Dealing with bad inherited tenant

[James Liu]

Hi folks, I recently made the big decision to start my journey in real estate and purchased a 2 unit home in southern California to house hack. It is an older home so there are some deferred maintenance to be done, but the numbers worked out and the tenant seemed like good people. The home came with 2 tenants, both on 1 year leases expiring by summer 2021. Recently one of the units had a clogged kitchen sink, so I went over there to fix it. The next day the tenant in the other unit started calling and texting me about them having the same issue. When I showed up to fix it I could not find any drainage issues with their kitchen sink. Nonetheless I still asked the plumber to use an auger on all the pipes just to make sure. The plumber did not find any blockage and I thought it would be the end of that. When I asked them about when they experienced the drainage issue they dodged around the issue and said that their pipes are also backed up because of the blockage in the front unit, and that I should hire a plumber to clean the drains once a month at the minimum. I said that I would fix issues when they arise but can't commit to a schedule. 

When I got home I received more pictures and videos from them, saying the drains are clogged again. Thing is in the pictures I can clearly see it was a photo they took of another phone, and not the sink itself. This is not the first time these tenants have done this either, last month they complained of termite fliers but said they all went away when I showed up for treatment. I got suspicious that they are playing games for whatever reason, and a quick google search of their names returned several small claims court law suits and even a chapter 7 a long time ago. When I first purchased the home these tenants told me that they sold their home late 2019 and are looking to move into another home as soon as possible. But at this point I'm worried they will never leave, or worse yet, damage the home when they finally do move out. 

I've decided to record all interactions with them going forward for record keeping, just in case it had to be resolved in court. Are there any other precautions I should be taking? Anyone have tenant nightmares to share?

[Nathan Gesner]

Document everything. Let them know everything is documented. I would also let them know that if they make a maintenance request that is unfounded - or found to be their fault - they will be charged for the bill.