We Regret Helping People Out Who lied...now What?

Give them notice and kick their sorry butts out. You need renters who care about pipes not freezing, etc.

Wouldn't public storage cost less?

As for your 'elected official' friend-- the next time he asks for a favor, say thanks but no thanks, let him know that he represented a nincompoop (to put it nicely) and that this ended up feeling dishonest and being far more work on your end than it needed to be. He got played, you got played.... did you do a background check on these people with a rental/credit history? Any sort of vetting?

It's simple...give them their 30 day and be done with them.

If it's a month-to-month lease, serve them with notice today that they have to be out in 30 days. Meanwhile, schedule the HVAC service and notify them with a written notice when it will take place (e-mail, and/or posted on their front door). Be there yourself to let the service provider in, if they can't be there. Please try and approach this with a clear head. This is business. Taking things personally will keep you from making logical choices. Simply follow the law, get them out of there, and move on!

go about the proper procedures and evict.. If you rented to them based on a lie.. then it's your right to get them out.. it's your property...

Give them 30 days notice since it's in the contract. I would speak with a housing lawyer, though, to make sure that you go through the process 100% legally and nothing comes back to bite you. You may end up having to evict them. I'm also hoping that you have photos of the apartment before they moved in, and remember to take photos of the place AS SOON AS you get them out. You'll need to document everything, including the repair costs and damage that are above and beyond what the lease covers, so that you can bill them for it legally.

As you find out things need to be repaired, I think you'll have to be the one to schedule the repairs and inform them the repairs are coming. If they can't be there then you'll have to be. And at that time you can photograph damages.

FYI, be careful on the legalities of a 30-day notice. I haven't rented apartments, but I have leased stalls @ barns for my horse.

Many contracts are implied as 30-day notice from the first of the month, because it is very hard for them to find somoene that wants to start in the middle of a month, & then there are 1-3 weeks of rent lost out.

So make sure that if you give them a 30 day notice, that it is from the start of the month, because otherwise they could be disadvantaged to find a place to rent starting in the middle of a month, & you might be held liable.

Check with a lawyer/professional to be sure. T.

So give them 30 days notice and evict them.

They get their 30 day notice and they are out. Or you take measures to evict them. Either way, you are done with them as soon as you can be and take it as a hard lesson learned.

Give them 30 days notice?

edited to say 30 days notice on a month to month? Give them the 30 days and be done with it.

Did you sign a lease with them? If you did then you are stuck with the current rent. If not then draw up a lease with price you usually get on the apartment. Let them know that you found out their sob story was a lie and that if they plan on staying then they'll need to pay what everyone else pays for the apartment. Make sure there's a date the rent must be paid by in that contract and when you don't have the full rent money in hand on that date start the eviction process. Expect them do leave damaged stuff so make sure you get pictures now before they mess up everything.

If you have a signed monthly lease which only requires 30 days, I think that's your answer. I absolutely agree to take photographs and document things like having to be there for cleaners and HVAC people because they were not there - because they don't live there. If the elected official asks, you can state that you found that they were not actually living there. Since they are not in such dire need after all, you are going to rent to someone else who will live in the apartment.

You said they started moving in early - who gave them a key? I didn't have a key til the day I was allowed to move in.

And change the locks as soon as they are gone.

Time to evict them since it is a month to month rental. Get the property fixed and rent to decent people who are screened. A lesson learned the hard way.

Your heart was in the right place to help a friend but the intentions of the renters were not. So the next time someone really needs a place to stay, they will not get it from you because you have been burned. That's the way the world works.

Have a good week.

the other S.

I think if they clearly lied, then the contract should be voided, they should be evicted and no deposits of any kind returned.

Per you SWH, I see there is a 30 day clause on each side for the contract to be broken. I would give them the 30 day notice today.

You were trying to be helpful, they took advantage of you, and you could possibly be out major expenses to make repairs they ignored.

Best wishes.

i think it sucks rocks that they lied to you (GEEZ i hate that) but i don't know that you don't also bear some responsibility here.
how long you should rent at the discounted rate depends largely on what the agreement was when they moved in, which you don't mention. if you were led to believe it was a short-term dealio, why not write that into the lease?
they don't sound like good tenants, but many aren't. if you are active landlords, and it sounds as if you are, you must know that tenants aren't motivated or reliable when it comes to service calls. you and your dad just need to cover those scheduling issues yourselves.
not letting you know about the heater would probably be the last straw for me. and that's a perfectly good reason to give them notice today. it sounds as if you have plenty of acceptable business reasons to end this business relationship. 'they lied to me' is annoying, but less relevant.
khairete
S.

Based on your "SWH" I would give them 30 days.

Okay, so YOU know they don't feel the need to be your dad's liason. Time for someone else to manage this property if he doesn't want take time to do it.

It's his property correct? I think it's the property owners job and responsibility to take care of their own buildings. He should be calling the repair person and taking care of getting them a key. If the renters don't want to be there for the repair man then the owner should take care of that. I'd say he needs to be there or have one of you be there.

I don't know that you guys can't just raise the rent on them after giving them notice that you've given them a discounted rate that is good for 30, 60, or 90 days. Then the original rate will begin. The lease is a 30 day deal so change it.

Interesting dilemma with helpful advice already...

Just want to add my 2 cents, that my husband and I found it cheaper to rent a vacation townhome then to rent a storage unit for our extra furniture intended for a vacation property.

It sounds like they aren't occupying the unit. Ask a lawyer to read your contract and tell you if you can get out of renting it to them when they are only using it for storage, and not occupying it.

Good luck - I hope you can get out of this.