Need some experienced advice!

[Dwight Simpson]

Alright so, I have a 3/3 double that I’ve been literally having issue after issue. This is my first rental property btw, so I’ve been learning a lot through the process. Although this situation here I need to get some advice from you more experienced landlords. 

So first I’ll start off with my tenants. The lower unit has been in the house since May of last year and pays on time every month with the exception of his 3 month jail stint where he went MIA with no means of communication in the heart of an eviction momentorium. Luckily I got a call from him basically updating me on his situation and him honoring his past due rent letting me know he will catch on it. So he did catch up on it and everything has been nice and smooth. Until recently he gives me a call and tells me that he has a roommate and she will be paying me her portion of the rent. So I immediately call him and let him know that he is the one responsible for the rent. On top of that he is subletting my house without my permission. I got to the bottom of it and apparently she has been there for a couple months and now she doesn’t want to pay “her” portion. Not my problem and that’s what I’ve told the tenant. Since then I’ve told the tenant that he is responsible for the entire rent and I’ve gotten no response from him.

Alright so the tenant upstairs is a want to be home owner. Thinks she can make repairs on her own and then throw them in my face when something isn’t working in her favor. There has been numerous repairs that I’ve had to make on the house since owning it. In December I had to get a sun pump and drain lines drilled that cost me a little over 8k. She held rents from me for an entire month until the install date. Also threatened me that she would call lawyers etc. That set me back huge and I still got to hear the banter about how they feel I don’t take care of my house. In which I always handle things as soon as they call me and I figure out what’s going on. So that eased things for a while until I get pictures of the ducts hanging down from the basement. In which it almost looks like somebody pulled them apart but I can’t 100% call it. So she complains about the heat not coming out etc . Downstair guy says that his heat blows fine. Cool, so I get a company to come out to see what’s going on. They tell me I need new duct work in the basement and also return vents. They also tell my customer that there is asbestos wrapped around the ducts. So that just set her into a frenzy. 

Fast forward to after all the quotes, with the removal of the asbestos and new duct work I’m looking at just under 15k for everything. I’m fine with taking care of repairs but I feel like this is an great opportunity to start fresh and get some new tenants. Thru this whole process I’ve gotten threatened by lawyers etc and I do nothing but try and remedy the situation. For example regarding the heat I offered the lady upstairs $150 off the rent and to send her several space heaters since she said the heater wasn’t blowing hard due to the install company not being able to come out within a month.

My only fear is that I do all these repairs and they still create more problems for me. On top of that I haven’t received any rent for this month. I need some serious advice, please help me out BG fam, Thank you!