All Forum Posts by: Mary lou L.

I know as young renter I was leery of gas because of the idea that it could cause carbon monoxide poisoning and that the "flame" was always on. That was just me being paranoid..

Although my sister and her family about 10 years ago, did get Cm poisoning, it was an older home and the vents were faulty. They just started feeling sick for a few days, then finally a friend recognized the symptoms and they had the fire department over. They all went to the hospital for oxygen treatment.  They are all ok.

The house I am in now has a gas heating, and I bought the monitors to ease my mind. 

I would also think if the house does not come with a stove/ dryer the tenant would have to buy the right one. If they already have an electric one then it would make sense to ask for an all electric house. Just one more expense to consider upon moving in (if they had to buy a new gas or electric stove/dryer)

@Marcia Maynard

Thank you so much for your advice! I am going to print this out!

I did receive a letter along with the rent asking me to please call them. It was urgent and some issues needed to be addressed.

One thing that I did not mention in my original post is the property manager is the father in law. I feel we have great working relationship (through two tenants). After the last vacancy he proposed renting to his daughter and future son in law.  They moved in last May. Everything was going great! Although all the information is coming through him. I got his verbal complaint of the noise and behavior. And a picture of the parking on the lawn.

I did receive a letter along with the rent from the tenant asking me to please call them (ntil now I had not contact as everything was handled by the PM). It was urgent and some issues needed to be addressed.

I called him (very personable, relaxed, talkative) and he assured me that it was personal problems with his father in law and feels that they are overstepping their bounds as property managers. ( He stated they may be coming in and looking around when they were not home, but no proof) I did reassure him that they just cant come in (other than family capacity) any time they wanted. He stated that the reason the car was on the lawn was his wife has a disability and they were unloading groceries. I did reaffirm that that would be the only reason to be on the lawn with the vehicle and to return it to the driveway and or the street. It is a corner lot and there is tons of space to park.

I contacted the property manager and discussed these items.  I said if it is too "close" to be property manager and a father in law I would understand if he decided not to serve in that capacity. I told him that I want to continue working with him on repairs and maintenance and the tenants would send me the rent from now on. (That was a sticking point from the tenant also) . He stated he would continue as  before.

I wont send this letter but a recap of our conversation.  So at this point it is a he said she said kinda situation. It is hard for me though to not get into personal problems, as I am the type that will jump into people fighting or arguing to make them stop. I had to remind my self that there are some personal issues between them and to not get too caught up in it.

Bottom line we signed a contract, I provide clean safe home, they provide rent and have a right to "quiet enjoyment" (I finally understand this term now yay!)

He indicated they may move when the lease is up, but I guess that will depend on the inlaws.

Thanks for listening to the soap opera!!

So how did it come out?

OK I have drafted a letter,  how does it sound.

I have received notices of complaints of noise to include arguing and yelling at neighbors.

Please be aware of this clause in the lease you and your wife signed:

(i)And Tenant's family and guests shall at all times maintain order in the Premises and at all places on the Premises, and shall not make or permit any loud or improper noises, or otherwise disturb other residents;

If further complaints including police actions are received this will be grounds of termination of the lease and a 30 day eviction notice will be sent.

I am also aware of your parking on the lawn. Do not park on the lawn.You have ample street parking available to you. Please use it.

I hope that these issues will be resolved and we can continue in a beneficial relationship.

Originally posted by @Nazz Wang:

Agreed @K. Marie Poe, @Marcia Maynard always has a comprehensive way to deal with tenants. She is like this super landlord with a land lording encyclopedia in her head.

Is the tenant paying rent? If they are paying on time all the time, I would just ignore the neighbor complaints, as they are undocumented and might never have happened. Neighbors can always call the cops to complaint, so there will be documentation, and will stand in court. Parking on the lawn, huh, I would probably get a photo of it with a date and bill them a fine on the next rental statement with the photo. See if they do it again or not. If they are a pain in the neck and never pay on time, I would try to do cash for keys, offering 1/2 rent and telling them to move out in 1 week or 2 because my niece is moving in in two weeks. Last resort for me would be eviction.

 I agree about the documentation. I have considered letting them out of the lease because of this. If it escalates this may be a solution to just let them out of the lease. I will add a clause to future leases about parking on the lawn.

Thank you so much for your replies! It eases my mind as this is the first time Ive had to do this.

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

Yeah, quiet enjoyment in most leases refers to a tenant's right to live in the property without needless requests and supervision by the landlord.  What does your lease say about tenant behavior?

I'd address the parking on the lawn with a letter.  I would not mention complaints from neighbors that are coming to you third hand.  IMO, that's the trouble with having the tenants interface with someone who really isn't the property manager.  They'll say things to him they won't say to you.  And your PM really has no authority to fix anything he's hearing about.  So it's all hear-say.  But that's me.

Let's ask @Marcia Maynard 

Marcia will have a good idea how to deal with a disorderly tenant.

This is in the lease

(i)And Tenant's family and guests shall at all times maintain order in the Premises and at all places on the Premises, and shall not make or permit any loud or improper noises, or otherwise disturb other residents;

 this is the part I will enclose in the letter. There is no word about parking on the lawn, I am still going to mention it. I will add it to the lease for the next tenant. I am considering an addendum to address this issue. I did tell my PM about the hearsay, about if it had to go to court I would need more documentation. He does have text messages from neighbors about the behavior.

Originally posted by @Evelyn Jordan:

I would send both a letter and an email informing the tenant that there are multiple complaints from other tenants about his behavior and also address the parking issue. In your notice refer to the Lease agreement they have signed and mention that their actions are against it and sheriff will be immediately notified on a next occasion. Texas is a Landlord-friendly state and you should be easily able to deal with problematic tenants by calling the sheriff.

I am now closing on an investment property in Texas and I am very excited about it.

I am in the process of drafting the letter, putting him on notice about the complaints and the parking on the lawn. I surely hope this at least makes him step back a bit. I told my manager (he lives next door and has encounters with the tenant) to call the police if he tries to threaten him.

My property manager (Unofficial he collects an sends rent and I hire him for repairs) sent me pics of the tenant parking on the lawn. There are complaints from neighbors about the tenant getting drunk and just being a boor and yelling at them.. No police reports, just neighbor complaints.

In the lease it states "Quiet Enjoyment" I took this to mean that no disruptive behavior and such, but on further research, it is interpreted as landlord not "bothering" tenant. (Granted this was from a pro tenant site. but I just wanted some advice on how to proceed. I am preparing a letter addressing the parking on the lawn, and let him know about the complaints.  Do I need police reports to corroborate the complaints? I do not want to identify who complained, If I do not have to.

This property is in Texas. If there are Texas landlords who might have advice regarding particular laws, I would love to hear from you!

Thanks!

I never really liked the height of the tv either. Also we have lots of stuff like the dvr, ps3, roku, ect that Id rather stash in a tv stand under the tv.

When I was in school in the 80s one part of our class (I think it was social studies) did this. It was part of life skills. We picked out a house to rent from the paper, made a budget to include menus and the prices for meals. We did talk about APR. I remember being disgusted that my patents, if they were to follow the 30 year mortgage at. 13% , would pay I think it was 100000 for a 45000 home. The kids who did the calculation stuff like this were in a class called Consumer Math. Those kids were not in algebra trig or geometry. I remember the book had all of those types of financial problems and "real world" scenarios. That class was not a requirement, but was seen as a remedial class. I would totally support a curriculum that had this information!