I own a house in northern San Diego. A property manager is handling the rental for me. The property manager found a tenant who moved in on Feb 1. I have been having problems with this tenant ever since, and would like to know at what point I can/should consider evicting them. Here are the issues:
1) They moved in Feb 1. At the end of the first month, they withheld $400 from the rent, saying that the place had not been cleaned properly when they moved in. They didn't say this when they moved in, just after a month they withheld the rent. Eventually we negotiated with them so that they could withhold $266 rather than $400.
2) As part of their lease, they were of course supposed to put the utilities (gas and electric) in their name. They did not. I continued to receive bills from SDG&E and the property manager contacted them. Eventually they agreed to pay SDG&E directly for this and backdate their SDG&E agreement to Feb 1. While they did indeed do this, it took some time and effort to get them to work this out with SDG&E.
3) The property has a pool. I previously (when I lived there) had a pool service for the pool and a gardener service for taking care of the lawn. I had wanted to rent to tenant such that I continued to pay for pool/gardener service, but these tenants asked to take care of the pool and lawn on their own in return for lower rent. After consulting with the prop manager, we hesitantly agreed. We also granted them $25/month deduction off their rent for pool chemical costs. It was not specified in the contract what exactly taking care of the pool means, so it was vague as to what should happen when the pool filter needs to be cleaned once or twice a year. I always assumed I would pay for it, which is fine. However, it turns out that the pool filter needed to be cleaned, and the tenants (not being able to recognize this as would a professional pool service person) just put lots of chemicals into the pool. They spent extra money on these chemicals. So, they told us again that they were deducting $75 from this month's rent May 1.
4) The house is generally in very good shape and in a great neighborhood. There were a couple of things that needed fixing in the house (a window downstairs that was coming out of its frame, a missing screen door on the master bedroom), but we have fixed all those issues.
My worry here is that these tenants are going to complain and nickel and dime me to death. They seem to believe that every time there is something they don't like, they can just deduct money from the rent. They have been in the property 3 months and have been a huge problem for the entire time. When we finally told them we would deliver a 3 day pay or quit notice, they said they "know their rights, have been denied their quiet use and enjoyment of the residence, and will settle in for a long costly fight."
So what should I do? At what point do I say enough is enough?
One final bit:as part of the lease agreement, we (the PM and I) can at our sole discretion decide that they are not caring for the pool and gardener properly and can hire a gardener and pool service at their expense. Not sure if this is an option we can or should employ.
1) They moved in Feb 1. At the end of the first month, they withheld $400 from the rent, saying that the place had not been cleaned properly when they moved in. They didn't say this when they moved in, just after a month they withheld the rent. Eventually we negotiated with them so that they could withhold $266 rather than $400.
2) As part of their lease, they were of course supposed to put the utilities (gas and electric) in their name. They did not. I continued to receive bills from SDG&E and the property manager contacted them. Eventually they agreed to pay SDG&E directly for this and backdate their SDG&E agreement to Feb 1. While they did indeed do this, it took some time and effort to get them to work this out with SDG&E.
3) The property has a pool. I previously (when I lived there) had a pool service for the pool and a gardener service for taking care of the lawn. I had wanted to rent to tenant such that I continued to pay for pool/gardener service, but these tenants asked to take care of the pool and lawn on their own in return for lower rent. After consulting with the prop manager, we hesitantly agreed. We also granted them $25/month deduction off their rent for pool chemical costs. It was not specified in the contract what exactly taking care of the pool means, so it was vague as to what should happen when the pool filter needs to be cleaned once or twice a year. I always assumed I would pay for it, which is fine. However, it turns out that the pool filter needed to be cleaned, and the tenants (not being able to recognize this as would a professional pool service person) just put lots of chemicals into the pool. They spent extra money on these chemicals. So, they told us again that they were deducting $75 from this month's rent May 1.
4) The house is generally in very good shape and in a great neighborhood. There were a couple of things that needed fixing in the house (a window downstairs that was coming out of its frame, a missing screen door on the master bedroom), but we have fixed all those issues.
My worry here is that these tenants are going to complain and nickel and dime me to death. They seem to believe that every time there is something they don't like, they can just deduct money from the rent. They have been in the property 3 months and have been a huge problem for the entire time. When we finally told them we would deliver a 3 day pay or quit notice, they said they "know their rights, have been denied their quiet use and enjoyment of the residence, and will settle in for a long costly fight."
So what should I do? At what point do I say enough is enough?
One final bit:as part of the lease agreement, we (the PM and I) can at our sole discretion decide that they are not caring for the pool and gardener properly and can hire a gardener and pool service at their expense. Not sure if this is an option we can or should employ.
