All Forum Posts by: Agatha Simmons

Uffda.

One of the biggest mistakes landlords make is failing to stand up to a problematic tenant. This one has been walking all over you. I guarantee your life would be so much better if you removed her and replaced her with a good renter.

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Talk to her case worker and let her know that you aren't renewing her lease.  If there are lease violations, mention them-you not having a key to access the unit WITH proper notice or in case of emergency is one of them.

I'd also tell the tenant that they are clearly not happy there, so finding a new place is in their best interest as well and as they have several months, they should have lots of options. I'd also tell them if they need to leave before Dec, as long as they provide 30 days' notice, you are fine with it.

Talk to her case worker and let her know that you aren't renewing her lease.  If there are lease violations, mention them-you not having a key to access the unit WITH proper notice or in case of emergency is one of them.

I'd also tell the tenant that they are clearly not happy there, so finding a new place is in their best interest as well and as they have several months, they should have lots of options. I'd also tell them if they need to leave before Dec, as long as they provide 30 days' notice, you are fine with it.

Hey @Agatha Simmons - firstly, sorry for the experience you're having right now. Most section 8 tenants are decent, few bad apples ruin the bunch. 

Based on what you're telling me, I'd also advise you to begin the process of evicting/non-renewing the lease. My advice would be to specifically retain a potential eviction attorney from the start, in order to be prepared for how this *may* go. 

If your tenant has been playing these "schemes" then likely they've done this with the previous landlord and gotten away with it - so I hope you bought the property for a good price in order to account for this potential headache. 

If the tenant is claiming to be living in a hotel, she may try to get you to reimburse for that cost unless section 8 has a new process to reimburse them for this... which sounds absurd but I'll let you deduce whether or not you're dealing with someone who is used to paying for things out of their own pocket. 

Let me know if you'd like to hop on a call to chat, but this is one of the reasons why I mostly advise clients to always negotiate vacant delivery on properties before closing.