OK this isn’t my best side but if you have a tenant that’s causing problems for your property AND for other tenants…I’d say she’s gone. If you have a MTM lease, all you need to do is give her a 28-day notice to vacate, and you don’t need any reason to do that (at least here in WI). If you have a year lease I think you might be stuck, until the year runs out. I always do MTM leases, that way I’m always in control of my tenants. Just a thought.
I have a real problem here. Anyone ever had this problem?
Here’s the deal. Elderly woman moved into my first floor apt abt a year and a half ago, At the time she was working and all was well.
She recently has had to give up her job and is on SS due to a problem with her legs. She is a bit overweight and on all kinds of meds and such. So anyway here is the problem. Got a new tenant in the upstairs apt where I just had to evict the old tenants. This new tenant is a great gal. Young single mom - professional gal. She treats the place like it’s her own. Cuts grass, picks up around the yard, painted the front steps - you get the picture. She loves the place and wants to stay at least two or three yrs.
BUT, the smell from downstairs is beginning to become unbearable. New tenant has offered to help this lady clean her apt and do her laundry, etc. and did a couple times , but the smell comes back because quite frankly the woman does not bathe enough or do her laundry enough. When she was gone to the hospital for a few days , the smell all but disappeared so I know what the problem is. So what can I do. I’m not afraid to tell her she needs to bathe more often . In fact I have talked to her about the smell before and she admitted that the previous tenants complained to her about it also. I am concerned about the legal side of things. Can I legally ask her to move because of this. The new tenant is talking about calling the health dept about it, but she does not want to cause ME any problems. At least she told me first. I don’t want to lose the new tenant and I don’t want to get sued for some kind of discrimination either, so if any of you who actually have some idea of where I stand legaly on this or have had to remove a tenant for this reason, I really would appreciate some input.
Thanks in advance. This board has helped me quite a bit over the last couple of yrs. It’s great to have a place to read up on RE and learn from others.
Mel (IL)
This woman should be eligible for some type of social services from within your home area, I would imagine. Check them out for her and let a social case worker help the old lady with her and your building’s ordor problem. They (city/county/state health agencies and social services organizatios) should be able to eliminate the lady’s ill-affecting physical health condition and status-- without eviction efforts on your part, I would hopefully think.
Just my thoughts…
With warm regards,
Harold L. Whiteley
Lewiville, TX
(DFW-Metro-Area)
didnit i just answer this? hmmmmmm apparently my “stuff” is messed up here or i did it wrong (figures).
just in case i did it wrong and it aint here, ill summarize my first response.
try to solve the odor problem with an exhaust fan or other home improvement item before any evictions take place. its not good to evict paying tenants.
to stop health department, call them before gal does and find out what the regulations are and any suggestions they have to fix the problem, im sure theyve dealt with this before.
i know i left out several verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and a few other useless parts in the makeup of a proper sentence structure, but remember, it is a summory. and quite frankly, im not real sure my last response isnt lurking around here somewhere, and i just entered two responses to the same question. the first one is more indepth if you can find it (GOOD LUCK!)