I need some advice on one issue. I have one tenant he has been a good tenant for a long time. This past couple month he has been paying late but that is not an issue. The issue is he is very sick. He girlfriend can’t force him to go to the hospital. He is serious sick sometime stop breathing we have to call paramedic on him couple time already. My building is not equip for this kind of tenant. What is your suggestion to remove him legally. I know the 30 days notice is the bottom line or even 3 days notice after his late pay but is there any other way dealing with his health might get him going faster. I’m afraid that he might pass away at my building. Please advice.
Being sick and dying is not a protected disability. If you have a problem and want to get rid of a tenant use the language of the lease to do so. I can see that you may not want him to die in your house because I think that you have to disclose that but if he is paying then I think your options may be limited.
Think about it. If you try to evict him and he fights and goes to court and a jury has to try to understand why you tried to evict a dying man what would you expect them to do? If you stay within the language of the lease then you can refocus the jury onto that language and the sick and dying part will be inadmissible and they won’t even know he is dying. But if you are outside of the lease they will assign you a motive and it will be his health and the jury won’t like that at all. In all cases stay within the language of the lease.
Bluemoon06,
Where and to whom do you have to disclose a death in a unit?
For a sale…California? Texas?
But surely you don’t have to disclose a death to a new prospective tenant?
We have had a couple of deaths, one natural and one not. We just cleaned and re-rented. Never thought of disclosing.
We have had a birth–saw it later in the newspaper that firemen assisted when the baby came early and Mom couldn’t make it downstairs.
Life happens.
turbo,
You would be a mensch (nice person) if you just let your poor tenant die in peace in HIS home. Yes, even forget collecting rent for a month or two. Have a heart, an unpeaceful death will bring bad karma down on your head. And how is a deathly-ill man supposed to move, anyways?
Section 5.008(c) A seller or seller’s agent shall have no duty to make a disclosure or release information related to whether a death by natural causes, suicide, or accident unrelated to the condition of the property occurred on the property or whether a previous occupant had, may have had, has, or may have AIDS, HIV related illnesses, or HIV infection.
furnishedowner just took away any good reaon that any civilized person would have for evicting that poor dying soul.
I gotta 2nd the point about you being cold to the previous poster. What right do you have to kick out a tenant because they are sick? If they pay their rent, you have achieved your goal for your investment. This is why states have laws to protect the rights of BOTH landlords & tenants. That tenant, as long as they fulfill the obligations of the lease, has every right to live in THEIR place until either the end of the lease. If the lease is ending, then you are well within your rights to not renew it. But even here in the State of Arizona, you have to show reason to not renew a lease - not hard to do, but you can’t say I’m not renewing your lease because you a sick. You’ll be giving the tenant free rent for years if you did that.
I think you might have way too much time on your hands or are being paranoid. We all get sick. That’s part of being human. You will get sick one day as well. How would you feel if your bank called in your mortgage and asked you to pay the balance in full because they found out you were sick?
Geez… As a landlord with 24 renting units, I really do take offence to this kind of attitude. We have been successful by building win-win relationships with tenants. Sure, some tenants are deadbeats. But you build that into your formula for rental income. But you don’t check your own humanity at the door just because you put on your landlord hat.
Might I suggest approaching this from a different angle. Does he have any relatives listed on his rental application? How about calling his relatives and telling them about his condition, what you experienced, and that you feel a genuine concern for his safety and that you feel he would be better served with supervision in a hospital for this condition. There may even be a medical insurance policy that may cover hospitalization. Maybe one of his relatives has power-of-attorney where they could force him into a hospital if you convince that relative that the hospital can better deal with his health issues than him dealing with it alone.
I think there are better ways around this you could try first than acting like the big bad landlord handing out evictions, which may result in a costly lawsuit if handled incorrectly. I would seriously suggest consulting a lawyer before handing out eviction notices if you’re thinking of going that route. A lot of lawyers will give you a free 1/2 hour initial consultation so you have nothing to lose by talking to one.
davewindsor,
That was actually the best advice of all–contact the relatives. And make a phone call to your attorney. Also, if a tenant dies in the house and was NOT under medical care, it raises red flags and may tie up the property until the cause of death is determined.
Here we get “Emergency Contact Name and Number” on our rental applications. We have had to hospitalize two tenants so far for acute alcohol intoxication. Both were almost in a coma and we were contacted by their work place when they didn’t show up for several days. Alcohol overuse happens often with traveling workers. Maybe that’s part of the reason for the travel.