All Forum Posts by: Dana Gaglion

 He has to provide full rent by the 10th of the month or evictions will start. I was willing to work with him as I have worked with others in the pass who lost their jobs and struggled with rent but they were always forth coming, clean, and came to me to work with me to stay. I would like to say, he is my first horror story tenant. He seems very passive and does not seem to care about paying rent. The guy hasn't worked in 3 weeks and does not seem stressed out about working but just sleeps all day. It is sad but he needs some help, probably supported housing. He relies on verbal prompts to get things done and I am not a social worker or his mother.

Thank you for the advice. I usually do a google forum, check references (professional and landlord). I used to do background checks but I noticed the website I used never actually did background checks. It would be helpful if someone can suggest one they like, I noticed most website just check the internet. I did a test and ran a background check on someone who had felonies and misdemeanors and the website flag them as not having anything, which is why I stopped using them. 

This has taught me to do credit checks, I will be asking for a resume, no more pets, I will be asking different questions when I do reference checks. This taught me to ask more specific questions. Instead of asking "If they are clean", it is more like "How do they handle messes, or what is the normal state of their room? Does it have furniture? When faced with hardship, do they communicate that to you? Do they initiate giving you the rent or do you have to ask for it every month? 

Thank you for the article, it has questions in the interview process, that I did not ask. He did have good references when I asked but maybe that is because I did not ask the right ones. He also has a child, so I probably should have asked for the ex-wife's contact, she probably would have given me the truth. The eviction note has been written up. 

Should I offer him 30 days to get out as that is NYS law and use his deposit as last month's rent, or just tell him I'll give him $200 plus his deposit back if the room is good if he moves out by Feb 28/March 1? 

My gut says the $200 to get out by the end of the month but I don't want any legal issues, I think he would agree to the 30 days but he not move out. I can already see him shrug and be like "I haven't found a place yet" as he lays in bed for 30 days. 
 

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.