Tough Tenants
I am buying a 3 unit house, and one of the units has a very tough tenant. they didi not let me in to even see their unit when I was looking to bu the property. We had to get a locksmity to get access to their unit. When I close on the house, should I just evict them and be tough, or raise their rent dramatically, or try to turn them around by being nice to them?
You may want to an attorney before you buy the house. Depending on the state, you might have a long wait until you can evict them for non payment. You might want to look at that possibility and build that into your purchase price
Turnovers are usually costly and I try hard to avoid them. You probably should have one more encounter with the tenant. Your position is different after you own the property than before. It could be that the tenant is one who really wants privacy and does not want to be disturbed.
The other issue is that it may be difficult to evict if the tenant is in the middle of a lease and is willing to pay rent on time, but is just obnoxious to deal with. Certainly you should not let these tenants walk over you and you should definitely and firmly enforce the terms of the tenancy agreement you inherited.
I currently have a tenant who is difficult and has a huge chip on his shoulder. He was very obnoxious. However, he is much better now after knowing me for over a year and knowing that I try to be fair with him.
Good luck with your new property! It may not be as bad as it seems. I know that landlording can get difficult, but the profits are very much worth the trouble.
Regards,
Ed
[ Edited by edmeyer on Date 09/15/2004 ]
Hopefully you wrote up your offer "subject to inspection" or "subject to viewing all units" or something to that effect. Depending on the state, 24 hours notice is all that needs to be given. If the tenant then refuses access, there are a couple of things you can do. Advise the seller he/she can serve a 3-day notice to perform after which if the tenant refuses access after the 3 days, they can be evicted immediately. The other alternative (which is quicker but depends on the nature of your local law enforcement agency) is to call the police and tell them the tenant is refusing access to your property. Show them a deed if they need to see it. Tell the tenant you are going to call the police. If they still refuse access, wait in your car and call the police. It might take a LONG time for them to show up, but this has worked for us in the past. We had to evict an inherited tenant and it wasn't all that bad. I had an eviction service do it for me. Cost me about $350 and about 8 weeks worth of rent. They stole the toilet and destroyed the a/c, but they were out!
Hey,
Maybe I missed it, but is the only reason this tenant is "tough" because they would not let you in to their home for an inspection? Is this tenant is breach of their lease (non-payment of rent, destruction of property, etc.).
I am unaware of any law that requires a tenant to allow access to their home for a buyer's inspection. My lease has a inspection clause/requirement; if a tenant says "No" to me, then it is a breach of contract, not a violation of the law.
I am also unclear about the locksmith. After the tenant said "No, you can not come in my home.", someone went and got a locksmith to open the door?????
I'm with Bruce on this one. What exactly gives you the right to view this tenant's apartment? Did you give him 24 hour notice that you were coming by? If it were me, I'd be especially "tough" with anyone who invades my privacy a la amendment 4 of the constitution.
[addsig]
Wow, I used to be a locksmith and would let people into their property but in rental cases I always wanted to see the contract that allowed the owner into the unit.
I also needed something that stated a reason why they were entering if it was not an emergency. As a precaution I might have even had the police present when I picked the lock if I thought it might be questionable but probable. The way this sounds I would have walked away and saved myself the possibility of a law suit.
But I have to agree, with the others. It may have been that they had not cleaned up to their "presentation" standards and did not want anyone to see dirty socks on the floor. Was it just an outright refusal and nobody asked if there was a better time or what?
Give us some info here.