I need help with how to proceed with a dilemma I'm having with my tenant. She's been with me for 2 years; is on time with her rent monthly. However when it comes to maintenance task that I ask her to address they largely go ignored. For example, I've recently had to replace the outside compressor for the ac this Summer. I also did a walk thru of the property in September. I emailed her some concerns about items that needed to be addressed on her part. One week ago, I told her that I'd be doing a follow-up to ensure that the things requested of her were addressed. These are the 3 of the things. The house has beautiful hard wood floors that have been severely scratched because her children's 3 twin beds are scraping the finish off the floor. We talked and I said I know that this will have to be fully addressed at move out but I asked her to place something under the beds so no additional damage occurs. When I viewed the home yesterday she had placed a rug only under one bed and had done nothing to the other two. 2. Since she's been a tenant I repeatedly remind her to change the hvac filters. Back in September there was a filter but it was EXTREMELY dirty. Yesterday there was NONE. And other times during inspections there have been NONE or they were dirt filled. I tried to be proactive and I bought her filters and even followed up and texted her the size of the filters. . At that time I informed her that afterward the purchase of filters would be HER responsibility! I have two properties, the home she occupies is older but I don't need to do nearly the micro-managing that I have to do with her. 3. She had an incident where the front security door was damaged and off track and I told her that since this item was broken because of her, I expected that she would pay for the repair. I offered to pay for it and add it to November's rent. These request were sent to her via email. She did not respond to the email. I had to increase rent on both properties and both tenants chose to remain. When I would bring this unaddressed repair to her attention she would acknowledge that it happened but would do nothing about it. Btw. One property the tenants are on a one year lease. This tenant is on a M2M. And. I'm not patting myself on the back and I know it's my duty but anything these tenants ask me to address (leaks, broken this or that ) I try to resolve within 48 hours. Additionally, I believe that her babies daddy is livening in the home. I asked him if he was living there and he said "yes" He doesn't seem to bright because he asked me "why is my living here a problem?" I stated because you're not on the lease. He said "why have a lease?" I didn't answer. I've read various post of how other landlords have handled this. Some say leave it alone, others say vet and add to lease and others say kick 'em out!!
Here's what I'm thinking of doing for this tenant: To address the floors, I will or have my representative place tennis balls, socks or something soft to minimize further damage. 2. I went ahead and repaired the security door and I told here yesterday that this was her expense. I'm planning to go back over there today and put in a filter and let her know the cost of the repair should be added to December's rent. 3. I will purchase the filters and inform her that each month I or my representative will come into the home (with notice of course) and replace the filters. And, I'm thinking of increasing her rent by an additional $10-$15.to pay for the expense of the filters and someone's time to go there monthly and change then out. 4. Babies Daddy??? I'm still thinking this over. I can tell he's been to Life College (aka prison) so he probably cannot qualify if I vet him.
Sorry for the long post: Please give me your honest feedback as to what you would do or the best way to proceed. I don't want to lose her as a tenant but I want to run this as a business and help her to understand that expenses and responsibilities are not always one sided. Thanks in advance for your feedback.
