I had to create a new sign today while I was at work. It reads "STOP. Please read before knocking." Yes, this sign, which threatens tenants with lease termination will be posted on my door when I get home this afternoon. My home, which is directly attached to one of my rentals, shares a common drive with my other rental (not to mention the 4 units I manage for my parents). My tenants are not just tenants, but happen to be my neighbors. Yes, it's awkward. Especially when you've had to take one of the them to court for not paying their rent, only to come home to run into them in the yard or at the mailbox.
Early Sunday evening, I was laying in bed watching TV. It was well over 80 degrees outside and I don't have AC, so of course I had a fan running in my room. Out of nowhere, there's a knock at my door. I thought I imagined it at first (the fan was pretty loud), but as I was getting up, they knocked -no, hammered- again at my back door. I'm assuming it's a lost pizza guy, but no, when I open the door, there stands a tenant and his girlfriend.
Apparently I had an odd look on my face when I saw them, because his first comment to me was to tell me not to worry, nothing was wrong. (If nothing was wrong, why was he standing on my back porch, uninvited, without so much as a text to see if I was available, on a Sunday evening?) I just nodded and asked what I could do for him.
He and his mom live in one of my properties. I've known for several months that there were many, many more people than that living there, but I was also aware that there were some extenuating circumstances with another family member that had just had a baby and seemingly had nowhere else to go. I wasn't happy about it, but I try not to be a heartless jerk. For the record, I wasn't aware of this because they told me anything, but because I was in the house on an emergency call to fix a leak in the middle of the night and they were discussing moving her things into the house.
Anyway, he's standing on the porch with someone he introduces as his girlfriend. They ask me about the apartment that's next to theirs, that is about to become available. I tell them that it will be available on X date, which is a little over a month away. The current tenant hasn't given me written notice yet, but we've talked about her plans and I know it's coming when she pays her final rent payment. There is already a waiting list on the property. I tell him this, and that there will be several people ahead of him. He just looks at me and the girlfriend doesn't say anything. It dawns on me that they either thought that A) they would be offered a lease by showing up on my door step or B) it wouldn't matter if there was a waiting list, since they were already living in one of our properties (legally or not...). While I'm trying to figure out how to get them off my porch, I figure there's no reason to beat around the bush about a more pressing issue
"How many people are living in your house right now?" I ask him. He looks stunned for a second, but to his credit, he answers me.
"My girlfriend and I, we're looking for a place, my sister is also looking for a place, and my mom" he replies, knowing that I am aware that the sister has two children that are under 2.
Six people. Six people in a house that has a lease for TWO people. Now you're showing up on my porch, without invitation, asking me to rent you a second apartment, knowing that I know you've lied to me and breached your lease.
...on a Sunday evening. Not mid-day on Monday, not even Friday afternoon. So yes, there is now a sign on my door telling my tenants, potential tenants and guests of tenants (just wait for that story!) that I will not see them without an appointment. Does it make me look like a jerk? Probably, but my home is my home and they need to respect that fact.
Coming up: the guest that wouldn't leave, downstairs daycare and the woes of rent increases
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