Owning an income property is an excellent investment, as it creates an additional revenue stream that can help pay off the home’s mortgage or supplement your own income in other ways. However, your rental property isn’t much use to you without a reliable tenant to occupy the house, and sometimes you may end up in a situation where you have a less-than-ideal tenant in your income property. If you’re in such a situation yourself and you’re looking for strategies on what to do with a bad tenant, the following tips may be helpful.
Most “bad tenants” come in two distinct flavors: those who can’t (or won’t) pay the rent and those that are disruptive or dangerous, both to themselves and to the property. Dealing with either kind of tenant – or one that’s an unfortunate combination of the two – can be incredibly stressful, but you’re not going to benefit if you can’t stay calm. Yes, you may be dealing with a serious situation that needs to be dealt with, but nothing good can come of going in to confront a tenant who’s already shown he or she is emotionally unstable or mentally unbalanced. Instead, take some time – often a day or two – to gather your wits before going in.
While you’re waiting, this is the perfect time to go over your lease or rental agreement. Savvy landlords will make sure they have clauses in their leases regarding criminal activity or drug use, often providing them with grounds for terminating the rental agreement immediately. You don’t want to lead with these when you do confront your tenant, but if you’ve got those aces up your sleeve you’ll be able to pull them out if things don’t go well.
At this point it’s time to actually confront your tenant. You need to do so as calmly and firmly as possible, and you need to provide an air of fairness. It’s up to you if you want to let them off with a warning, but this isn’t necessarily a recommended course of action, especially if the tenant has been given chances to clean up his or her act in the past. You need to tell them that you’re aware of what’s been going on, that they’ve been violating their lease due to their actions, and that they need to begin the process of finding a new place to live as soon as possible.
You know what a painstaking process it can be to get a tenant evicted, but he or she might not know that. If you need to play your ace, do it – and don’t let on how much time it can take to initiate eviction proceedings. Often the threat of eviction is enough to light a fire under the feet of a problem tenant and to motivate them to get their affairs in order before that eviction notice shows up on their front door. You can even provide some incentive on your side by promising them their security deposit if they leave by a certain date, though this of course is largely dependent on the circumstances surrounding their bad behavior.
Meanwhile, even if your tenant shows signs of leaving on your own, get your ducks in a row. Talk to your attorney and begin collecting the necessary paperwork for an eviction. That way, if your tenant ends up not moving out even after assuring you he or she will, you’ll have legal backup waiting for you.
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