Re: is this the first sign of trouble? - Landlord Forum thread 362373

Re: is this the first sign of trouble? by Garry on May 18, 2023 @20:49

There are several things you should do. First, schedule an inspection of the whole place with them, (thru both phone, letter, email, and text ) sometime before the end of May. Meet them there and take a pad and paper with you, and use your phone camera if you need to. BE NICE. Ask questions if you need to, but DON,T get into an argument with them. Tell them you will contact them in a week about renewing the lease. For the moment, allow the lease to expire, and automatically become a M2M lease.

Now, you have time to decide what you want to do, based on what you saw at your inspection, and how they responded to your Q's. I would NOT recommend doing another 1 year lease (with them, or any future tenants.) If they are good paying Ts, and have mostly kept up your place, increase their rent by 10%, (based on inflation this past year) and stay on a M2M lease. If not, give them notice to move.

DO NOT try to repair the floor while they are still living there, or even get any other bids. ( that $3,000 bid seems EXTREMELY HIGH to me----get 3 other bids AFTER the current Ts are gone ) If they have put in a new smart lock, you need the code, or a key to be able to get in, in case you need to do work, or for an emergency. If they are not willing to do that, then YES, give them notice to move. A landlord should NEVER be locked out of their own rental property.

As a final note, if you keep these tenants, you may want to schedule another inspection October, to see how they're doing.

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