Business Advice Needed

[mnole03]

What do I do about tenants who are trying to back out of lease?

A little background: I rent a small carriage house behind our main house to a young couple and their beautiful dog.

Seemingly out of nowhere they notified me of their intent to move, and now they’re not answering my calls or texts. From a practical perspective, what are my options?

 

[ANYCHawk]

Gonna need pic of the young lady

 

[tumorboy]

Time to go screw the hell out of that dog.

 

[Joes Place]

What do I do about tenants who are trying to back out of lease?

A little background: I rent a small carriage house behind our main house to a young couple and their beautiful dog.

Seemingly out of nowhere, they notified me of their intent to move, and now they’re not answering my calls or texts. From a practical perspective, what are my options?

Small claims court.
Whatever your lease agreement says, but if they owe for the remainder of the lease, sue them for it.

EDIT: and do this BEFORE they move, because once they move, you'll have to figure out where they are to serve them the paperwork

Of course, you could negotiate an agreement with them for breaking the lease, but you should inform them of their liability for the full lease amount AND any and all expenses you incur recovering that amount.

And just b/c you win it, doesn't mean you get it; you may need to further garnish wages, etc. So depends on how much time you want to put in. Hopefully, you kept a last-month rent and deposit, because this example is exactly WHY landlords do that.

 

[hawkeyetraveler]

What do I do about tenants who are trying to back out of lease?

A little background: I rent a small carriage house behind our main house to a young couple and their beautiful dog.

Seemingly out of nowhere, they notified me of their intent to move, and now they’re not answering my calls or texts. From a practical perspective, what are my options?

Invite them over to talk it out. Offer them some peanut butter and alone time with the dog.

That should do the trick.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

That’s ruff, dog.

 

[OrlandNole]

Pics of dog?

 

[ANYCHawk]

Small claims court.
Whatever your lease agreement says, but if they owe for the remainder of the lease, sue them for it.

Often times that's not worth the hassle.

And if they've skipped town, how are you gonna serve them/collect?

 

[ANYCHawk]

You could practice your shoe tying.

Holy multi quote function batman!

 

[Fijimn]

What does your lease say?

 

[Joes Place]

Often times that's not worth the event.

And if they've skipped town, how are you gonna serve them/collect?

Yes, just edited this as you posted that comment.

 

[hawkeyetraveler]

Some of you are missing the context for this thread...

Context

 

[tumorboy]

That’s ruff, dog.

Just make sure the bitch isn't in heat. Remember you're not only sleeping with her, but every bone she's buried.

 

[j0nnyhb_Prime]

If they didn’t trash anything, probably call it a day and count your blessings.

 

[tumorboy]

Holy multi quote function batman!

No kidding clearasil that shit ape.

 

[mnole03]

If they didn’t trash anything, probably call it a day and count your blessings.

That’s what I’m thinking. They seem like serious flakes. Perhaps I should just sleeping dogs lie.

 

[ConvenientParking]

That’s what I’m thinking. They seem like serious flakes. I may have dogged a bullet with this one.

@Joes Place spent a lot of time giving a thoughtful response which I'm sure you're grateful for. If you would like some additional advice, slate.com has a great advice column a la Dear Abby except their advertisers give them more flexibility

Slate | Dear Prudence

Everything on Slate about Dear Prudence

slate.com

 

[hwk23]

That’s what I’m thinking. They seem like serious flakes. I may have dogged a bullet with this one.

Yep. Be thankful they didn’t decide to stay and just quit paying rent. This would be pretty easy under the September COVID regulations, they just need to send you written notification meeting certain criteria, (or if you live in California). Afterall you must be a rich landlord so you can subsidize them right.

 

[tumorboy]

That’s what I’m thinking. They seem like serious flakes. I may have dogged a bullet with this one.

Did the previous renters have a labrador puppy by chance?

 

[ConvenientParking]

Hey OP you've represented yourself as an attorney on here before. I'm suspicious that you should know better than to seek our advice on this matter?

 

[OrlandNole]

What does your lease say?

It's a poorly written contract. Too much ambiguity under the Doggystyle Indemnification Clause.

 

[dirtypool]

You should teach their dog a lesson

 

[FormerlyCyberCy]

Small claims court.
Whatever your lease agreement says, but if they owe for the remainder of the lease, sue them for it.

EDIT: and do this BEFORE they move, because once they move, you'll have to figure out where they are to serve them the paperwork

Of course, you could negotiate an agreement with them for breaking the lease, but you should inform them of their liability for the full lease amount AND any and all expenses you incur recovering that amount.

And just b/c you win it, doesn't mean you get it; you may need to further garnish wages, etc. So depends on how much time you want to put in. Hopefully, you kept a last-month rent and deposit, because this example is exactly WHY landlords do that.

We rented my son’s condo when he was in the Navy. Kept the damage deposit and got busy renting it back out. Not wasting time and energy on suing people for moving out.

 

[h-hawk]

Don't know why the sounds from your house is scaring that young couple away - I love to hear screamers during sex myself. (But it is unusual for both of you to do so.)

 

[Hammer93]

If they are currently late on rent, file the eviction paperwork and let the courts set the eviction hearing in front of a judge. Most likely they will not show up. Sheriff will get the paperwork from the courts and notify you that they are going to set up an eviction date where you can change locks or paddle lock the doors. You need to be proactive so that if they just decide not to pay rent, make false promises to delay you evicting them and ultimately increase your overall damages. Get the process moving so you can get them out as soon as possible. Don't prolong the pain. You will need an attorney to dot the i's and cross the t's in the process.

 

[cfbfan23]

We own a number of rental properties, so this is a situation we occasionally encounter.

The answer is usually to hold the renter to the lease agreement, especially if it will take a while to find new renters. The times we have made exceptions were for long-time renters who historically paid on time. These were folks that had major life events (early graduation, new out-of-state job, etc.) happen that they weren't counting on when they signed. We had a lot of trust in them before it all happened. We've even done it for folks who were just letting us know about their situation and not even asking to get out of the lease.

These tenants don't seem to know how the real world works. A ding to their credit may be exactly what they need. At some point, they're probably going to want to buy a house. Their potential mortgage lenders need to know about this type of behavior/activity.....can the couple really be depended on to fulfill their monthly mortgage obligation for the duration?

The easiest thing to do would be nothing, especially if you can rent the place tomorrow. You know these people reasonably well. Do you think they would do this to to another landlord in the future? If the answer is "yes", you may want to take them through the process.

 

[soybean]

Being a landlord is a business, not a social service agency. All of this talk of teaching them some sort of lesson is a waste of your time and your resources. Spend your time getting a new tenet and stop taking this personally.

 

[Rifler]

Hold their security deposit, search for a new renter and have your lawyer update your lease agreements to contain more favorable and enforceable conditions going forward...

 

[jberesford]

What do I do about tenants who are trying to back out of lease?

A little background: I rent a small carriage house behind our main house to a young couple and their beautiful dog.

Seemingly out of nowhere, they notified me of their intent to move, and now they’re not answering my calls or texts. From a practical perspective, what are my options?

Can't really answer this without lease details and your state. Generally speaking if you think they're the kind of people that value their credit and don't want to be sued, then do so if you're going to be out a bunch of money on this. If they're losers don't bother. Getting a judgement for the amount you want isn't likely to happen, but atleast here it usually gets mediated first simply on the threat of court and an agreement is usually reached. The goal to cover damages if there are any and cover missing rents for a month or two until you find new renters. Just my two cents for someone who's worked in rental business for many years.

 

[unsubstantiated]

When I bought my first house my FICO was 803, but my report still had an unpaid $50 late fee from an apartment complex from 7 years prior. My lender just laughed.

 

[Joes Place]

We rented my son’s condo when he was in the Navy. Kept the damage deposit and got busy renting it back out. Not wasting time and energy on suing people for moving out.

That's exactly what first/last/deposit is all about. The tenancy laws favor renters, although few realize it.

 

[seminoledq]

As we just learned from the Mets GM, if they aren't answering your calls/texts, it's time to send the dick pics.

 

[theVoicefromtheTomb]

Doggone it. You people are beasts.

👍for the original poster

 

[stout1]

I love that even after linking the post that the OP is using as a parody that we have people giving serious advice in this thread.

FYI people...He is making a joke about a thread where the landlord was screwing a dog.

Seriously.

 

[j0nnyhb_Prime]

I love that even after linking the post that the OP is using as a parody that we have people giving serious advice in this thread.

FYI people...He is making a joke about a thread where the landlord was screwing a dog.

Seriously.

If you guys actually expect me to read all your crap, how could I get anything else done LOL, you got me.

 

[mnole03]

If you guys actually expect me to read all your crap, how could I get anything else done LOL, you got me.

I feel like this thread is a good representation of HROT: A healthy mix of good advice and low brow humor.