Tenant Issue
I will try and make it short - I have a tenant in a SFR I own in Az. I am planning to sell the property, but cannot get a hold of him so my realtor to inspect the property. Both she and I have left him numerous voicemails and he will not respond. Its been over a week now and he has not returned our calls - probably because he knows of my intent. My feeling is he is not going to cooperate and is going to make it difficult for me to sell. Anyone have any advice? I really didnt want it to get down to me kicking him out, but I feel that my be my only recourse - if its within the law. Anyhow, any input is welcome. Thanks in advance.
[ Edited by pstabile on Date 02/07/2007 ]
I actually contacted his family (mom) to see if he was around or out of town. He has been a good renter and I am totally shocked that he is being unresponsive. The RE market has slowed down alot in AZ and it may take some time to sell so I was hoping to have him stay. I offered to pay his first month rent on another place up to what he is paying me for the invonvenience if and when the house sells. I also offered to sell it to him at a really good discount, but he declined. I think I learned that I should put in a clause about allowing showings if/when I want to sell and that they need to cooperate. I do not believe my lease stated that. The lease expired, but it is now month to month. If that is not stipulated in the lease does he not have to cooperate? Can I evict him if he does not? I am in need to sell this property as it is costing me money now - prices dropped about 10% from what I could have sold for a year ago.....so I really dont want to hold on to it anymore.
Yes, that is correct. If he is on month-to-month, you can terminate with a 30-day notice. In the meantime, you will need to give him 24 hours notice for every showing and make sure your realtors notes that in the MLS.
You cannot control his level of cooperation. He may be "cooperative" but intentionally leave the house dirty and messy for every showing, On the other hand, if you sell it to another investor, having it occupied is a plus.
Guys thanks for the feedback - I thought I would give everyone an update since you all took the time to comment. I finally heard from him after calling his mom again. Moms have a way with sons....he called me 10 min after I got off the phone with her. He claimed to not have received any of my messages, which is nonsense. Anyway, come to find out he has an offer on another house - he is not interested in my house as its more than he can afford. He said he will cooperate - hopefully everything will go well as I am pricing it pretty aggressively. 30k less than what it was appraised for less than a year ago. Wish me luck.....Thanks again for the feedback!!
LeaseOptionKing has a very good point. We all tend to generalize with the 30-day rule but this varies from state to state.
Hi Joel,
As long as you make a sincere attempt to mitigate damages by leasing the property to a new tenant, yes, you can sue and get a judgment for the remaining money owed on the lease. In other words, if the lease ends in December and your tenant leaves in September, you are entitled to the lease payments for the remainder of the year. If you are able to lease the property starting in say November, you will be entitled to a judgment for the months of Sept. and October. Good luck.
[addsig]
Joel I would say it depends. It mainly depends on which district court will handle the Landlord Tenant complaint and Judgement. In my area, the areas where I have rentals, the courts are VERY PRO TENANT! You will not get a judgement beyone two to three months from them for a tenant breaking a lease. It does not matter if it takes you 6 months to re-rent the property. I had one judge that would only give me one month. Yes, technically by the book, the tenant owes the remainder of the lease if you cannot re-lease the property.. but getting that from a court is another matter. Most judges will not give a Landlord 6-10 months rental damages. This is not the law, just my real world experience.
I agree. But in Texas, the Tenant can sign a 12-month Lease, move after one month, and the Landlord can get the other 11 months.