New tenant claiming cat allergies causing allergic reaction! Help

[Paul F.]

We are first time landlords and our tenant is moving in this week. We already did the walk through inspection and gave her the keys. However, we Just received a text from her that the "cat smell" is causing a severe reaction. We had All carpets professionally steam cleaned the day after we moved out. We did have a cat but moved him out over two weeks ago!  What should we do?! We thoroughly screened our tenant and everything was seemingly going smoothly. In her text she mentioned tiling the floors at her own expense. That seems weird and not normal to me! Help!  Another strange thing as that we spent over an hour in the house during the inspection and she made no mention of the allergic reaction then or when touring the house during the showings, when the cat was still living there. UGH

[Sergey A. Petrov]

Cancel the lease, refund the deposit, and move on. Cat allergy or not, this tenant will give you trouble. On a personal level, I have a friend who has a severe cat allergy. It doesn’t matter how long a cat hasn’t been on premises or how much cleaning has been done (especially if there is carpet), he turns red a few minutes after walking in 

[Randall Weatherall]

Agree with Sergey; jump ship.  You don't want a tenant that is going to do work to your house for you because that means they'll never let you know when stuff goes wrong.  I'm sure you can find another one!

[Paul F.]

Quote from @Paul F.:

We are first time landlords and our tenant is moving in this week. We already did the walk through inspection and gave her the keys. However, we Just received a text from her that the "cat smell" is causing a severe reaction. We had All carpets professionally steam cleaned the day after we moved out. We did have a cat but moved him out over two weeks ago!  What should we do?! We thoroughly screened our tenant and everything was seemingly going smoothly. In her text she mentioned tiling the floors at her own expense. That seems weird and not normal to me! Help!  Another strange thing as that we spent over an hour in the house during the inspection and she made no mention of the allergic reaction then or when touring the house during the showings, when the cat was still living there. UGH

The tenant wants to stay, and “make it work” but also just told us she smokes “only outside” (yeah right) So how do we break the lease if she wants to stay?
She did not tell us she is a smoker, and that alone is reason enough to break the lease! Btw she did not even move in yet. 

[JD Martin]

Quote from @Paul F.:

Quote from @Paul F.:

We are first time landlords and our tenant is moving in this week. We already did the walk through inspection and gave her the keys. However, we Just received a text from her that the "cat smell" is causing a severe reaction. We had All carpets professionally steam cleaned the day after we moved out. We did have a cat but moved him out over two weeks ago!  What should we do?! We thoroughly screened our tenant and everything was seemingly going smoothly. In her text she mentioned tiling the floors at her own expense. That seems weird and not normal to me! Help!  Another strange thing as that we spent over an hour in the house during the inspection and she made no mention of the allergic reaction then or when touring the house during the showings, when the cat was still living there. UGH

The tenant wants to stay, and “make it work” but also just told us she smokes “only outside” (yeah right) So how do we break the lease if she wants to stay?
She did not tell us she is a smoker, and that alone is reason enough to break the lease! Btw she did not even move in yet. 

 Pretty easy - you tell her that you don't think that you and they are a good fit for each other, return their deposit and cancel the lease. If they haven't taken possession, that's even easier. You should have a clause in your lease somewhere that allows you to nullify prior to them taking possession without cost. If she objects, tell her that being a smoker disqualified her from the rental (you can legally discriminate against smokers, they are not a protected class). Just be sure that's in your policies somewhere, even if on a piece of paper or your advertisement. 

I actually cancelled a tenancy once while the tenant was at the bank. They were over there ostensibly making their deposit & first month's payment, and were to text me a copy of the receipt when done. They texted me a copy of a receipt for only half of the amount. When I inquired about the remainder, she said "Oh, I figured we would just pay that when we moved in". When I told her it didn't work like that, she got defensive and snotty. I told her directly on the phone to go back inside to the bank and get her money back, because I wasn't renting to them since they can't even follow procedure before they move in, and gave the bank teller clearance to give them their money back over the phone. 

Don't take any BS from tenants before they move in. That is the honeymoon phase. If you are getting it before they even move in, forget it once they're actually in the house. 

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Paul F.:

I agree with the others that you should try to terminate and move on. If she insists on staying, that indicates she's not actually suffering from the cat allergy and that she's the kind of tenant that exaggerates or makes up problems to manipulate the tenant. You can't legally kick her out over this, but should definitely keep a close eye on her and shut down any future attempts at manipulation.

[Paul F.]

we offered for her to stay as long as she complied with the “not smoking on or in the premises” as stated in the lease! We told her we would do periodic inspections of the property to ensure it doesn’t smell like smoke. Her response is that she is contacting her lawyer and that we are discriminating against her for being a smoker. We specifically and previously said in an email that it doesn’t matter if she smokes, but that she only needs to comply with the terms of the lease. Bottom line is that we bent over backwards for her, we made our property sparkle and shine AND we did all the screenings and background checks, so it’s pretty discouraging that our first tenant is a nightmare. Makes us want to give up before we even started. We are talking to a lawyer tomorrow, but offered her a full refund for deposit and paid rent. UGH

[Paul F.]

Another question though, how do we get the keys back from her? We have to give her a cashier’s check too. Meet somewhere neutral?

[Bill B.]

You change the locks (crazy doesn’t need keys to your property, copies or not) and meet at a fast food restaurant, a grocery store, any such thing. Heck meet at your bank so they can cash the check 

[Jessie Lang]

You definitely need to get out of any commitments with her, but you already know that. 

Don't get too discouraged because the rental management journey is long and winding! You'll get it filled in no time with someone who appreciates the unit and can follow the rules

[Matthew McKee]

Quote from @Paul F.:

Another question though, how do we get the keys back from her? We have to give her a cashier’s check too. Meet somewhere neutral?

Regardless if you get the keys back I would highly recommend rekeying the house.

[Matthew McKee]

Quote from @Bill B.:

You change the locks (crazy doesn’t need keys to your property, copies or not) and meet at a fast food restaurant, a grocery store, any such thing. Heck meet at your bank so they can cash the check 

Exactly ^

[John Myers]

Run as fast as you can.  This tenant will be nothing but problems and make you life miserable.  I would give her the damage deposit back and get out of the lease any way you can.  Even if it means hiring an attorney.  Pay her to cancel the lease if you don't have any other legal options.  Good Tenants = Good Life, Bad Tenants = Life Sucks.

It is worth getting out of the lease even if you lose a months rent.  You will spend more time and money "chasing the cat smell"

[Paul F.]

Thanks for the advice. We finally got her to sign the Termination of Lease agreement after consulting with a lawyer on the wording. She agreed to meet us at the property for the Move out inspection. Its been a roller coaster ride! We will def change the locks. In moving forward, how do you screen for crazy? We did all the right things before choosing her as a tenant, then she literally turned on us! I like to learn from our mistakes, but don't see where we made any! We followed all the rules!  Praying we can find another tenant and quickly!

[Sandy Gabin]

Quote from @Paul F.:

Thanks for the advice. We finally got her to sign the Termination of Lease agreement after consulting with a lawyer on the wording. She agreed to meet us at the property for the Move out inspection. Its been a roller coaster ride! We will def change the locks. In moving forward, how do you screen for crazy? We did all the right things before choosing her as a tenant, then she literally turned on us! I like to learn from our mistakes, but don't see where we made any! We followed all the rules!  Praying we can find another tenant and quickly!

 I am so happy for you! I would rather sleep at night, then having someone talking to me about attorney or lawyer! Those words in my vocabulary list are just "mama mia!" I hope you can find good and responsible future tenants. Have a great weekend!

[Paul F.]

yes for Real!