scooter pie
Jul 2, 2009, 08:20 AM
Hi,
We rented a house a couple of months ago to two single women and a 13 year old daughter. They are not a couple. We all signed a lease (along with a separate tenant responsibility policy) which was very specific including parking instructions all guests are to park on street so they won't block in other tenants or us from coming or going. It is also a non smoking house. Tenant is responsible for all guests, rent is to be received on the 15th, no borders etc.
Shortly after they moved in there was trouble with a guest a loud argument happened in the back yard and the guest wouldn't leave. Our other tenant a single woman was frightened and called us. We call the tenant, it just so happened we knew the guest that they were having trouble with and we told the tenants that he was not welcome on the property. A couple of weeks later we found out they invited him in again. Again I asked about the situation they assured me they wanted nothing to do with him. I told them we would take care of the problem. We observed a car parked on or in front of the property late at night and early in the morning so I reminded them that there are to be no borders and that they were the only ones who should be living there. They keep assuring me the boyfriend is not living there but the car is there all of the time. In the mean time they were having trouble understanding the parking situation. We had to speak to them several times and to refer to the lease and explained again where they and their guests should park. The first rent payment which was made with two separate personal checks. One of them they wouldn't cash do to lack of funds. The bank did finally cash it two days later. I did call the tenant to let them know. This also happened with the deposit. Recently they had a party a loud party, the other tenant and some neighbors called me complaining, and the tenant finally went over at 2:00 am. To ask them to be quiet. She earlier, had asked their guest who were having an argument outside to take it inside. They took it to the front yard where I myself picked up bear cans the following morning. I went to the house the following morning upset that all of these things were going on and they hadn't been there even 2 months, (I did check them out) I informed them they could not have any more parties here because obviously they could not control their guest (remember this was the second time things got out of control and they don't seem to be aware of what their guests are doing) I went over with them that they signed a lease and we have the right to enforce it, and one of those things is they are responsible for their guests. While I was there I observed a overflowing ashtray on the kitchen table, which I addressed with one of the tenants. The next day I went back because I wanted everyone to be on the same page
And I wanted to speak to them both I went with a letter in hand which went over each concern we went over and that we expected the issues that have been disregarded up to this point must be resolved or the lease would be terminated immediately if it was not abided by. They both signed the paper as I did and dated it. Although one of the tenants I think gets it, the other one was very verbal. I told her if she wasn't happy she could always leave. Which she responded you can't kick us out it's against the law we have a minor! Well the truth is she's not the one with the minor and I thought that only applied in cold weather? Second that's not what I was saying, I told her, I was saying if you aren't happy here you can go.
She called me this morning to tell me she e-mailed me in response to the letter they signed over the other day. I have not received any e-mail yet. I thought we were moving on from here. However, apparently, this morning my husband driving to work say the boyfriends car in the driveway still. And the other boy fried driving into the driveway while my husband was their my husband asked if his girlfriend had told him about the conversation we had over the weekend with them about other people living there he said no so my husband explained it to him, he denied living their he just wanted to visit his girlfriend.
I know I am rambling but my question if not obvious by now is do we have the right to enforce our very explicit lease? How much can we enforce these issues? And what methods to enforce the lease?
When I spoke with the tenant this morning after this incident (she called me) she used the word harassment , we are the one who have been puting the position to address these very serious issues due to the complaints we have received.
We rented a house a couple of months ago to two single women and a 13 year old daughter. They are not a couple. We all signed a lease (along with a separate tenant responsibility policy) which was very specific including parking instructions all guests are to park on street so they won't block in other tenants or us from coming or going. It is also a non smoking house. Tenant is responsible for all guests, rent is to be received on the 15th, no borders etc.
Shortly after they moved in there was trouble with a guest a loud argument happened in the back yard and the guest wouldn't leave. Our other tenant a single woman was frightened and called us. We call the tenant, it just so happened we knew the guest that they were having trouble with and we told the tenants that he was not welcome on the property. A couple of weeks later we found out they invited him in again. Again I asked about the situation they assured me they wanted nothing to do with him. I told them we would take care of the problem. We observed a car parked on or in front of the property late at night and early in the morning so I reminded them that there are to be no borders and that they were the only ones who should be living there. They keep assuring me the boyfriend is not living there but the car is there all of the time. In the mean time they were having trouble understanding the parking situation. We had to speak to them several times and to refer to the lease and explained again where they and their guests should park. The first rent payment which was made with two separate personal checks. One of them they wouldn't cash do to lack of funds. The bank did finally cash it two days later. I did call the tenant to let them know. This also happened with the deposit. Recently they had a party a loud party, the other tenant and some neighbors called me complaining, and the tenant finally went over at 2:00 am. To ask them to be quiet. She earlier, had asked their guest who were having an argument outside to take it inside. They took it to the front yard where I myself picked up bear cans the following morning. I went to the house the following morning upset that all of these things were going on and they hadn't been there even 2 months, (I did check them out) I informed them they could not have any more parties here because obviously they could not control their guest (remember this was the second time things got out of control and they don't seem to be aware of what their guests are doing) I went over with them that they signed a lease and we have the right to enforce it, and one of those things is they are responsible for their guests. While I was there I observed a overflowing ashtray on the kitchen table, which I addressed with one of the tenants. The next day I went back because I wanted everyone to be on the same page
And I wanted to speak to them both I went with a letter in hand which went over each concern we went over and that we expected the issues that have been disregarded up to this point must be resolved or the lease would be terminated immediately if it was not abided by. They both signed the paper as I did and dated it. Although one of the tenants I think gets it, the other one was very verbal. I told her if she wasn't happy she could always leave. Which she responded you can't kick us out it's against the law we have a minor! Well the truth is she's not the one with the minor and I thought that only applied in cold weather? Second that's not what I was saying, I told her, I was saying if you aren't happy here you can go.
She called me this morning to tell me she e-mailed me in response to the letter they signed over the other day. I have not received any e-mail yet. I thought we were moving on from here. However, apparently, this morning my husband driving to work say the boyfriends car in the driveway still. And the other boy fried driving into the driveway while my husband was their my husband asked if his girlfriend had told him about the conversation we had over the weekend with them about other people living there he said no so my husband explained it to him, he denied living their he just wanted to visit his girlfriend.
I know I am rambling but my question if not obvious by now is do we have the right to enforce our very explicit lease? How much can we enforce these issues? And what methods to enforce the lease?
When I spoke with the tenant this morning after this incident (she called me) she used the word harassment , we are the one who have been puting the position to address these very serious issues due to the complaints we have received.