I have a tenant who noticed there was a “dip” in the bathroom floor, and instead of calling me, called the Board of Health, who came out and examined the house inside and out, and sent me a long list of stuff to “correct.” I jumped through the hoops, they came out for a reinspect. Everything outside passed, but I just got a letter citing additional interior items that need to be addressed, that weren’t on the first list! I’m sure the tenant provoked this. She hasn’t been nasty to me at all, nor I to her. I’m a very attentive landlord, and my places are very nice. I’ve had it with this girl! She’s on a month-to-month lease. She pays the rent and keeps the apt. clean, but this is ridiculous! What would you do???
Fix the items on the list or get the health department to waive them if they are really silly (might need a supervisor). You can’t leave the property with outstanding violations.
I’d go ask the tenant what her real issue is. Does she want out of the lease (why not give notice?) Perhaps she feels you slighted her somehow. If she continues to be a pest you can get very strict with your lease - inspect regularly and charge for ANY damage since she seems to like perfection.
WTH? This isn’t a Dr. Phil show. If she’s a problem tenant on a m2m lease, give her a proper notice for termination of the lease. This is the advantage to having someone on a m2m lease. You don’t NEED a reason to kick them out.
Good idea unless the state has a retaliation law. This situation is exactly the reason these laws get passed.
BLL brings up the most important point. In some states, you can’t “retaliate” against a tenant who files complaints for a fixed time period, perhaps 6 months.
If your state doesn’t have such laws, I suggest that you give her notice. I wouldn’t be able to tolerate that sort of attention seeking behavior.
I’m taking you at your word that you keep your places nice and in good repair. If you can’t kick her out, have a heart to heart and see if you can get her to call you instead of the county. But I suspect that she’s on a power trip, or else she’s planning on doing something that would normally get her kicked out and she’s eviction-proofing herself.
Checked with my att’y and it’s not as simple as kicking her out. Retaliation is an issue…but I did tell her, that with all the $$ being spent on my part, I may be forced to raise rents if this continues!
Retaliation laws typically forbid any adverse action within a certain time frame. The most common I have seen is 6 months. That means you can’t raise the rent, change the terms of the rental agreement materially, or evict without cause for 6 months. Any attempt to do so is automatically considered retaliation unless you can prove you were going to take those actions anyway. The simplest way to deal with this situation is to wait out the tenant and then terminate the agreement after the period has expired.
My question on this issue would be does the 6 months start over every time they come out and inspect and add new items. Or does it go back to the first complaint?