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Need advice on my new tenant

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z1ggy said:
I called a tree service, but is going to swing by tomorrow to look. No pictures from tenant as of yet.

Not sure if this guy will be honest about tree condition but yes i was just there about 6 weeks ago. To me they are fine and I feel like legally, that alone is enough to say no, because it's my property and it can be kept to my standards (as long as it's safe).

If it's on the border I might as well get it done if she's paying half. It might have to get done someone soon any way.
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As a compromise, maybe tell her that you are going to wait till fall to get them trimmed. Technically you are supposed to trim trees in late winter/early fall or they can bleed sap and/or hurt the tree. I have never dealt with pine trees but I wouldn't be trimming trees in the middle of the summer unless it was a safety hazard or the limbs/branches are dead.

Edit: The tree service is NOT going to tell you that they don't need to be trimmed. They are just going to give you a price to trim them regardless of "need". I'd bet dollars to donuts that she wants them trimmed for aesthetic reasons.
 
Darwin333 said:
As a compromise, maybe tell her that you are going to wait till fall to get them trimmed. Technically you are supposed to trim trees in late winter/early fall or they can bleed sap and/or hurt the tree. I have never dealt with pine trees but I wouldn't be trimming trees in the middle of the summer unless it was a safety hazard or the limbs/branches are dead.

Edit: The tree service is NOT going to tell you that they don't need to be trimmed. They are just going to give you a price to trim them regardless of "need". I'd bet dollars to donuts that she wants them trimmed for aesthetic reasons.
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The guy I had come look at my house said 2 trees needed trimming and the others in my back yard didn't (once fully grown, no need for trimming). Guess it depends on how honest the company is.

But in the end, it sounds like the tenant will get what she wants.
 
So I have more fun to share that is relevant to this topic and some of you seemed interested in all the BS I deal with.

I accidentally had a package shipped to my old house (my rental). I let tenant know that I would be stopping by this weekend to get it, and to take care of some outdoor cleaning stuff for her like trimming hedges and that stuff.

Her reply, "Oh okay no problem I should be here. Just try to not make much noise because my boyfriend moved in and he works 3rd shift, so he will be sleeping .

So more or less, there's now an illegal sublet in my house. Not only did she not ask my permission, but I'm only finding out because I'm coming up for a random visit. If I had never shipped the package there, I'd never have known.

So now I have to bite my tongue, not go ape shit and ask that we mod the lease to add his name.

The balls on this lady are freaking massive. Or, she's just a flagrant doucher with little common sense... But yeah either way, that's pretty much BS. Apparently he's a state trooper, so I'll have to assume she isn't lying and that he's probably legit. No real way to confirm unless I get his SS and run a background check, but again... if he's a statey, then 99% chance he isn't a convicted criminal, etc.

Advice here?
 
z1ggy said:
So I have more fun to share that is relevant to this topic and some of you seemed interested in all the BS I deal with.

I accidentally had a package shipped to my old house (my rental). I let tenant know that I would be stopping by this weekend to get it, and to take care of some outdoor cleaning stuff for her like trimming hedges and that stuff.

Her reply, "Oh okay no problem I should be here. Just try to not make much noise because my boyfriend moved in and he works 3rd shift, so he will be sleeping .

So more or less, there's now an illegal sublet in my house. Not only did she not ask my permission, but I'm only finding out because I'm coming up for a random visit. If I had never shipped the package there, I'd never have known.

So now I have to bite my tongue, not go ape shit and ask that we mod the lease to add his name.

The balls on this lady are freaking massive. Or, she's just a flagrant doucher with little common sense... But yeah either way, that's pretty much BS. Apparently he's a state trooper, so I'll have to assume she isn't lying and that he's probably legit. No real way to confirm unless I get his SS and run a background check, but again... if he's a statey, then 99% chance he isn't a convicted criminal, etc.

Advice here?
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Not sure I understand the big deal. I mean, worst case scenario: he burns down the house. She's still liable, right? Is she still giving you rent? IMO, seems like a non-issue. She is still living there. Her name is on the lease. I'm sure this kind of thing happens all the time.
 
The big deal is there's a random dude living in my house that I didn't know about, and wouldn't have known about because she apparently wasn't telling me.

We have a legal document that says she shall not sublet the place to anybody else. That means she can't rent it to anybody else OR have anybody else live there, unless I approve.

At the end of the day, yes you are right, it's pretty much a "non issue". Really, putting him on the lease is something she should want. If he storms out one day and he burns the place down, she's on the hook and not him.
 
cbrunny said:
Not sure I understand the big deal. I mean, worst case scenario: he burns down the house. She's still liable, right? Is she still giving you rent? IMO, seems like a non-issue. She is still living there. Her name is on the lease. I'm sure this kind of thing happens all the time.
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Give them and inch. "Oh hey the local fraternity needed a new house, so i let them move in with me. Try not to bother them, they are passed out in their own vomit on the floor"
Yes the tenant should be liable, but why go through the extra headache? Or what if they just disappear or file for bankruptcy and you have to pay for damages out of your pocket?
 
z1ggy said:
The big deal is there's a random dude living in my house that I didn't know about, and wouldn't have known about because she apparently wasn't telling me.

We have a legal document that says she shall not sublet the place to anybody else. That means she can't rent it to anybody else OR have anybody else live there, unless I approve.

At the end of the day, yes you are right, it's pretty much a "non issue". Really, putting him on the lease is something she should want. If he storms out one day and he burns the place down, she's on the hook and not him.
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In Ontario, it is not legal to not allow sublets.

Edit: I guess this isn't actually 100% true. The tenant act in Ontario states the landlord must consent but can't not consent for arbitrary or unreasonable reasons. I'm guessing this has gone through jurisprudence as being "if you pay rent, you can sublet, with very few exceptions" because that's what I was always told when I worked in the industry.
 
drnickriviera said:
Give them and inch. "Oh hey the local fraternity needed a new house, so i let them move in with me. Try not to bother them, they are passed out in their own vomit on the floor"
Yes the tenant should be liable, but why go through the extra headache? Or what if they just disappear or file for bankruptcy and you have to pay for damages out of your pocket?
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If you're worried about those kinds of things, probably don't be a landlord. Doesn't sound like it's your kind of risk.
 
IMO it's not a non issue.

It's not necessarily a sublet. What you have is more of an unauthorized room mate situation. Although you could call it a sublet if you need a violation to find her guilty of and declare her in violation of the lease...

IMO if you are unwilling to tackle problems and "bite your tongue", landlording is not for you. The lady has bigger balls than you and is pushing boundaries left and right. Sorry to be so blunt but this tenant is walking all over you and knows exactly what she is doing. The time to say something would have been when she told you. You don't know this room mate, he is not on the lease and he didn't get vetted.

What exactly does your lease say about room mates and overnight guests?
 
cbrunny said:
If you're worried about those kinds of things, probably don't be a landlord. Doesn't sound like it's your kind of risk.
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Been doing it for over 30 years. People will take advantage any way they can. Used to rent houses on a handshake, now 15 page leases. No it's not likely a group of frat bros will move it. It is likely people will skip out, move away, change jobs. Makes it difficult to serve papers or garnish wages. Nothing wrong with wanting to protect my investment and avoid headaches.
 
NetWareHead said:
IMO it's not a non issue.

It's not necessarily a sublet. What you have is more of an unauthorized room mate situation. Although you could call it a sublet if you need a violation to find her guilty of and declare her in violation of the lease...

IMO if you are unwilling to tackle problems and "bite your tongue", landlording is not for you. The lady has bigger balls than you and is pushing boundaries left and right. Sorry to be so blunt but this tenant is walking all over you and knows exactly what she is doing. The time to say something would have been when she told you. You don't know this room mate, he is not on the lease and he didn't get vetted.

What exactly does your lease say about room mates and overnight guests?
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Yeah bite my tongue and not call her up bitching her out. I'm treating this like I'm running a business, and not a personal issue.

Clause 6 states no sublets of any type unless written permission is granted by me (it wasn't).

Clause 8 states dwelling shall only be used by her and immediate family members "and servants" whatever that means. They are not married, he is not family. Like you said, he is a roommate.

At this point it comes down to saying she broke lease, and that he has X days to leave, or I just write a mod to the lease to add his name.
 
Doesn't sound like a sublet to me, but someone that does need to be on the lease. Mention to her, peacefully, that she needs to pass this kind of thing through you first and that he needs to add his name on the lease if he is going to be a permanent resident. "Not a huge deal, but it is a legal issue," etc. Of course this means he will need to apply separately and run a credit check and all the normal things that she already did.

If she's been a fine tenant up until now, maybe she just didn't realize that this is a big deal and would have no problem making everything on the up and up.
 
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z1ggy said:
The big deal is there's a random dude living in my house that I didn't know about, and wouldn't have known about because she apparently wasn't telling me.

We have a legal document that says she shall not sublet the place to anybody else. That means she can't rent it to anybody else OR have anybody else live there, unless I approve.

At the end of the day, yes you are right, it's pretty much a "non issue". Really, putting him on the lease is something she should want. If he storms out one day and he burns the place down, she's on the hook and not him.
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You need to get out of the landlord business. It's clearly not your thing. Maybe contract with a property management company to deal with the tenants. The live in boyfriend isn't a sublease, it's a roommate. She's an adult, she gets to sleep with random dudes, in the house she is renting from you.
 
I don't think he's in the landlord business because he wants to be, he's doing it because it was the only way he could avoid being tethered to that geographical location.

IMO that is even more incentive to give her just about anything she wants within the realm of reasonable, she is enabling him to have the career opportunities outside the area while upside down in his house. That may be worth far more than what she's paying in rent.

Viper GTS
 
zinfamous said:
Doesn't sound like a sublet to me, but someone that does need to be on the lease. Mention to her, peacefully, that she needs to pass this kind of thing through you first and that he needs to add his name on the lease if he is going to be a permanent resident. "Not a huge deal, but it is a legal issue," etc. Of course this means he will need to apply separately and run a credit check and all the normal things that she already did.

If she's been a fine tenant up until now, maybe she just didn't realize that this is a big deal and would have no problem making everything on the up and up.
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Define, "fine".

Basically, she pays on time but has otherwise been fairly annoying to deal with.
 
Viper GTS said:
I don't think he's in the landlord business because he wants to be, he's doing it because it was the only way he could avoid being tethered to that geographical location.

IMO that is even more incentive to give her just about anything she wants within the realm of reasonable, she is enabling him to have the career opportunities outside the area while upside down in his house. That may be worth far more than what she's paying in rent.

Viper GTS
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You pretty much hit the nail on the head.

For others info:

I tried to sell this house for over a year, got no bids at all, even reduced price by over 10% during that time, got a new realtor also. I got a job offer in a totally different state, forcing me to either risk keeping it on market and pay a mortgage and rent, or rent it out.

I'm always in the opinion that in most liberal states, unless the tenant is not paying, they have almost all leverage in a lease unless the terms are clearly violated. Any vagueness, they will get the benefit of the doubt. My contract clearly states there's no subletting or people allowed to LIVE in the home that are not direct family. Sure the dude can sleep over, I don't care. But if he's actually living there, receiving mall and getting all the benefits of a dwelling, then he should be on the lease, and vetted by me first.
 
Dude, you need to tell her she broke the lease. Bring a new lease, jack the rent, 2 people living there now. And vett the new guy. Throw a bunch of clauses in the new lease. (Tree care, everything she bitched about) tell her if she does not sign it she has 60 days to vacate.
 
It's pretty clear Ziggy won't do anything about this. He'll talk himself out of confrontation if he hasn't already, but hey, at least he should be able to continue updating this thread for our amusement. So thank you for that Z1ggy!
 
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