Need serious advice about tenants/landlord problem

[gearbox]

hey guys, my dad and i rented our old house to some tenants 2 months ago and we are having alot of issues with this guy and his girlfriend (well only the guy actually). i was wondering what sort of action we can take to figure this out and solve the problem. everything i try to do to help the situation turns against me. he signed a 1 year lease first of all, and in the lease it says front and back lawns must be mowed and taken care of every 1-2 weeks. the front is a normal small yard, back is 1/3 acre a bit bigger. the problem started when this guy kept making promises to mow the lawn and before we knew it, over a month passed by and it looks like a mess everywhere. so finally a week ago we had to go there a few times and basically give him orders and demands that this lawn must be mowed now. it happened over a period of a few days tho. we didnt just show up randomly and demand it to be done the same day. finally he calls one of his friends to mow it, and uses our lawn mower which we said was off limits and it had a note on it saying the oil and gas needed to be changed from last year. they use it anyway. the guy then pretty much calls my dad and cusses him out for "bothering" him and harassment all the time. basically we were only there 3 times this month and we called each time to tell we were coming. we just wanted the lawn mowed. too much to ask? now besides that, i also told him at the beginning that we would have free access to the front and backyards and he agreed (only verbal tho). now hes total opposite lazy guy who wants to be left alone completely. he was also $100 short on the last rest so we worked out a deal for him to install toilet and we will count the rent for that. well he finally did it altho it took a week longer than he promised. the house is a mess now, theres all sorts of equipment and junk everywhere, the doors are always open for bugs and mice to go in, there is junk on the grass like wood chips and logs, and furniture, broken glass on driveway, overall condition is turning to crap inside and out. and he has a box of 5 chickens in house when the lease says no pets (he got these for easter i guess). he is a compulsive liar and an alcoholic who has parties and is drunk everytime we talk to him. we dont know how to smoothen things out because nothing will please him short of us completely disappearing and letting the house fall to crap. so fast forward a week to yesterday, i was driving by the house and noticed the sprinklers werent on. we have fully programmed automatic system to run twice a week on our designated watering days, so its very important that they work when they are supposed to. i called him about it, he was drunk again and said nothings wrong and that the water was on all day (liar), i told him we need to check out the control unit and i was gonna stop by tomorrow morning. i came today, he was at work. i called, he threw a fit on the phone saying im interrupting his work and that i need to leave him alone and theres no problem. i said i checked the control box and theres no live power and the power cord was removed. he denied it. so now the lawn didnt get watered this week at all, and starting to turn yellow. wtf do i do? hes gonna call me tonight supposedly after work and if hes smart he will just plug the box back in. but then when we leave it gets unplugged again. im not playing these games. so short of throwing him out for numerous lease violations and being an overall troublemaker, what can we do without going to court trying to evict him for another few months when it drags on? im lost here. i already offered him today that i will mow the lawns myself for the whole summer for free, to solve the problem, and he still refused. i finally told him, i insist, and he agreed. not sure if this was a good idea or not, since now he could be waiting for me with a knife or something. this guy has serious issues. now i need to figure out how to keep the sprinklers working short of putting a new outlet outside and building a locked box around it. sheesh. i never knew people like to make so much trouble for themselves. any ideas for me? all help is appreciated.

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[BJanzen]

Honestly I would just evict him, I doubt he has enough money to truly go to court anyways. As long as you know you can get a new tenant that would be the best bet in the long run.

If not, for the sprinkler problem, we have a oulet box with a lock on the outside, ill see if i can find a place to order them.

Sorry to hear you have a prick of a tenant...Im in the opposite side, except im a pretty good tenant that gets screwed for everything that goes wrong. They tried saying since the sump pump went out that it was my fault when part of my house flooded (lease says I cant even go in the room the sump pump is in which I havent).

Hope you get these problems figured out, ill post a link if i find that outlet lock.

[gearbox]

well heres an update, we def need a lockbox next time around for the sprinkler box. but i ended up finding out that he didnt like the water coming on so long (two days a week) cause he has parties in the backyard. so i ended up lowering the water times to only 15 mins a station or an hour total. so far its stayed plugged in and now that i forced him to agree that i will be mowing the lawns every 2 weeks, i just turn the water on manually after mowing. so thats done.

heres another problem he just came up with. and dads out of town for another two weeks so im stuck dealing with this d-bag. he called and left a message saying he just got a splinter from the wood floors, and as a result he wants the whole house to be redone by a professional or he offered to do it himself in exchange for rent. haha! what a baby! he thinks we're gonna pay to install a brand new wood floor in a 60+ yr old house? because he gets a splinter and calls crying about it? i really dont think were required to do that. i think im just gonna call and tell him ill come over with sandpaper and smoothen it out. wow this guy non stop comes up with problems and makes a big deal out of everything. ive never seen anything like it.

[TRIZ]

Print out an eviction notice and get it delivered w/ tracking number. Kick that dude out and get the house back to how it looked before him. Revise your lease agreement before signing a new tenant.

[gearbox]

ya the problem is we dont wanna waste our time in courts trying to get him out, and then find out he trashed the house later. so were playing along for now til his lease is up. believe me i know the laws and its not as easy as saying gtfo. were already keeping alot of his deposit to fix the brand new fireplace tiles he broke.

[speedfoos]

He's going to cause more damage over the next 10 months than if you get him evicted now. Get his ass out now or you guys are going to regret it.

[TRIZ]

Here ya go bro:
http://www.amazon.com/Successful-Evi...5099085&sr=8-2

[DeX]

What a whiny bitch. You should go to all the liquor stores within walking distance and convince them not to sell anything to this douchebag. At least take a picture of him and post it here for our amusement.

[gearbox]

i honestly dont know where he gets the money to be drinking every day. everytime i go to mow the lawn theres a huge garbage bin full of crushed beer cans. yeah Dex thats pretty much what he is lol. constant whining and complaining. ive never met a contractor i liked tho. i called and said i can come over and sand down the splinter spots (there were only 3 in the whole house), he says he already did that and put tape over it. im like okay? why did you even call? he says its just temporary and the floor still needs to be redone. whatever, do you guys think the splinters are gonna grow back like a plant? lmao. im sick of arguing so ill just wait til dad gets back and let him deal with it.

[gearbox]

sooo... now he's 6 days late on the rent (and owes a water bill for last month, he still has not switched service to his name). and not answering the phone. we left a note on the door and the next letter will be certified eviction.

[DeX]

The water's in your name? Oh man, just call and cancel it. Let him order water if he wants it.

[gearbox]

not that easy im afraid, then our lawns dont get any water. yeah the water is in our name since he moved in few months ago lol. we gave him all the info and phone numbers to call so theres not much else. he prolly doesnt have good credit to have it in his name, water company prolly rejected him.

[gearbox]

okay, we finally went to the house on day 7, turns out he had an accident on july 4th weekend where he fell off a dirtbike and skinned his leg and had few bruised ribs. i guess that qualifies as a big enough emergency not to call at all for a week to let us know what happened. well finally we get most of the money (less $20 and less the water bill and less the late fee of $50). oh and we immediately get handed an estimate to have the whole floor redone for full price $2400. from their own company lol. before we even talked about it at all. and that estimate does not even include a bedroom or the hallway where the splinter actually is! and its not even a full floor job, all it says is sand, stain, and oil! oil? thats not even a hard finish top coat lmao. so yeah even if we were doing the whole house for just a few splinters, we would have it done properly with a urethane top coat so it doesnt just fade back to the way it is now in a month. but who restores a 50 yr old hardwood floor, and for renters? im loling so bad right now. not to mention, the wood is so old with raised up spots that i doubt after all this work it will look any better. so yeah thats totally out of the question. were just going in to inspect the few splinter spots, repair them with sandpaper, and take pics on sunday. wtf. and collect the rest of our money they owe. oh and now theres a new girl living there in place of the old one, im still trying to figure out if its another gf or if the old ex-wife moved back that he used to hate a few months ago and went thru divorce court. in any case, another lease violation because shes not on it! what do you do? just send a letter and say youre out for being such a douche? they still have chickens in the backyard when lease says clearly no pets. theyre too lazy to mow the lawn so i have to do it, even tho the lease says tenants are responsible.

[DeX]

You're a glutton for punishment. Get somebody else in there.

[Hanzo]

For Real just kick him out already too many problems and headaches for you.