Getting rid of a tenant
My boyfriend and I just closed on a building. It is a four story, four unit building which is fully occupied by tenants who have all been living there for a few years. Our plan is to combine the basement and first floor apartment, creating a duplex for us to live in. The lease issued…
My boyfriend and I just closed on a building. It is a four story, four unit building which is fully occupied by tenants who have all been living there for a few years. Our plan is to combine the basement and first floor apartment, creating a duplex for us to live in. The lease issued to the two tenants who currently occupy the first floor unit expired Aug. 1st and was not renewed by the previous landlord (since he knew we wanted the unit for ourselves). We would like to give them two months notice to move out so that we can move in. My question is, what is the best way to go about giving them notice? Do we write them a letter? Speak to them in person? Do we do both? We would like to handle things in a fair and amicable manner. Any words of advice appreciated.
oh wow – this could be a major pain. I agree – start the eviction process now. It takes months. You can be talking to them calmly at the same time.
Evict them? On what grounds? If they’re month-to-month tenants, you need to give them 30 days notice, as above poster detailed. You can’t just go into court and evict tenants without going through that step first.
Plus, I don’t quite understand the assumption–very prevalent on Brownstoner–that all tenants are devious people trying to take advantage. I’ll admit, there are some tenants who are like that, as donatella’s post indicates. But, as donatella’s post also indicates, those tenants had other issues that should’ve served as a clue to how they were going to behave.
Go talk to your tenants. Give them the appropriate notice in writing. Warn them that if they don’t comply you will evict them.
I think that it is possible to get someone to move out in your time frame, but improbable especially if the tenants have been there a long time and/or have families. I heard all the horror stories when I bought my place and hoped that my inherited tenant with entourage of roommates, guests, illegal subtenants, etc. would move at the end of her lease. I gave the tenant 5 months notice that I would not renew the lease, talked to her continuously (i.e. trying to be humane, amicable, above board human being that the nuns and my parents would be proud of) and to my disgust and horror, she gave me a rash of cockamamie stories of her real estate deal gone bad the week before the end of the lease. I immediately went the eviction route and the process scared her (and company) into moving out 6 weeks after the start of the process. I had to sue to get my money and got it. It wasn’t fun but tenant landlord court works.
Unfortunately, this is fairly typical from what I have heard from others and I have to say that the blunt advice of 6:15 has the ring of truth. You can talk to the people and try to assess where they are at since not everyone will go the “evict me” route but if they are long time tenants, its like what do you want to do with the bandaid. Rip it off slow or rip it off fast. It’s probably going to hurt a little no matter what you do. Evicting is the rip it off fast approach. A friend of mine used to approach tenants first with an offer of moving money. He said to them that the law was on his side, the courts would evict the tenant but that they had a choice of where he spent his money — on legal fees or moving money for them. He had some success with that route.
Consult with a tenant landlord lawyer. There is a process which can take up to 6 months if you evict. Marc Aronson on Smith Street is an experienced tenant landlord lawyer who will consult with you. He will also charge a flat fee of 1500 dollars for all of the legal work involved with an eviction, including coming to court with you.
You can do everything on your own, but as new buyers you need some advice.
Hopefully, everything will go well, but be fully prepared for if it doesn’t. You need to understand the law and how it works.
Good luck with your new place.
Not sure what the purpose of name calling is. You may disagree with another poster. No need to be childish about it.
The above poster’s advice is not very good. If you wish to actually utilize the apartment, start the eviction process.
Please refrain from name calling.
One, ignore the idiots. There’s plenty of horror stories and there’s even more examples of things running smoothly.
Two, there’s a formal letter that is used to notify folks that you’re not renewing their lease. use that and hand it to them personally. However, the letter is incredibly impersonal and legal. When I used it I explained that this was a standard practice and to please forgive the harsh wording.
Three, giving them two months notice formally – and perhaps more if tenants have been there a long time – is a nice thing to do. Legally you have to give 30 days to the end of the following month. i.e. if you give the notice to them Sept 2nd, they have til the end of the month that 30 days gives them – Oct 31 in other words. But if you give it to them on August 31, they’d be required to leave no later than September 30.
Good luck and enjoy your new home!
I am the 6:15 idiot.
I own five brownstones and have twenty tenants.
This is what will happen if you “give” them two or three or four months or whatever.
They will agree.
Two months will pass.
Their new apartment will fall through.
They will ask for another month or two. Or three.
You get the picture.
Don’t evict them and regret it.
Best to ignore idiots like 6:15.
It’s a business relationship. Most people are accomodating if you treat them right. Talk to them to get a feeling for where they are at. Give them 3 months, not 2. If you feel they are going to dig in their heels, *then* you raise the ante.
You will need to evict them.
Follow the above advice and six months will pass and then you will hire a lawyer.
Start the eviction process NOW.
Yes, put it all in writing and speak to them about your plans. You will quickly see if you have a problem on your hands or not. This story is something I hear often and it sometimes comes with anger from a tenant. Do your best to be kind to yor tenant and it may go better than you think. If you end up with an angry tenant on your hands, distant yourself and file for eviction. Try to keep a cool head about it.