Sometimes it just works out well to let a renter go. In my case, I have a 4-plex in KS that I bought after my parent’s accident to provide me with a local apartment. It came with a few tenants and “the best” one moved out shortly after I bought it – the seller failed to mention that he’d given notice before or during the sale period. This left me with 2 tenants that “on paper” looked okay but upon further review had some issues.
The main one for me though is the tenant in unit 4. I discovered she is dating a man who has a felony record. As we speak he is walking around with an ankle monitor because of what I presume is a relatively recently commited crime. At first I was reluctant to have to go through with an eviction (she didn’t have him on the lease and non-leased persons aren’t allowed to stay at the premises for more than a certain number of days). Part of the reluctance was due to me already dealing with my parent’s health issues.
It turned out that the tenant has been more hassle than she’s worth in rent. While being a generally nice person her demands are pretty ridiculous and there is a complete lack of understanding on her part on how to foster a good relationship with us. Tonight I received a letter from her (finally written notice of a complaint) that stated she had some issues (ones she’s never put in writing nor told me about over the phone) and she believes that she now has rights to cancel her lease. Well, I hope she won’t be surprised when I tell her – “please go.” I’ll be more than happy to rid myself of her and her non-stop complaints, many of which are baseless or don’t really have credibility.
She’s trying now to see if she can play the game of threats with me and I have a feeling she’s going to be surprised. She will likely think I’m desperate to keep her around – or that I’ll get into some inflammatory scuffle with her. Nope. I’ll keep it easy and just say, “please go by the date you provided in your letter.” This will allow me to fix other small items (the ones she’s demanding right now) in that unit without having to deal with her there and without her hassling my brother too.
Is it a gamble? Yes. Am I willing to deal with it? Yes. Will ridding her from my complex make things better? Yes. I’m pretty sure I can find another tenant without a broken down car and another one that fills spaces that don’t belong to her, and without a convicted felon boyfriend. Yep, she just made my life a little easier tonight with her letter. 🙂 And just to make it a whole lot easier on top of it, she’ll get her full deposit back because then she can’t make a claim after she leaves. Bye. Bye.
