I’ve got an interesting problem going on with a tenant that I am unsure of how to handle. I’d like to hear some other peoples opinions on how they would handle this one. Here is some background on the situation.
Smaller park, only 16 lots, I have owned it now for 3 years, I did alot of improvements to the place as the prior owner just ran it down, this problem tenant helped quite a bit with these repairs, he has also helped me alot with my other business of flipping homes. 2 years ago he decides to go to trade school and quit working all together, he has since lived off of his student loans. Meanwhile 2 of his teenage daughters go on a baby making spree and suddenly there are 9 people living under his roof, he let his daughters boyfriends move in. Also there are now 2 vehicles parked in front of his house and 3 more in my overflow parking area. His yard is the worst in my park. When I question him on all the people living in his house he just gets defensive and says, “this is all we can afford” basically its because they are all too lazy to get a job. I realize now that I have played a part in creating this problem. He was kinda a pet tenant being that he has worked for me in the past and I let this go on for to long. What do you I recommend I do?
He’s what I’m thinking of doing. I have all month to month leases. I’m going to mail him a certified letter noting all the lease violations in place, such as a messy yard, too many vehicles, and to many adults living in the home. I’m going to give him 60 days to correct it all, if it is not corrected, I will then give him a notice stating that I will not be renewing the lease effective the end of the next month. I really don’t want to loose him as a tenant, he is good about getting his rent paid and he has another daughter living in the park with her husband.
Basically I don’t want to make huge waves here, but I have finally realized that this just can’t continue on as it has. I’m curious to hear what your recommendations are of both my problem and my proposed solution.
You might also involve your local Child Welfare Services organization. There are regulations as to how many children of what sexes and ages can occupy a bedroom. By involving the State, you might ‘just’ cause the daughters and families to leave. You might get back to just having only your ‘pet’ tenant occupy the home, and if you can convince him to clean up his yard, you are golden.
I’d handicap the likelihood of this happy outcome at about 5% (and I’m an optimist at heart). But you can try for this ‘surgical’ solution if you wish.
Otherwise your course of action of evicting all of them (with proper notice, of course) will certainly work.
Hopefully you have purchased a property in an area where it will be relatively easy to find a new tenant, and you will not have to go more than 1 month without rental income. However, with all those people using utilities (do you charge them for any/all utilities you pay on their behalf?), and putting wear-and-tear on your home, you may be loosing money on them every month. Getting rid of a gaggle of 9 people in one mobile home may actually improve your profitability.
Regardless of which path you go down, I’d act sooner rather than later. Keep in mind, you also are liable for knowing there are that many people in the home. It is not safe. Heaven forbid if there is a fire and people are injured or killed; they could sue you for knowingly allowing unsafe living conditions. So take definitive action ASAP to insure everyone’s safety, and your continued profitability.
He is probably too far gone to be salvaged. If you want, you can tell him that you are getting a ton of complaints on his yard – and maybe get his yard cleaned up – but it will be probably impossible to get the extended family out. It’s up to you to decide how important these problems are to you versus the rent. My bet is that you end up non-renewing his lease and, if so, you might as well do it now.
Your methodology sounds correct.
“Tenants going bad” is a general theme of owning mobile home parks, just as much as “managers going bad”. It’s just part of the business, and is reason #1 never to become too friendly with people, as you always run the risk of having to kick them out. This guy’s problems all stem from his own bad decisions and are 100% his fault, so I would not feel guilty about it at all.
I would also suggest to check with the local bylaw inspector as most areas have restrictions on the number of persons that can occupy a building based on the number of rooms. I would guess that with 9 people it is over crowded and you can have the inspector serve them notice.
Otherwise I agree with your plan except I would never give a notice allowing 60 days to clean up. 30 days is all I would give them then if there is no action they will have another 30 before you terminate.
And remember, that whenever you enforce the park rules, while you may upset one tenant, you made the remaining tenants happier (no bad dogs, no trashed cars, no speeding, no loud music, etc.). I bet if you asked Frank, and Dave, and Jefferson and many of the other long time community owners they’d all agree with this statement. The fullest and best parks are the ones where the park rules are diligently enforced.