All Forum Posts by: Midge C.

@Charlie MacPherson and @Jay Hinrichs:  The junk hauler took the big tank, probably because it was the only thing worth something. He ended up deciding not to do the job after that.  But the thousands of steel cartridges are only about an inch or so long, and have no valve. I will try to post a photo here in case anyone else is lucky enough to get a renter that abuses nitrous oxide all day long. :)   Because they are so small, it would be hard to tell if any of them are still full - unlikely but still a risk. The only way to tell is by whether a tiny piece of foil is still covering a hole on the smaller end. I'd really need to handle them all individually to be sure that none of them are full, and even then, who knows if a metal place will accept them. I'll try asking on Facebook -good idea, and thank you. it's not the kind of thing I'd want to put on Craigslist. Thanks to all who have responded. 

Michael, I appreciate your perspective. I didn't list every nasty thing he left behind and i know it could have been a LOT worse. Mainly I mean that he was terrible to deal with through his tenancy, and gave me grief every chance he got.  In truth, the biggest nightmare for me is the fact that he'll be living directly across the street.

Hi there. I've been a landlord for 10 years, have always been careful in screening, and have been very lucky with tenants. Until now. I've only posted on this forum once before, asking for advice on how to not renew a tenant's lease - without drama.  Well, the tenant finally left on May 31st, but the drama has arrived.

The first unfortunate fact that is important for context is that the tenant has purchased a house almost directly across the street from the rental property and will be moving into it soon.  So my dream of never seeing him again has been crushed. 

We didn't have a final walk-through because he left town (he won't be moving across the street for a few weeks).

In addition to leaving a big ugly mess (including rocks and turtle crap in the bathtub, which i mention only because it's original) and leaving behind huge furniture in this third-floor apartment, there are two much bigger deals:

1) I believe he has sabotaged the plumbing. This is a relatively high-end, very well-maintained three-family building (with separate water meters for each unit). The hot water in the bathroom and the cold water in the kitchen are not working. I don't know what he did. The reason I believe he sabotaged it is that he would never have lived with it not working. This is a guy who calls if the grass is a half-inch too long or the snow plow makes too much noise.  I don't know what else he might have done to the house. I will obviously call a plumber to try to find out what's going on, but is there some kind of list of other items to check? Not just plumbing, but anything a tenant might have sabotaged?   If it does appeared to be sabotaged,  what recourse is there? I am sure his security deposit will be used up on junk and trash removal, cleaning, fixing everything he broke.

2) Among the things he left behind were a huge nitrous oxide tank in the bedroom closet and six boxes totaling literally thousands of steel cartridges that say "ultra pure" on them.  I didn't know what they were, but looked them up and found out that they come filled with nitrous oxide and are called "whippits" which you can inhale to get high (and just a bit of brain damage, which now makes total sense given his behavior).  I had a junk removal guy come to give me an estimate and he said he wouldn't take the steel cartridges (which, btw, are quite heavy. I'd guess each box weighs around 30 lbs).  He said he doubts that a metal junking place would want to take the risk that there's a full cartridge amid the thousands of empty ones because they can be explosive (you can also apparently lose a finger or your face  to frostbite while using it, if you're not careful). 

So, now i'm faced with the issue of what to do with literally thousands of these, probably weighing around 150 or 180 lbs.   

AND how to determine possible sabotage.

AND the fact that this lunatic will soon be living across the street. Also, he's a bit of a sociopath and he has managed to gather the sympathy of the neighbors about having to move while his wife is taking care of her mother.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. 

Many thanks.

I have a tenant whose lease I don't want to renew. He's not the worst possible - he pays his rent and doesn't live like a pig. But he is difficult, demanding, demeaning and causes me a lot of stress.  

This is a very nice rental. Not super-fancy, but well above average, and I maintain it very well, always doing a little something to improve it.  His complaints are endless. For example, when he moved in he said he didn't like the fridge because it was older. I told him that I wasn't going to replace it;  it was in good condition and efficient. A few weeks later, he claimed it wasn't keeping food cold. I didn't yet know that most of his complaints were invented- and I was away and couldn't check it out -so I bought him a new (nice, mid-range, stainless) fridge. A few months later, he complained that the freezer was dripping. I went over with my handy person, who determined it was because he had so much food piled up that the vents were totally blocked. 

When i informed him of this, I received a barrage of letters about how he shouldn't have to rearrange his food, and I'd bought him a crappy fridge etc. That's the tip of iceberg. He complains constantly about everything. Recently I had a plumber come because he complained the toilet was making a strange sound. I was with the plumber the whole time. He later claimed that his back door was no longer locked and that the plumber must have unlocked it. (Impossible. Aside from the fact that the plumber is totally trustworthy, I was standing between the bathroom and the back door the whole time.) Ever since then, he won't let me come and do needed maintenance or repairs (e.g. changing smoke alarm batteries) unless he or his wife are home. I have a regular lawn and snow service but I constantly get emails from him that the grass is too long or the snow plow came too late at night, etc.  Then he is condescending and tells me in an  email "I'm just trying to help you be a better business person."  I could go on and on, but I won't, as this is already long.The other tenants (two other units) are lovely and I have no problem with them.  

I live in MA. My main question is this: His lease is coming due and I don't want to renew it. From a legal point of view, I don't think I need to give a reason. Is that correct? But from a conflict-avoidance point of view, what's the best way to handle it in terms of a reason? I am not going to pretend I'm having a relative move in, because I don't want to lie - and anyway there's a complication in that his wife is friends with one of the other tenants and will know it's not true.  I could say that I want to do renovations, which is true. 

I plan to give him three months notice (instead of the two required by the lease). Does anyone have other advice or cautions about how to handle this with as little conflict or legal risk possible? 

Thanks very much.