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The current tenants have paid rent on time. But their dog destroyed the lawn in the backyard. I had asked the tenant's to do a walk through before renewing the lease and the tenant told me she was free 7pm. It was dark at that time and I couldnt see the lawn. I found out later when coming to fix the pool pump. I am new to being a landlord so I've obviously made mistakes.I should have told her when I was coming instead of letting her choose time/ date. I believe she chose 7pm so it would be too dark to see the lawn. I no longer trust the tenant. She had told me several things wrong with the house when I came for the walk through but didn't mention the yard was destroyed. She had asked me not to raise the rent- as I had planned when this lease ended because of all the repairs she said they had done to the house. She talked about how well they were taking care of the house!. I have pics of the yard with grass from 1 year ago and I have pics of the damages now.
The tenant originally had marked she didn't smoke when she filled out the application and after I accepted then she said she did, bUT only outside the house.
I don't want to renew the lease. There is about 39 days till lease ends. I'm not sure how to deal with the situation. It wil be expensive to put down new grass. We have last month's rent and a 1500$ deposit. Please advise?
The current tenants have paid rent on time. But their dog destroyed the lawn in the backyard. I had asked the tenant's to do a walk through before renewing the lease and the tenant told me she was free 7pm. It was dark at that time and I couldnt see the lawn. I found out later when coming to fix the pool pump. I am new to being a landlord so I've obviously made mistakes.I should have told her when I was coming instead of letting her choose time/ date. I believe she chose 7pm so it would be too dark to see the lawn. I no longer trust the tenant. She had told me several things wrong with the house when I came for the walk through but didn't mention the yard was destroyed. She had asked me not to raise the rent- as I had planned when this lease ended because of all the repairs she said they had done to the house. She talked about how well they were taking care of the house!. I have pics of the yard with grass from 1 year ago and I have pics of the damages now.
The tenant originally had marked she didn't smoke when she filled out the application and after I accepted then she said she did, bUT only outside the house.
I don't want to renew the lease. There is about 39 days till lease ends. I'm not sure how to deal with the situation. It wil be expensive to put down new grass. We have last month's rent and a 1500$ deposit. Please advise?
So tell her due to the damage, the omission of smoking and that you are raising the rent you changed your mind. Then give her proper notice to vacate. What does your lease state for notices of non renewal? It's either 30 or 60 days depending on the length of residency. Obviously your state laws may be different. But give notice asap. As long as you have not signed a new lease you should be able to terminate.
What does your lease state about the automatic renewal? When are you supposed to give notice and what does the lease renew as month to month or another year?
Get quotes from a landscape company for the repairs. Use that company for the repairs. Pay out f the security deposit. Send itemized letter of damaged (other than normal wear tear) and the remaining security balance if any is left. If the repair is more than the deposit send a demand letter for the rest. If she declines then you go to court. Take pics of the damage and the first pics you had of the yard before the destruction with you if you hi to court
Why in the hell is she doing repairs to the house. NO NO NO NO NO. Do not let tenants do repairs. Most are clueless about repairs and **** things up more than they fix. Take it from me you don't want tenants doing repairs.
The lease says that there is no automatic renewal- it's only for a year. The lease doesn't give info about 30 vs 60 days. we are in florida- I think we only need to give 30 days. We haven't signed a new lease.
The tenant didn't contact me about issues regarding the house. I contacted her to discuss renewing the lease and to reschedule a walk through. The rental was priced too low originally. So In my email I had stated that I was raising the rent and would no longer be paying for any pool services- it would be tenant responsibility. She responded by saying could I either raise the rent or cover pool costs- and then she told me all the repairs she did. She never had said anything was wrong in the 1st place. If I had known I would not have asked her to fix it, but she didn't say anything till I just emailed her.
When I came to do the walk through it was too dark to see the lawn- and things looked ok from what I saw- I didn't go to every room in the house. And so I had agreed that I would give her money to pay for pool service and would raise the rent. But she is obviously dishonest so I need to get rid of her. The lease ends soon- so I don't think I want to do a 7 day notice of non compliance. I don't want to go through the eviction process. I just want them to leave and then I will use the deposit to pay for the grass. I do have picture to document everything. I think she will try to argue with me about the backyard damage- so I will just stick to emailing her. I anticipate it will be difficult to show the house with tenants like them and I don't want the rental to be empty for a month. ALso since I didn't see the entire house im not sure what other damage there is.
Grass grows back super fast in Florida. Especially this time of year. I guess you would legally be allowed to keep the deposit for the yard, but if you or they just filled in the holes with sand it will grow back very fast. No need to re sod. That's crazy.
I think keeping the entire deposit for the yard is a bit extreme IMO when you allowed the dog in the first place.
You're already kicking them out. Don't need to step on them too. Tell them to fill in the holes and make sure the sprinkler system is on. It will grow back fast. I wouldn't lose sleep over a lawn in Florida.
Grass grows back super fast in Florida. Especially this time of year. I guess you would legally be allowed to keep the deposit for the yard, but if you or they just filled in the holes with sand it will grow back very fast. No need to re sod. That's crazy.
I think keeping the entire deposit for the yard is a bit extreme IMO when you allowed the dog in the first place.
You're already kicking them out. Don't need to step on them too. Tell them to fill in the holes and make sure the sprinkler system is on. It will grow back fast. I wouldn't lose sleep over a lawn in Florida.
I'm not planning on keeping the entire deposit unless it's necessary. I haven't dealt with this before so I don't know. I am more concerned with tenants that are deceptive. We had to lay sod down about 9 years ago when we moved there. My husband told me we'd need to do it again- if there's a cheaper way I'm all for it.
The grass is gone- there is just sand there- there dog dug holes and destroyed the grass. there isn't anything to grow back. How will it grow?
Maybe it's an extreme example and really does need to be re sodded, if it's entirely sand. I understand why you would be upset if you just recently sodded the yard. I was thinking maybe just a few holes and some running marks where it ran around. If there's grass within a foot of the problem areas, it usually will grow back in fast, especially with the st Augustine style grass that likes to grow sideways. If there's just sand, with hardly any or no grass, it would probably still grow back eventually once the dog was gone. However that may take a good while, longer than you or new tenants are willing to wait, so re sodding may be in order.
I was picturing a just few holes when I first replied. Not entirely sand. I'd say that sounds destroyed. Good luck.
Lying on an application, such as the smoking, is grounds for immediate termination so you could easily do a quit notice today for that alone. Property damage like the back yard is also grounds for immediate termination and in some places can be given with no notice at all you just go straight to court. If the lease doesn't automatically renew then just mail a letter saying that you aren't renewing and the lease ends on x date and you expect them to return possession by that time or you will charge a $300 fee on top of the normal rental rate for every day they holdover and when they don't leave you file for eviction.
I had asked the tenant's to do a walk through before renewing the lease ...
And you had never visited your property before that year was up?
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...their dog destroyed the lawn in the backyard.
Are you saying that you rented to a family with a dog...
and didn't EXPECT to have some damage in the yard?
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I am new to being a landlord so I've obviously made mistakes.
Indeed.
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I don't want to renew the lease. There is about 39 days till lease ends.
You have that right.
As described above give them proper notice per the laws there.
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I'm not sure how to deal with the situation. Please advise?
In short... take your lumps, call it a "learning experience" and try again.
Clean the place up, gig the tenant for what you can show to be their damage.
Don't expect their deposit to cover it all.
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Make a list of your standards (no smoking, no pets, etc) and then stick to them.
Visit your property more often. In the daylight.
One easy thing the Landlord could have done was go drive by and/or walk by the outside of the property, there you would have seen any damage to the outside of the house. I do not think you have to get tenant's permission to do a drive by and look.
Dogs do damage to yards. Next time don't allow pets.
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