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Background: I own a home in North Las Vegas that my husband were unable to afford to live in anymore. Since the market out here is so bad, we couldn't sell it, so we opted to rent a home for ourselves and rent out the house we own. We had much interest in the house and found a lady to rent it out to. The home is located in an agricultural area and at times the smell gets pretty bad. There was no written statement of it, but we made our tenant verbally aware was aware of that when she signed the year's lease.
First month she was 4 days late-we waived any late fees. I told her she can directly deposit the money into my account if it would be easier.
Second month - 7 days late - Waited to see if she would deposit in my account. Called her a few times - she called back saying she was sorry and it wouldn't happen again. We charged her a late fee of $25 per day + $5 each additional day as written in the tenant agreement. We offered to make it more convenient for her by accepting cash as payment (she works for tips), and going to the house to pick it up, which we did.
3rd month- 9 days late- again we charged her a late fee. She was slow to return phone calls. Hubby and her agreed on a time to pick up the rent and she never showed up. Finally we got our rent. Again she apologized and blah blah
4th month - today. Eight days late. Hubby went to house at agreed upon time. She was not there. He left a written lease violation notice on the door. We came back later this evening and her boyfriend answered the door. He said they were moving at the end of the month and she talked to an attorney because the smell was nauseating her. This is the first I've heard of this. Boyfriend gave us partial payment and said we would have the rest on monday - which I'm not getting my hopes up. We weren't even aware she had someone else living there.
Hubby wants to send a certified letter stating that she can break the lease, but must be out by the 30th and forfeit her deposit. Every month we use that deposit to cover the mortgage and it goes right back in when she pays her rent. But she let the landscaping go to crap, and the house is a mess, so I'm afraid to show it until she is out and I'm worried about the length of time it will be to find a new renter. Since her track record stinks, I don't even think we would be able to try to collect future rent for the remainder of the lease. And lastly, while we have renter's insurance, I'm worried that she might destroy the house if we start threatening her while she is still in the property. I would just as soon move back into the property ourselves and use up our savings, but then I would have to break MY lease. Since I was just laid off this week, we are in a total financial bind.
Does anyone have any advice for us? We want this to be as clean and cheap a break as possible.
I don't know if in Mass you would legally be allowed to use the deposit while waiting on the rent check. here, the tenant is entitled to interest earned on the deposit while it is in the bank. If you use the deposit to pay your mortgage on the 1st of the month, and then don't get her rent check into the account for 6, 7, 8, 9, days, the money is not in the account for that time period and is not earning interest.
I'd try to go with your husband's plan at this point. You want to get rid of her so you can find a tenant who will pay rent in a timely fashion. At least if you keep her deposit, that will cover damages/landscape repair.
With rent being late every month, the deposit is a mute point. You want the property back. Homeowner's insurance does not cover damage from a tenant. You need to be able to put the property back into livable condition yourself.
Forget spending the time and money to sue for future unpaid rent, she can't pay what's due now, she is not going to have anything to go after. You just made a bad choice in a tenant. learn and move on.
If you lost your job and can't pay your rent, I'd opt to make sure I could pay the mortgage. If that means moving back into the house, move. Inform your LL of your situation and break your lease on an as amicable basis as possible.
Messy situation, but it can be fixed.
You need to follow your state's landlord/tenant laws to the letter. If you do something else, she may have a case that you were trying to evict her illegally or keep her deposit without cause and she may take you to court. If she leaves without notice, there is no law that you have to pursue her for unpaid rent but there is generally a law about accounting for the deposit. Again, follow the laws strictly to keep this from coming back on you. It sounds like she and/or her friend know how to play the system, so don't give her any excuses to use it against you.
Background: I own a home in North Las Vegas that my husband were unable to afford to live in anymore. Since the market out here is so bad, we couldn't sell it, so we opted to rent a home for ourselves and rent out the house we own. We had much interest in the house and found a lady to rent it out to. The home is located in an agricultural area and at times the smell gets pretty bad. There was no written statement of it, but we made our tenant verbally aware was aware of that when she signed the year's lease.
First month she was 4 days late-we waived any late fees. I told her she can directly deposit the money into my account if it would be easier.
Second month - 7 days late - Waited to see if she would deposit in my account. Called her a few times - she called back saying she was sorry and it wouldn't happen again. We charged her a late fee of $25 per day + $5 each additional day as written in the tenant agreement. We offered to make it more convenient for her by accepting cash as payment (she works for tips), and going to the house to pick it up, which we did.
3rd month- 9 days late- again we charged her a late fee. She was slow to return phone calls. Hubby and her agreed on a time to pick up the rent and she never showed up. Finally we got our rent. Again she apologized and blah blah
4th month - today. Eight days late. Hubby went to house at agreed upon time. She was not there. He left a written lease violation notice on the door. We came back later this evening and her boyfriend answered the door. He said they were moving at the end of the month and she talked to an attorney because the smell was nauseating her. This is the first I've heard of this. Boyfriend gave us partial payment and said we would have the rest on monday - which I'm not getting my hopes up. We weren't even aware she had someone else living there.
Hubby wants to send a certified letter stating that she can break the lease, but must be out by the 30th and forfeit her deposit. Every month we use that deposit to cover the mortgage and it goes right back in when she pays her rent. But she let the landscaping go to crap, and the house is a mess, so I'm afraid to show it until she is out and I'm worried about the length of time it will be to find a new renter. Since her track record stinks, I don't even think we would be able to try to collect future rent for the remainder of the lease. And lastly, while we have renter's insurance, I'm worried that she might destroy the house if we start threatening her while she is still in the property. I would just as soon move back into the property ourselves and use up our savings, but then I would have to break MY lease. Since I was just laid off this week, we are in a total financial bind.
Does anyone have any advice for us? We want this to be as clean and cheap a break as possible.
I would check the statutes for your state regarding landlord and tenant. In some states a deposit is specifically designated to repair any damage that occurrs to a property and cannot be kept to "cover the rent" if there is no damage to the property - but must be returned. There are other legal remedies available are available for the purpose of broken leases.
I would suggest that you study the statutes and do some online research for your county and as a last resort, contact an attorney. I would think that, unless there is a doctor's statement confirming that the "smell" is causing some kind of illness, that using that as an excuse to break the lease is bogus. People who live in an agricultural area are expected to understand there are smells. Also, since you did mention it to them verbally, they should have been aware of it. My guess is that, like you are they are having trouble making their rent. Their slow pay in the past would indicate this. OR they are just deadbeats.
We are in kind of the same situation. Paid on time for 6 months then started bouncing the rent check, late the next month but didnt pay total, then nov came and not a sausauge. But when I called the tenant on Thursday, she said she would stay until the end of the month and then move. But where was my money ; she didnt know when I would get it.
The next day i went straight to court and filed an eviction hearing. I have the hearing on 19th of nov. The papers were served the correct way to the tenant.
Go straight to court. Stop dealing with these deadbeats ; its not worth it. It only grates on me to think that these people can get away with so much.
It grinds on me too ,that these people use the system to their benifit. Seems like the laws are all written in their favor. We are the ones that worked our butts off to purchase a place to generate us a little more income after the place is paid off. But with all the damage they do, loss of rent, court costs, and cost of advertising and not to mention property tax , and basic upkeep why arn't the laws a little more favorable. Seems as the years go by, it is getting harder ,and harder , to find decent people..They all have a scam going and use the system to their benifit. WHERES THE JUSTICE? CALL A LAWYER.
Latest update:
I called my tenant tonight and she actually answered her phone! I got her to tell me directly that she plans to move out at the end of the month. I told her she would need to submit something to me in writing and we must discuss the penalties for early termination which includes her forfeiting her entire deposit and she said that would be fine. I did some research and in the state of NV, deposits can be used to cover unpaid rent. So we are supposed to meet with her tomorrow. She still owes us for the remainder of the rent, which I stupidly forgot to mention to her over the phone - believe me, I was caught off guard when she answered. Hubby said let's just focus on getting her out and not force the issue. Do you guys agree?
I have to tell you all thank you so much for the wonderful advice. I'm so glad I found this site.
First off, I know nothing about Nevada law, so these are opinions and guesses only.
You've already told her that you're intending to keep the entire deposit; she's not going to pay you another cent, and you can forget about her leaving the home in a clean condition. Sorry, but that's what's going to happen. I doubt very much that you could have her evicted before the end of the month, and it would just end up costing you more.
If she leaves the place in bad repair you can have it cleaned and repaired, then take her to small claims court for any unpaid rent and your cost of cleaning and repairs. She'll have several months to pay you IF you can keep track of her. OR you can clean it up and repair it yourself, but getting the court to make her pay for your time is pretty tough -- probably impossible. If you want to pursue that, take lots of pictures and keep a time sheet. You might get lucky.
Likewise, getting her to pay for future rent loss is pretty iffy unless you specified the conditions in your rental contract.
I've owned several rental properties over the past years, and the only ones that worked out halfway well were those that were "executive homes", where the renters paid twice what they'd have paid for a standard townhouse, and nice apartments that were occupied mainly by retired people.
The worst thing you can do is let your house get into a bad state of repair. Then only trashy people will rent it, and it can become your worst nightmare. Been there, done that too. I've had a property manager and hired cleaners to take care of most of my rentals, but I'm down to one townhouse now, and I handle it myself. A few years ago I had to spend 160 hours cleaning (including human waste smeared on bathroom walls), patching holes in walls, painting and replacing doors, etc. This was from one renter who I had to have evicted due to being behind in rent. Way behind! By the time they were actually out, they were two months behind. I never got any of it. Attorney fees for the eviction cost $500+.
I'm still collecting back rent from another tenant who left nearly a year ago. I had to have the whole inside repainted and recarpeted/retiled(again), new stove installed (they broke the oven door off), new patio doors and several closet doors, and the lawn was left barren. He is a "manager" at a local office, and his wife works full time. The court ordered them to pay me $100 from each (bi-monthly) paycheck.
Isn't being a landlord fun! (That's why I'm down to one rental from 20 a few years ago.)
Latest update:
I called my tenant tonight and she actually answered her phone! I got her to tell me directly that she plans to move out at the end of the month. I told her she would need to submit something to me in writing and we must discuss the penalties for early termination which includes her forfeiting her entire deposit and she said that would be fine. I did some research and in the state of NV, deposits can be used to cover unpaid rent. So we are supposed to meet with her tomorrow. She still owes us for the remainder of the rent, which I stupidly forgot to mention to her over the phone - believe me, I was caught off guard when she answered. Hubby said let's just focus on getting her out and not force the issue. Do you guys agree?
I have to tell you all thank you so much for the wonderful advice. I'm so glad I found this site.
Just make sure you get everything, and do everything in WRITING. Document everything, take photos, etc.
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