Landlords rights with Tenant, unsupervised daughter, break ins, smoking, drugs?et

[nicole1]

My jurisdiction is: Texas

Tenant is on a signed lease, has a 16 yr old grandaughter living with her. They are renting my house, where I used to live and I had no issues on safety and know all my neighbors.( principals, nurses, etc.)
Per the neighbors...evidently the teenager has 1-5 men aged 16- 22 over at a time accessing bedroom window, loittering, smoking cigarettes(?) or othewise? . Generally upsetting the neighbors, littering trash, even condoms were found and making them worry about their kids safety. My rental was broken into 4 x's ( since dec. 23/08)via the same bedroom window that all her friends are accessing. tv, laptops and gameboys ( all items that can be hocked) are being stolen. No front door /glass broken on any of these breakins. Neighbors say they think the daughter is skipping out of school. Oh , yes The grandma never notifed me of ANY breakins except one on March 9 by email and then a letter came from a lawyer.
The bottom line is the grandmother (about age 63) seems to be unaware of this or at the very least not supervising her grandaughter or so it would appear. ( a lot of this happens during the day while Grandmother is at work, but some on the weekends)A. I don't want to keep paying for break in repairs,B. I don't want my neighbors safety jeparodized,C.Neither do I want my 145,000 house trashed.
As an ethical nurse /landlord I cannot just accept payment knowing this is going on... what if these thugs, druggies, whatever burn my house down or something...
The grandma was informed over 1 year ago, that she could set up monitoring with the alarm system in my house, and the lease says she is responsible for any damages. Now either to cover her self, she had a lawyer send a letter to say we need permission to set up alarm ( which is no problem I already gave that) and wants more locks installed ( on a 5 yr old house) and wants me to pay for the bedroom window repair, becuse the home was broken in to again March 11th. I feel I cannot just go talk to her as she has a lawyr now and seems oblivious that her grandaughter is anythign but an angel and she does not accept any responsiblity for the monitoring of her grandaughters behavior or she would not be permitting the above if she did.

I have 3 questions;
1. Do I have to respond to that lawyer, I have already added 2 keyless deadbolts to ext,. doors, There were keyed ones prior...repaired the window and screen,,,and given writen permission to an alarm company she contacted to get a quote for monitoring.,; or can I write the grandma and tell her to copy the lawyer ( basicially I am put off she is hiring a lawyer to make me do things when it appears things are out of control at her end). I hate getting certified mail when I feel I have done nothing wrong!

2. Legally what recourse do I have with the apparent goings on at the bedroom window of an unsupervised child...(evidently there were 4 break ins, Yes 4! and the tenant notified me by email regarding a mar. 9 th break in and before I read it another B+ e happend on Mar. 11) . Can I write her a letter stating no smoking, no overnight guestsof an unsupervisd 16 yr old, no loittering on the property, no littering, no climbing on the roof, and give her 30 days to repiair that as well as the grass at the bedroom wndow which iss nonexistant due to the traffic at that bedroom window,, oh anad use the front door for entry and that all of that needs to be corrected in 30 days or I will evict. My lease does say no smoking. On inspection there are some blinds broken that I have asked her to replace, but the lawyers letter says she will replace then when she leaves!!! Is that right , can a lawyer say when a tenant will repair damages...what if I need to show that home to prospective tenants, or buyers. How is that right?

3. So can I ask that all of that be corrected now???Her lease is up in Sept. 30th/09 and I may not renew, but I do not want this behavior going on anymore at my home. My neighbors are upset with me for the situation I have caused by renting to her. Some will write me a signed note and some fear retaliation( I was thinking evidence in case a judge asked why I needed to evict). Yes, she pays her rent on time! ( that s the only good thing about it) The priority seems to be to get the behavior at the house under control
Please your advice would be appreciated.

Hard working mother/nurse dragging her feet on spending her time to repond to a tenant who is seemingly the cause of the breakins.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Is the daughter on the lease?

Have you considered consulting an attorney to begin the eviction process on grandma?

It would be useful evidence for eviction if the neighbors contacted the police when they see such activity (I'm assuming you don't live nearby).

Gail

 

[nicole1]

Thank you for responding.
The lease only says the Grandma, but the grandaughter is listed on the application as those under 18 who will occupy the home.

I was searching for an attorney/or solution to see what I can evict for??? when I came across this site. I do not know if I have enough grounds to evict? But truency, minors smoking??, neighbors written statements you would think are cause enogh, as well as four break ins

We were just transferred back now, so I do reside close by now.

One of the neighbors did contact the police when the group was loittering and caused a disturbance, so yes there is one police record for that.

I have ordered the police reports ( public version has minimal information) for B+ entry; left a message with the city police for a callback.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

There is nothing that says you cannot send a letter to Grandma stating that there have been complaints regarding strangers not listed on the lease loittering and littering around the grandaughters window and if such activity does not immediately cease you will consider eviction proceedings. Send this registered mail so you have documentation Granny was notified.

A letter coming from an attorney (and they write these all the time) carries more weight.

Gail

 

[nicole1]

Oh Gail, you are awesome!! Thank you so much for your answer. I originally rented to the Grandma,(and reduced her rent)because I thought she was doing the right thing, taking in the grandaughter. My eyes have since been opened. Many thanks !

 

[nicole1]

Gail ...waiting on a third lawyer to call back to get the letter written, plus 2 neighbors are writing me letters of guests going thro bedroomwindow , etc, etc. In the meantime I have given her permission to have monitoring for alarm ( this was demanded by her lawyer). Now I gave 24 hr notice to come over and inspect cigarette burns... etc. and she said the alarm is set.. and no she can't get off work. What are my rights to view my own home when she is paying for the alarm monitoring using my security system??? I thought 24 hour notice and I can go by myself, except this alarm is on. Should I not have my own code? Signed waking up in the night, thinking about this, (should I hire a prop. manager or just hire a lawyer) and biting my nails off. Do you have any connections wth landlord lawyers in ARlington/mansfield Dallas Texas?? Thanks in advance

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

You should have your own code to be able to access the rental unit in the case of an emergency. It's pretty standard practice to give the landlord (or property management) the ability to access the unit in such matters.

I suspect Grandma is dumb as a stick (or has blinders on) to the fact that it's likely her own grandaughters "boyfriends" are the ones breaking into the place and now that the alarm is in place (and hopefully granny isn't dumb enough to give the girl the code, although it's likely she has) things should settle down.

Gail

 

[nicole1]

Gail. Thanks for the response and the calmingness you provide. It is really appreciated. If you should have a connection re lawyers out here, I am all ears!! Again, many thanks!!