All Forum Posts by: Kate Elson

Thanks for your input everyone as a landlord I truly try to do my best by all my tenants but I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. Carpets may be an answer. I feel legally first floor has a right to “quiet enjoyment” and if I don’t respond I’m negligent but if I tell second floor to reign in their kids it’s discrimination. Massachusetts law has a way of making the landlord the bad guy no matter what it seems in this case.

My first floor tenant is complaining about excessive noise from the second floor tenants children. Second floor has 3 young boys from 18 months to 6 years old. 2nd floor claims its normal noise and all kids are in bed by 8 and sleep until about 8 so not early in the morning. During the day though, she home schools and is there all the time. I’m pretty sure the boys run rampant playing, jumping off couches things like that. The first floor tenants are a wonderful young family too but I’m pretty sure they are more subdued with their girls and would not let them run in the house etc and would expect the same. I feel bad for both tenants because I’m pretty sure the noise is bad but how do you keep three young boys sitting quietly and it’s winter in New England so where else are they supposed to play? I would not want to live below that for sure though. Second floor is a 4 bedroom apartment so I will probably always have a family even if I ask them to leave. What are my rights and responsibilities as a landlord? Do I have the right to tell her the children can’t run around so the first floor has quiet enjoyment? I could install carpet but there are beautiful hardwood floors and the second floor tenant would hate it with the mess of kids. Any help is appreciated thanks

I've been following this thread from the beginning and check back every few months. What the courts have done to you is criminal! I pray you have a resolution soon, what a sad state our justice system is in. 

Thanks for the comments everyone; 

@Mike Hurney - thanks for the advice; I do have most of those documents and I am holding a $1500 security deposit.  I don't have any interest statements yet as she moved in last October so I could get one of those.  I called the mother and put her on notice that as a co-signer of the lease she is also responsible for any damage caused by her daughter or her guests and made sure she was aware that we were ending the tenancy.  I have not heard back from her, but she is a responsible member of society from what I can tell, and has means so @Mike Hoefling I will definitely be seeking any losses from her after this is sorted. 

I have been a landlord for about 8 years and so far have avoided any evictions.  We have asked tenants to leave on one other occasion and they left relatively quietly so I'm praying this one goes this way as well.  Most of my hope on this one hinges on the fact that the mother won't want to get dragged to court for an eviction for her irresponsible daughter, and the daughter won't want to rack up damage bills on the mother since she has been supporting her since she lost her job a few months ago. I will reach out to an eviction attorney just to be on the safe side.  I'd like to get her out before the heating season, she has children so if we get into the winter and she doesn't want to leave I imagine I'll be stuck with her for a while.  I know she has moved in with the mother in the past so I'm hoping that's what she'll do now. 

I already have the police involved and intend to press charges. The tennant's mother is on the lease with her since financially she fell short of my requirements. I called her yesterday to let her know that she and her daughter are responsible for the damage. I have to get my plumber over there to get us an estimate to repair the damage. I'm hoping she'll leave since I don't think her mother wants legal trouble but I don't want to leave anything to chance. I will call my lawyer just wondering of anyone has dealt with anything like this before.

I have a tenant on the second floor of a duplex on a month to month lease.  For various reasons I have decided to end the tenancy and gave the tenant notice that I would not renew the lease at the end of the next rental period (6 weeks notice). 

The apartment is filthy, the police are by on a regular basis, the hallways (common area) and completely blocked with stuff and a fire hazard, and she recently flooded the bathroom causing significant damage to the bathroom in the first floor unit.  My good tenant on the first floor is thinking of moving because they are tired of dealing with this. 

We delivered notice this past weekend and had not heard from the tenant.  Monday morning my first floor tenant called to ask if we had work going on in the basement and that it sounded like someone was cutting pipe.  She said it sounded exactly like when we upgraded the heating system recently. 

My first floor tenant heard the people in the basement, heard them go upstairs to the second floor unit, come back to the  basement and watched them come out of the basement with bags of pipe.  They managed to cut all the drain lines and any empty pipe that was in the basement and some rebar and spare plumbing pipe that was down there but did not disable any of the systems.  We called the police and they actually got names from my 2nd floor tenant, who admitted they were her friends and had stayed at the apartment the night before but she of course had no idea they were doing that in the basement. 

I'm wondering if I can now try to get her out sooner or do I still have to wait out the notice.  She's current on rent since her Mother sends me a check every month, but she's responsible for the actions of her guests and this is theft and malicious destruction of property. 

I would rather start proceedings now if I can rather than wait until the end of September.

The property is in Massachusetts

I know this response is a little late but I just had a similar experience.
I had and inherited tenant on the 2nd floor of a triplex. The renter was a mother with her 20 something daugher and two young grandchildren. I had my suspicions about the 20 something with strange comings and goings and having that glassy eyed look. I had no proof other than a bad feeling and the Mother always paid the rent on time so I kept an eye out when I stopped by for maintenance but didn't feel I could do anything without proof. They lived there for about a year without incident. About a month ago my first floor tenant called to let me know that her roomate's boyfriend had a heroin overdose at the house and later died at the hopital. He got the bad Heroin from the second floor tenant (the Daughter's boyfriend)
I spoke to the police and they couldn't give me a report since the investigation was ongoing but told me I was on the right track would be wise to end their lease. I then notified both tenants that I would be ending their tenancy at will and they have 30 days to move out. They both took it relatively well and complied. I have two apartments to rent but at least I can sleep at night. I truly hate to think if something had happened to one of those little girls with this going on in the house. Social services is involved with them now. I feel bad about the grandmother and the kids but I can't have a heroine dealers/ users in my house it's in a nice quiet suburban neighborhood.

This is why I have a tenancy at will agreement instead of a long lease. If your tennants do not have a current lease with the previous landlord then they would be considered tenants at will and either party can end the tenancy with 30 days notice. You will not need proof of illegal activity. I suggest you figure out if they have a current lease or not and go with your gut and get them out. Don't assume it's just pot. Your liability is too great to have drug users in high numbers coming and going from your property. I would bet chances of a "slip and fall" would be much greater.

The letter actually stated that if the property was occupied they would begin the eviction process immediately and if there was no response in 48 hours they would assume the property was vacant and change the locks.

It could have been an honest mistake, I'm not sure what the end game would be if it were a scam, but the whole situation was just very strange to me.

Last week one of my tenants called to ask if I was being foreclosed on. Someone had come to the house (Three family) and knocked on all the doors and told my tenants that I no longer owned the house. I told my tenant that this was not the case, this was either a mistake or a scam. I called all the residents of the house and let them know that I would be looking into this. One of them texted me a copy of the letter left by this man and I could see why they were upset. The letter stated that the house was sold at a foreclosure auction had the address of my house listed on it and stated that they were all being evicted effective immediately. I was very upset to read this as well I have never made a late mortgage payment, I certainly haven't missed any, and I was in the process of closing on another property so my credit had just been run and this would have shown up if the bank had made an error. I called the number on the letter and got a call back relatively quickly from the man who had been to the house. I assured him there was some kind of mistake and persisted that he give me more information. Eventually he "realized" he made a mistake and it wasn't #20 (my house) but another house on the street #241. I asked him to call my tenants back immediately to let them know his mistake, since he had just told them all I was essentially a deadbeat, which he did. This was a short lived but stressful couple hours and I thought all is well that ends well and no real harm done. Out of curiosity I tried to look up the house that was forclosed on and I can't find a #241 on that street. I'm a little worried that this might be some sort of scam and wonder if should I report it to somebody? For those of you deal in forclosures does this sort of thing happen? This was in Whitman a small town on the south shore of Boston, Ma

amazing what a little siding can do!