Troubling tenant, advice to handle a tenant who keeps breaking lease agreement.

[Dana Gaglion]

Hello,

I would like some advice or experiences on how others deal with room mates who don't follow the rules in the lease. He is currently into a 3 months out of a yearly lease.

Upon moving in, he has not been able to pay the once month on time. It seems like he can only pay weekly, while he pays the late fees. This is the first month he is now barely giving any money when I ask about the rent.

I was willing to take him with his cat, turns out he does not take care of his cat and needs constant prompting to attend to the cat.

I try to keep myself out of their rooms as it is none of my business how they want to keep their room but he lives in trash, old food and I noticed multiple piss bottles. This can potentially lead to problems and the safety of the others in the home.

I am planning on speaking with him about the lease violations and switching him from yearly to monthly with an increase in rent, due to the increased labor of the cat and the checks in of the cleanliness of the room. The lease has a clause where if full rent is not paid by the 10th of month, I am allowed to evict as he broke the lease agreement.

I am willing to work with him but overall I would like him to move out as I seen major signs of depression and hoarding behavior but I don't want him to turn into a squatter. It seems like he needs sometime of supported housing as I don't think he has the mental capacity to take care of himself without supervision. Any advice would be helpful. I was thinking of giving him 3 options.

Option 1: He switches to a month to month lease changing to a weekly rent rather than monthly, the new lease will have different rules (ex. such as agreeing to a cleaning schedule and a liter schedule or trash needs to be picked up and placed in a trash can every 12 hours, human waste can not be stored in containers)

Option 2: He moves out at the end of March, I keep the security deposit as rent and he does not have to pay February's rent and late fees.

Option 3: I'll give him $400 to move out 3 days after we have this discussion.

Thank you for any suggestions, I would like to handle this delicately as I don't want a squatter living with me. I live in NY so I think they are more tenant friendly state.

[Abel Curiel]

Hello @Dana Gaglion,

This is not legal advice... plenty of great attorneys in NY will offer a free consultation so I'd recommend going that route. A solid attorney should be able to share valuable insights and answer your questions. 

That said, I think you should get the tenant out asap. They've violated the lease, and the chances of them making a long-term change to become a decent tenant are slim. 

Evicting may seem harsh because you are sympathetic to their situation and live on the same property. However, this is also your business. 

Well said by @Matthew Becker! 

Give them a notice and offer cash for keys before eviction. 

All the best to you!

Abel