I have a tenant in SW Ohio. She is verbally abusive to my Property Manager. She has a pattern of this type of behavior, but she and her lease came with the building when I bought it. She has 10 months left at about 1/2 the market rental rate. Her behavior combined with the rental rate has helped me decide that I want her out.
After thinking outside the box, I came up with this idea. Please critique.
I want to approach her and offer to lower her rent in exchange for switching to a month-to-month. Then, one month later, advise her that she is no longer welcome.
What do I think? I think you should consult an eviction lawyer and find out what your local housing court judge is likely to think of it.
To me, it looks like a self help eviction.
You could get any range of reaction from a judge. From making her get out because it’s her own fault she’s so dumb, to making you keep her for the rest of the lease at the lower price because you deliberately tried to cheat her.
If you talk to a lawyer who does a lot of evictions, he will have a pretty good idea of how a judge will react to it.
If she is genuinely abusive to the hired help, I could get her evicted for that, but there are parts of the country where that wouldn’t be a reason to evict. Your lawyer could advise you about that, too.
I’m far from an expert on this sort of thing, but that just seems like a plan destined for failure. I readily agree with poster that said to get a good eviction lawyer to look over the case. How bad is the verbal abuse? Is it documented? Has she threatened anyone with harm or done anything the police need to know about?
This could be a case of “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me and won’t be living here in 11 months.”
Whenever the tenant gets abusive, explain that it is obvious she is unhappy and that you are willing to activate the “Happy Clause.” It is the un-written part of the lease that allows the tenant to break it because she is unhappy with the unit. You will rip it up if she wants to move. One of two things will happen, she will back pedal and start acting nice or she will move. Either way, your problem is solved.
two extra large men = $1,600
one large sack = $5
gas to get three states away and back = $400
Leaving a dead beat tenant multiple states away completely naked and beaten… Well, in some situations it’s called justice. But I’ve never seen any of them again at any of my rentals.
Seriously, video tape multiple confrontations with the tenant. You’ll have to check with an attorney for details on how this works in your area (or even possible), but in some cases you can evict tenants who maintain hostility toward prop manager, workers, etc. If you can show violence and show that this individual creates an unsafe and hostile living enviroment for your other tenants, employees, and workers you can MAYBE get the eviction granted. Any other negatives, like not paying rent within the right time frame, can help strengthen your case as well.
You may even want to call the police and get on record a report of the tenants hostilities. If you have other tenants in the bld who may have a problem with this one, see if they will write complaints to you or file their own police reports. The more negative info you have on the tenant, the better chances you have of getting the courts to agree that they need to leave.
Either way, notice that the majority of the responders here suggest you seek an attorneys advice. With landlord / tenant laws as fickle as they are and because they vary from state to state and even county to county you need to cover your butt legally before you take any actions.
I had a similar problem and figured the solution was going to either cost me money or stress or both so i figured why hire a lawyer to fight and get held up in court, just offer them some money to get out 1 month plus security for new place it will be cheaper in the long run and if you offer an extra couple hundred plus rent a truck they almost always go. Seems like alot of hassle but in the long run may be easier.
Yeah, sounds like a great plan. Pretty soon (since word among tenants will spread like wildfire), you’ll have everyone acting like dirtbags so they get a free month’s rent at a different place…plus no moving expenses…SWEET!!
Ever hear of Pavlov’s dog?