and then set up a payment plan for the tenants and include a late fee until we have collected the entire amount.

Technically our lease allows us to pay untilities from rent, which then makes rent short and would allow us to serve a 5 day notice, but I'd rather set up a payment plan than find a new tenant.

Michael Noto · Answer

In no certain order:

- non payment of rent

- parking somewhere other than their assigned parking spots

- unauthorized pets

Jill F. · Answer

pets and off-lease move ins and trying to use the security deposit as last month's rent or inadequate notice. Oh and failing to clean up after dogs.

Kristyn Grimes · Answer

Thanks to all for your insight!

Hamish Simcock · Answer

@Kristyn Grimes

Tenants having family/ friends stay for extended periods of time without requesting permission. I generally write it in as black and white as I can and have even added clauses in to increase their rent for the months that they violate it to offset extra wear and use on the utilities in the property.

James Ma · Answer

sneaking in pets. Very hard to catch since they just claim that their friend came over with their pet and even if you see all the dog or cat related stuff, you need to get hard evidence with pictures to justify kicking them out

What's the Most Common Lease Violation You See?

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