All Forum Posts by: Christina Dunn

Thank you, Michele. I haven't actually faced this problem. It was just a question that entered my head.  I didn't know that landlord programs exist with police departments. I will definitely check on that. That's very good to know. 

In Florida landlords can terminate the lease if the tenants are being a nuisance to the neighbors and I do have that in my lease. 

This question is solely out of curiosity. Let's say I have a tenant for many years who is suddenly being inconsistent with rent payments, or an adult member of the household becomes suspicious, e.g., complaints are received about an adult child's criminal behavior. Would it be legal to require periodic background checks, if needed to check on suspicious behavior, and if so, can you evict someone because their background check no longer meets your requirements?

I am in Florida and I haven't been through a problem with any tenant that had a closed bankruptcy, and I've rented to a few. The scary thing I think about is the one and only time we had to go in front of a judge to evict someone, the case in front of ours was a landlord trying to get a tenant with an open bankruptcy out of his property. This was years ago so I don't remember the details exactly but the tenant had not paid rent in like 6 months or something like that. The landlord had already tried to evict him but wasn't allowed to because of the bankruptcy. The landlord was back in court without the tenant present, pleading with the judge for a remedy because he could no longer afford this. Though the judge was sympathetic, he told the landlord there was nothing he could do because it's not legal for him to evict a tenant during a bankruptcy. The landlord was told to return after the bankruptcy was finalized. 

@Ben Leybovich Thank you.  You may be right! 

@Valentina Naumenko My husband and I are the owners.  I don't want to hire a management company because I really love managing the property myself and my goal is to obtain more rental properties.  I feel like I'm good at it.  I'm respectful to the tenants but I am also not shy about enforcing the lease.  I do credit and background checks. This house is also in an upscale guard gated community that requires their own background check be done and they must approve the tenant before I can rent to them. I do most of my communication in writing on official looking forms that are very to the point. All noticed are sent certified with return receipt. I spoke with these tenants in person because I needed to get a feel for whether they were actually trying or if they were looking for a free ride until they got evicted.  They are a couple in their 40s with no children in the home so I don't have that guilt to worry about. They were referred by the last tenants I had who were absolutely wonderful.  They did have questionable credit but blamed it on divorces. But I've rented many times to questionable credit without incident.  The house is expensive and income had to be fairly high.  

Although I will still manage the property I have listened to your advise and from now on I will post as a manager instead of an owner.  My last name is different from my husband's so they don't write their checks to me anyway. Thank you for your help. 

@Darren Budahn I agree with you that they are going to continue to play games. The problem is the only time this house was empty during the winter months it stayed empty for 5 months which caused a lot of debt for us as it's an expensive house. As it is, it doesn't really create much income but I'm trying to hold on to it for my children. We also have a second rental house that didn't get rented before school started due to some mold we found during cleaning. That house stayed empty the entire year. Fortunately that one has a low mortgage so it didn't kill us. But you can see my fear. The rental market has changed since then so I'm hopeful that it won't sit empty that long.

@Jeff Bridges thank you so much.  Your input is very helpful.  I am going to utilize the links you sent me.

I have a tenant that hasn't paid rent on time since the first month of their lease. Rent is due on the first with no grace period. We extended the due date until the 7th with no late fee to help out. The tenant still paid late and began making partial payments with no advance notice.  I notified the tenant that no more partial payments would be accepted after their rent check bounced. Last month I served a 3 day notice and they paid on the 4th day but still owe 2 months of late fees and the bounced check fee. I spoke with the tenant in person to discuss the problem and come up with a resolution.  He claimed to have lost his job but had started a new one and will be fine soon. We arranged (not in writing) for them to pay half the rent twice a month without including past due fees for the next 3 months and then we will re-evaluate the past due fees at that time. The tenants were very happy about that arrangement. Now this month comes and he didn't pay the first half of the rent on the agreed date, which was Aug. 26th. The second half of the rent was to be payed on the 9th. Today,  Sept.  2nd, he I put a money order in my mailbox for part of the first half of the rent and said he would pay the rest on the 9th. My fear is that on the 9th I will only receive part of the remaining rent and then unpaid rent may start to roll over each month.  I thought I nipped it in the bud last month with the 3 day notice and the in-person discussion but I guess not. My instinct is to refuse the partial payment and give them another 3 day notice on the 8th which includes all past due late fees. I've been through an eviction before. It cost us thousands of dollars and the vengeful tenants trashed the house to the point that we should have pressed charges on them. 

I don't want to evict these tenants anymore than they want to be evicted. This is a large family house that could sit empty until May or June, when school lets out again. I don't know what to do.  I want them to know I'm serious and not afraid to evict them but I also want to keep them in the house until the spring at least if I can. Any suggestions?