Hoarder tenants - what to do

[Chris B.]

The current tenants in one of my SFHs are hoarders.  Boxes still remain along with piles of clothes and everything else throughout the house in every room and hallway since move-in.  This is a safety and health hazard.  Its difficult to traverse the house.  Long term this will lead to maintenance and infestation issues.  The home hasn't been cleaned since I cleaned it before their move-in.  Dog hair is piling up along with trash.  They have been warned several times.  You get the picture. 

I'd like to just not renew the lease and kick them out when it expires in June 2023.  My soft side wants to tell them that I'll renew the contract only (month to month, not year) if they remove the junk and properly clean the place.  As-is, if they move out, the deposit won't come near covering the repairs at all (cost of doing business and making the poor decision to let them move in on my part) and I think there will be a good chance they will skip out on last month's rent also.  Apparently they did this at the last place too.  I had called the previous owner and he lied to me at screening time telling me they were great.  If I could get them to clean the place to my standard instead of kicking them out, it sure would cost me a lot less cleaning up after them.  This is likely kicking the bad apple can down the road.  What are your thoughts?  If they move out now, it could easily cost me 2k - 4k or more to recover the place including repainting the walls where they stuck stuff like light strips up.  Keeping them around may just lead to more issues.  But if a miracle happens, and they clean the mess to my standard, I'd be mostly happy.  Any monetary recovery is unlikely as most of their income is from disability.  The father does have a decent paid job though.

If I decide to terminate the lease and they don't pay last month's rent, I intend to immediately file for eviction also.

The place had brand new tile and interior paint right before they moved in.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Chris B.:

Tell them right now that you will not renew their lease and they need to start looking for a new home. Give them the opportunity to leave early with two weeks notice and let them go. Expect to lose money. Stretch the deposit as much as you can and then move on.

In the future, uphold your standards. If you inspect and notice a problem, give the tenant a written violation notice, a deadline of 15 days to fix the issue, and then inspect for compliance. If they fail, issue them a 30-day notice of termination and stick to it. Don't let problems pile up. 

My tenants get three warnings. The first one is when they review the lease and sign. The second and third are in writing, and they come with deadlines and consequences. Learn how to nip problems in the bud and you won't have as many problems.