Should I renew this tenant's lease? - Landlord Forum thread 361312

Should I renew this tenant's lease? by JanetMcTeer on June 12, 2021 @17:11

I have a tenant who is kind of childish in general. 20 something woman, has a professional job but is the type to still rely on her parents. Anyway, she seemed really nice at first and she asked for a rent discount last year because she is a recent grad. Now I have a policy of never renting to anyone who asks for a discount. I broke my own policy and frankly I was an idiot because this woman while not what I would call trouble is not someone I want as a tenant. Recently her fridge started failing, it doesn't get really cold. I immediately ordered a new one. As you all know there are appliance shortages everywhere and the wait for a new fridge is long. During the wait she says the her old fridge is no longer usable and she deserves a discount for the days she does not have fridge. I told her I never give that kind of discount. Later while we are coordinating the delivery of the new fridge she lets slip that the old fridge is actually still usable and she has in fact been using it. I reminded her of what she said a week ago and she went very silent.

I don't like liars. I especially don't like lying liars who lie to me to get discounts. Her lease renewal is coming up and I would rather she leave. It does seem mean to make someone move over this but I live right above her and the thought of seeing this lying liar around my house for another year pains me.

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Re: Should I renew this tenant's lease? by Garry on June 13, 2021 @10:00	[ Reply ]

Try to keep your emotional side of yourself away from the business side. When refriges go down, sometimes they only PARTLY go down----they cool off and on, sporraticly. People can still lose hundreds of $ in food, and be VERY inconveinienced. If you cannot get a refrige for a month, try buying 2 large plastic camping coolers to LOAN her. She can buy ice till the new refrig comes. You should either reimburse her for the ice, or knock 10% off her rent. If you originally furnished the refrige, then YOU must try to mitigate the damages to the tenant as much as you can. Try to imagine yourself in this same situation------what would YOU do ? (and remember, there is NO ONE to call to try to help you---you're on your own). And, yes, if you want to not renew her lease, you can do that. OR, you could just let the lease become a M2M lease, and possibly give her a 2% rent increase.

Re: Should I renew this tenant's lease? by Robert on June 13, 2021 @10:24	[ Reply ]

It's your property, feel free to do as you wish regarding tenants. Balance a rented unit/tenant against the work to get a new one.

Re: Should I renew this tenant's lease? by lpadave on June 13, 2021 @16:59	[ Reply ]

tenants are tenants because they are tenants. people lie, cheat and steal tenants are people. landlords,.....or rather ''housing providers' as we are now popularly called, although we believe we are in the real estate business,....are really in the people management business. I try my best to avoid including appliances in rentals, especially refrigerators and washers / dryers. they get abused and with fridges,...I've gotten real tired of all the nonsense about too cold,...not cold enough, milk goes bad, ice cream is too hard, doesnt make ice fast enough, my juice froze and broke the glass jar and made a mess, my cheeze got moldy,on and on and on. your tenant without a '''good''' fridge as supplied by you is indeed experiencing a '''REDUCTION IN SERVICES''', which a judge would rule in her favor. Youre stuck ! service the one she has or get a replacement from scratch n dent, craigs list, habitat or wherever and hope it will satisfy her. suppliers don't have stock or delivery dates on much of anything these days. If you want to go new,....try and take the floor model.

Re: Should I renew this tenant's lease? by Daniel (CA) on June 14, 2021 @15:13	[ Reply ]

We had some real good members several years ago; so I am commenting based on things I have learned from them. There is a power struggle that happens between LL & T. I agree that haggling the price is a turn off but you need to expect it. If you have the option and money to not rerent, then peace of mind for owner occupied property is important. I asked a lawyer if I could evict because the tenant lied on the application. the answer was that everyone lies about everything. so you cant. So the main issue is how to gain control and peace of mind. I would start by raising the rent to include the new fridge as an extra appliance fee... form is here on this site. asking for more money might be the easier way to get rid of the riff raff. I would make sure to follow the process for your state in changing the lease agreement terms. In California, i ask for 2 SD and this helps me to avoid riff raff.

Re: Should I renew this tenant's lease? by AnonymousFL on June 16, 2021 @14:12	[ Reply ]

Trust but verify. It sounds like you did not have the fridge inspected when she reported the 'problem'. Replacing it outright certainly solves any potential problem, but it really leaves you uninformed about what the actual problem is. It sounds like this tenant is one that takes advantage. You say it feels mean to non-renew her. I think the question you may want to ask yourself is whether the cost you incur by having to turn over and rerent the unit is worthwhile to you. Set aside your peeves, because you will encounter them again and again and they will just discolor your decision making.

Re: Should I renew this tenant's lease? by Brendan on June 23, 2021 @21:10	[ Reply ]

I think you answered your own question. Adios.