Home Invasion, Tenant Attacked
Tenant called last Thursday and told me about someone entering house through an unlocked back door. The rent is going to be a few days late because they are going to install more lights. I just got the police report and it seems like a pretty frightening experience. He said "I want your daughter" and she hit him with a picture frame. Blood was recovered from the scene and they caught the guy later that night.
So I think this is one of the few experiences in which I will accept late rent. These have been great tenants for almost a year. My real question is how to react. I feel like I should react more compassionately. Obviously this is not my fault, the house is safe, plenty of lighting and all the locks work. We are not friends, but I feel like I should do more. Or should I just let it go? What have others done in this experience?
Was this person someone they knew or a complete stranger?
What are the eviction laws in your state? In FL, we must serve a 3 day notice for demand of rent. The 3 day notice states the amount owed. After three days if they did not pay you the amount owed, you can start eviction.
My belief is to always take the partial money. Eviction cost about $500 (with a lawyer) and I usually lose about two months rent in rerenting a property (loss of rent, repair, and clean up). Say they owe you $350 so you serve a three day notice for $350. Say before you start eviction they offer to pay you $300. I take the three hundred and then write another 3 day notice for $50.
My lease allows me to charge for the posting of 3 day notices. Not sure if that would hold up in court, but 5 years and 18 rentals later, I have never had to go to court. Only evicted 1 tenant and that tenant was inherited from the previous landlord.
I have never put in $50 in a rental yard. This is not your home this is your business. Are you getting any code violations? Do you think that nobody would rent your house because of the yard?
Take it back. I have had trees cut down that were posing a danger to the house.
Guess my point is that your business should look at the cost benefit of spending 10k on the yard. Is the yard improvement necessary or cosmetic? Will you be able to recoup the 10k. How long will it take to recoup? How long might the yard improvment last before the yard turns to weeds again (I have found that tenants do not take care of the yard).
The longer that I am a landlord, the more I can let myself rerent houses that are not pristine. I use to repaint in between tenants because I could not stand the nail holes and the scratches in the wall. But you know what, I started showing the houses saying that it was as-is. If something was broken, I would fix it, but cosmetically, this is how the house is being rented. And you know what, I now rerent the houses in the same amount of time for the same rent.
"Now, just to clarify--the lowest setting first or did you mean the highest?"
The lowest setting you can push the lawnmower across the yard with reasonable ease. The idea is you are not just using the lawnmower to mow the weeds, you are also using it to level the gopher mounds and what not in the yard. Each time you mow it will be a little flatter and easier, so you can lower the setting a bit. Once all the dirt is chopped flat and the weeds have given up, you can raise it a bit for a lusher lawn.
Chris