Inherited Lease - No Rules on Smoking (Milwaukee, WI)

[Nathan Regina]

My property here in Milwaukee has an interesting situation. I inherited two tenants living downstairs who have been smoking in the unit. The smell is totally overwhelming even with the HVAC upgrades. I re-read the lease they are presently under and discovered they lease does not have direct language saying they cannot smoke but labels smoking as a form of damage that would affect repairs. The tenants have now said they will not sign a new lease and will not sign a provision to their existing lease. Not sure how to handle this one.

[Adam Gollatz]

@Nathan Regina where's the property located? Based on that and how nice the place is, the potential ARV, and what you are charging/expect to charge for rent will determine my advice.

Not saying this happened to you, but all too often I see people overpay for a property, usually in a rough area, because cash flow numbers look good on paper. They close and realize the tenants are nightmares (don’t take care of the place, smoke, don’t pay rent, fight with each other, etc) and think you can just swap them out for a better model. So they kick out their tenants that were bringing in money, albeit with a headache, rehab the place and try to up rent. Now they end up with a place that they are over invested in and they need a rent amount which quality tenants in that area can’t afford. If the quality tenant could afford that, they’d move to a different area. 

Unfortunately smoking tends to be a product of “working class”, “poor”, or the C/D areas people think they get cash flow in. You can PM if you want to talk more.