All Forum Posts by: Nick K.

Another helpful detail to consider is not including ice cube or filtered water dispensers in your next model. Those units will be slightly cheaper and save you some headache and money. You won't have to worry about leaks, repair costs, floor damage or sanitary concerns.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll probably deduct a little extra for cleaning supplies in addition to what I already spent and call it a day.

This is not a minor case of a tenant's car(s) leaking oil on a driveway. The tenant was trying to repair cars as a business on the property and spilled various automotive fluids over much of the driveway and concrete parking areas. Far beyond "normal wear and tear" and I have pictures of what things used to look like. Tenant has moved out. I hired a pressure washing service which removed about 60% of the stains, but overall the concrete as a whole still looks terrible. I'm going to try soda blasting next, but it seems like the damage is permanent at this point. Looks worse than an actual shop floor, as if he didn't take any care in cleanup or preventing spills.

The driveway and concrete areas weren't new to begin with and are actually a patchwork of various sized and shaped sections of concrete like you would have if you filled in or repaired areas over time. Nothing fancy, but at least before it looked tidy and decently maintained for an older house.

Security deposit was $1900. I'm definitely deducting the cost of the pressure washing. Then, I was going to keep another $500 for the permanent damage. But now I'm thinking I should just keep the whole deposit and put it towards an eventual driveway replacement. Tenant is probably going to freak out, but I guess that's the cost of doing business.

How much would you keep?

Thanks, everyone.

Got an attorney. Proceeding with eviction. Apparently, in the eyes of the law, she has not fully "vacated" the property if her son is still there, even if he's not on the lease. Never knew that. @Andrew B. you were spot on.

Thanks, all. You're right to proceed without emotion.

And I'll take the fact that she is no longer a tenant as a blessing in disguise.

As for the son, I'm not sure why he is still there. I am as surprised as you about it. She claimed that I was not letting her care for him when she moved out, but then just leaves him there. Her son is 30 years old by the way and has some mental issues.

Where to begin…

I ended up with a nightmare tenant, despite screenings. She consistently paid rent late, had an illegal guest for the better part of several weeks, damaged the property, disturbed the neighborhood and refused to let me into the property to do regular maintenance/repairs. I have extensive documentation of all of this. I’ve also recently discovered that her previous “landlord” reference was actually her friend in disguise.

As if that weren’t enough, she moved out abruptly and broke the lease about halfway through. I can see the silver lining of having her gone, but I am out this month’s rent, and the damage to the unit will probably eat up most of the security deposit. I have formally asked her to pay the current month’s rent plus any rent until I can find a replacement tenant. If she refuses, I’m prepared to take her to small claims court.

Now, the main question. She emailed me suddenly that she had moved out. I went to the property and found the gas stove running without a flame. It appeared to have been running for several hours, if not days. The smell was so bad, I could smell it from outside. I have reason to believe that if I had unwittingly created a spark or open flame, I could have inadvertently blown up the house and been severely injured, if not worse. Her son also startled me when I did the walkthrough because he appeared out of nowhere. He seems to have been living there. (Yes, it is as odd as it sounds). He is not on the lease.

Do I have any legal recourse regarding the gas being left on? Am I crazy for being so upset? It seems highly suspicious. Especially, after stumbling upon this new story: https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/lehighvalley/man-charged-after-ditching-rental-leaving-gas-stove-burning-for/article_92cb5478-f120-11e9-a4a4-c3b06a8fbd74.html

Substitute “dog” with “son” and the situations are very similar.

I'm currently going through the downsides of a 12-mo lease. I don't have extensive property management experience, but I've been doing it since 2015. I'm in CA, which I think is its own beast. Laws are set up different, and stricter. Your situation will probably be different, so take what I have to say for what it's worth.

Before my most recent tenant, I was a solid advocate of 12-mo leases. It gave the advantage of locking down a tenant so you didn't have the worry about having to regularly re-rent the property should the tenant give notice. Compared to my current tenant, the past ones (who seemed pretty good at the time), now seem like perfect-angel unicorns. They were clean, paid rent on time, or early, and never made a fuss. If I had to make repairs or updates to the property they'd happily oblige and even went out of their way. I think they knew that I was only trying to make things better for them.

My current one. Wow... I thought I had screened well, but somehow she got through. Honestly, I think I was in a little rush. I needed to get it rented so that the purchase of another property could go through. She has been nothing but bad news. I did a thorough financial screening and called her past landlords. They said only good things, even the older ones. I understand the prior landlord lying in order to get her out, but why would the older ones also lie? I'm still thinking on that one.

Six months in, she has paid rent on time about half the time. She allows her pets to destroy the property. Her illegal guests disturb and endanger the neighbors. She doesn't allow me entry to make repairs, even though it's my right. Basically a nightmare. I'm counting down the days until she is someone else's problem. I've consulted multiple attorneys. When I told them she was on a 12-mo, they said to never do a 12-mo. Even though she chronically pays late, is dirty, is destroying the property and disturbs the neighborhood, the attorneys said that there wasn't much I could do, unless I really wanted to fight her and try to evict. In order to to do so I'd have to forgo multiple months of rent until it gets resolved (you can't evict and accept rent) and there isn't even a strong guarantee that I would win (CA is a tenant-siding state). So my only recourse is to hold my breath and wait six more months until she's gone. Even regarding the denial of entry thing in order to make repairs. The attorneys said that, yes, it is my right as landlord, but there's nothing to keep her from claiming that I stole property when I entered. They said I would literally need to go in there with another person and film the entire time just so I could prove that I didn't steal something.

That being said, some things will probably be different in your state, and your city. I'd ask the local attorneys what the law is like and how bad it would be to end up with a terrible tenant, then weigh the risks/rewards of shorter/longer leases. A M2M may be a little inconvenient now, but at least it gives you a solid out in case things go south.

Hope my misfortune can help you make a better and more informed decision. Best of luck.

Thanks, all.

I made the mistake of signing her to a 12-mo lease. A mistake I'll never make again. So I'll have to wait it out.

@Theresa Harris Yes, I have a late fee. And yes, I can enforce it.

Has anyone received interesting/alarming/suspicious alternatives to a regular, on-time rent check in the mail? I'm curious about the ways tenants try to pay landlords.

The tenant is late on rent for the third time (yeah, I know). It's due on the 1st. I received a strange check on the 3rd. It was cut by a company I do not recognize and she did not give me any heads up that she planned to pay rent in this way. Plus, her name is nowhere on the shipping envelope, nor the check. I asked her if she knew anything about it and she stated that it was from her "business manager". "Business manager" sounds like a red flag because she has a salaried position that I wouldn't see requiring a business manager.

Under California Law (AB 2219), I have to accept rent through a third party, but I can require a signed document stating that my acceptance of the rent from this third party does not make them a tenant. She got combative, stating that her business manager and attorney told her that I must accept the check.

Seems odd to me. I am suspicious of the check, mainly because she's been a pain in the butt since day one and I don't trust her. I asked her why she herself couldn't just send me a personal check. Has anyone ever encountered something like this? Something tells me that she doesn't have the money and she's either borrowing it or getting an advance.

I asked to verify that the issue had been corrected. The tenant stated that she needs to have her friend from work there who is an expert in tenant rights. So now my ability to verify is based on that person's availability. She's also refusing me entry to do agreed upon pest control and repairs.

I feel that she has needlessly escalated this. I have photos of the damage and urine. I'm going to get an eviction attorney on next week.