Ask tenants to vacate during excavation?

Hello all — We are vacating our home during our cellar excavation because we live in the bottom duplex apartment. We have an upper duplex apartment that we’ve rented out to excellent tenants with whom we’ve had a great long-term relationship. At this point we’re on a month-to-month verbal lease.
My original thinking was to ask the tenants if they want to stay during the excavation since they will be two floors above the construction and the excavation will be by hand, so no heavy equipment will be involved, and we are underpinning the foundation.
But is this the right move? Should we force them to relocate for safety reasons? The other idea I had was to offer the tenants a heavily discounted rent for them to sublet elsewhere during the period of heaviest construction, as an incentive for them to move back in later.

moriata

in General Discussion 7 years and 10 months ago

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daveinbedstuy | 7 years and 10 months ago

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OK. Understood.

moriata | 7 years and 10 months ago

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Oh, I thought you meant it was a terrible inconvenience for me. We’ve lived in this building for more than a decade and could only afford the HELOC recently to pursue much-needed work. The tenants also have been here for several years and we’re sad to lose them indeed.

daveinbedstuy | 7 years and 10 months ago

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A rather flippant reply. Could you have scheduled this work before they moved in.

moriata | 7 years and 10 months ago

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@daveinbedstuy that’s the name of the game!

daveinbedstuy | 7 years and 10 months ago

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A terrible inconvenience and for an indeterminate amount of time.

moriata | 7 years and 10 months ago

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Thanks all. Our structural engineer just informed me that the hot water heater, boiler and sewer main will all be disconnected during the work so it seems like they should move for sure.

anotherposter | 7 years and 10 months ago

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I think talking to the tenants about it is the way to go. You don’t need to immediately offer up all these possibilities, but let them know the work that will be done and the time frame and see how they feel about staying in place. If they work from home, it could be a problem but otherwise, I’d mostly worry about construction dust or smoking workers. Make sure the workers seal off any openings (even seemingly well-sealed doors) between your spaces. I’d also make it clear to the tenants that you’d appreciate them keeping you abreast of any changes, even if they are not a real problem for them, just so you know whats going on in your house–new cracks in a wall, plumbing issues, workers leaving messes outside, etc.

daveinbedstuy | 7 years and 10 months ago

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During construction like that, rats are more likely to flee to neighboring houses. Just make sure your sink drains and supply access holes are properly sealed.

dorkofwindsor | 7 years and 10 months ago

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If rats are already in the basement structure then that would mean you would already have rats and should be gagging regardless of construction. However to me it seems like an unreasonable fear to vacate the house, i would wait until there is proof that you actually have rats – if not, they sure wont be looking to settle in an active construction site so you are likely safe. You could lay tons of traps in the basement before work starts if it helps ease your fears. If you did have them there should be plenty of highly obvious clues.

moriata | 7 years and 10 months ago

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We have health reasons for relocating ourselves. I spoke with someone who has done the same work and they mentioned that rats were stirred up by the excavation, the thought of which has me gagging.

daveinbedstuy | 7 years and 10 months ago

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I don’t see any reason for either of you to vacate while this work is being done.