It's my mantra: property management is really tenant management. Given my mantra, it's totally annoying when I've been had. Yes, I've been had by a tenant and it was all my fault. TLH (The loving husband) liked the way she looked. She was a classy lady. Very refined and articulate. Her hair was in place, her clothes were nice, she wrote legibly, etc., but I should have known better. The application checked out except for one small flaw. The rental reference company showed changes of address about every two months. Yep, I shoulda known better.
TLH said go for it, so knowing I could cast the blame on him, I signed the lease. Thankfully, we chose a month to month "trial" period before executing a longer term lease. The neighbor complaints began immediately, on day one of occupancy! The police called. They didn't pay the balance of the rent. Calls made from my known number were not answered by the tenant but from my office they were. The lower unit was flooded by an overflowed toilet. We got visits with complaints at 2:00 AM and calls regarding heavy bass at 4:30 AM! It ended with a 45 minute shouting match in which the neighborhood and I were called many unsavory names!
By day 21, we were done, but I kept hoping. My hopes fell flat. Thirty days after the lease was signed, we gave notice that we were terminating the lease effective the end of the next month. Of course, the rent didn't get paid for that month, but empty promises kept floating my way. My assumption was they'd remain past the move out date which they did. Only with a stern threat of filing an unlawful detainer did they move leaving an apartment full of "stuff" for us to deal with.
Some landlords have creative ways of dealing with these problems. A client said he "repairs" the entry door by removing it until they leave! Steve Glover shares in his blog about a nightmare owner in California. My husband's first experience with removing tenants had him issuing fantasy threats of changing locks at midnight and proclaiming, "This is MY building!"
Regrettably, one has to follow the rules. Using the month to month lease as we did, allowed us to terminate the lease by giving written notice no later than the last day of the month stating that the end of the next month is the end of the lease. This allowed us to avoid a court action. The thirty day notice cannot be given at mid-month for vacating at the following mid-month if the lease period goes from the first to the last day of the month.
Had the tenant not left, filing for an unlawful detainer at the courthouse would have been the next step. The $250 filing fee is a bit tough to bear, but well worth getting rid of a troublesome tenant. The papers have to be properly served and every "t" crossed and "i" dotted in order to successfully follow through with an eviction (unlawful detainer action). If the owner doesn't follow the law and the correct procedure, the tenant has every right to stay in the property regardless of what the owner desires!
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