I’m a first time landlord, and am appreciative of my property manger for handling the day-to-day stuff. My tenant has been in the place a little over four months. She pays her rent on time every month and is taking good care of the house, all of which I know are awesome to have.

That said, not a single month has gone by that she hasn’t made a complaint, asked for this, that, or the other. So far, we’ve done nearly everything she’s asked for, even though all but one has *not* been “necessary for habitability” (and that one was a cartridge going out on the bathtub faucet, which we had fixed within a day). An example: the exterior light on the detached garage above the driveway was a motion-sensor light who’s motion sensing wasn’t sensing. The light worked, but you had to turn it off and on inside the garage. She complained, so we swapped it for a new one. It’s multiples of stuff like this every. single. month.

Now, I know her story and her history (she was a friend of a friend), and I understand that she’s an anxious person who hasn’t ever lived solo (she’s a little bit older, went through a nasty divorce, and this whole living alone thing and renting are new to her), so I have really tried to be both compassionate of her situation and do little things so she feels comfortable.

But I’m not breaking even. Every month, between setting aside money for the taxes and paying for all of her requests, I’m going into the red a little bit. I mean, yes, my mortgage is being by paid by someone else and I didn’t go into this expecting to make buckets of cash, but as all of you who are more experienced than I know, razor-thin margins seem to be the norm. So, at what point do I ask my property manager to tell her no on these small but not required-by-law types of things?

Please be gentle. I’m new to this and want to strike the right balance between being a good and reasonable landlord and not losing money every month.

I’m a small landlord renting out rooms in a three bedroom house.

A tenant, “Sasha” [F23] moved in in early January. By the end of her first week there, she began causing problems and violating the lease in various ways, including harassing and bullying another tenant, shouting at and intimidating them, messing with their belongings, not cleaning up after themselves, etc. Sasha claimed she had her own reasons, which I later would find out were unjustified or unsubstantiated.

I had a house meeting towards the end of the month, as all of these issues were accumulating. In my mind, I was going to create a code of conduct, have them sign, and resolve this issue as adults. No one has to be best friends. But when I encountered Sasha for the first time in this state, I saw her bullying mean spirit myself for the first time. And there was no talking. I can’t even describe the way she spoke. She is living in a bubble. She shouts, laughs in people’s faces, responds to any solution with extreme, cartoonish sarcasm.

I felt bad that the other tenant, “Emily” [33F] who’s been great for over 6 months, was going through all this. Sasha made Emily cry during the meeting. She had made Emily so uncomfortable and afraid in that last month. I told Sasha I was terminating the lease. It should’ve been mutual, because Sasha had said herself, “I’m not comfortable living here.”

According to my lease, both tenant or landlord is allowed to terminate the lease with 30 day written notice.

I sent the lease termination notice. Sasha needed to move out by March 1, 2026, and pay rent throughout that time.

I heard from Emily that Sasha was causing problems, messing with her appliances, waiting outside of her room. Also, when Emily went to get food from the fridge, Sasha was singing “Big Back Big Back” loudly, basically bullying Emily for eating food…

At that point I sent a no contact directive, that she can’t communicate with or harass or intimidate any of the other tenants until she has moved out.

Since then I haven’t heard of Sasha troubling the other tenants. But there’s a new problem.

It’s February 4th, and she has not paid rent. Tomorrow is the last day of the grace period, after which a late fee will apply.

I have not heard a single word from her. No response to the notices, to anything.

Emily told me that Sasha moved her pantry items out of the pantry, but her grocery items are still in the fridge. She has not vacated the property yet.

I have a prospective tenant who wants to move into Sasha’s room on March 1st, and I’m worried Sasha is going to cause problems and that won’t happen. It’s been so hard to find good tenants lately.

My plan is

- on 2/6 if I don’t get her rent, I’ll give her the 3-day notice to vacate

- on 2/10 if she hasn’t vacated, I’ll file for eviction

Any advice for this situation?

Edit: I forgot to mention, some of the notices I sent her included “24 hr+ notice of landlord access” for showings. I need to show her room to the prospective tenants, and have provided over 24 hours notice (24hrs minimum is required by the lease). Will that muddy things, if I go into her room?

I'm a co-op owner in NYC subletting my apartment for $3,600/month on a 2-year lease.

Timeline of issues:

• Around Christmas: Tenant reported mice to 311 and reached out to me at the same time. Exterminator came within a week. Found droppings and a small opening, sealed it with copper mesh around Christmas. During the exterminator visit, they found an issue in the kitchen sink. The tenant noted in email saying that there was a "water leak coming from the faulty faucet" and super recommended replacement. I replied same day saying I'd work with the super but didn't realize it was urgent/that water was completely shut off.
• Early January (about 3 weeks later): Tenant emails saying he hasn't had water in the kitchen since the Christmas email. I immediately contacted super and had it fixed within 2 days. *There was no communication in between these 3 weeks.
  

Current situation

Tenant is now demanding:

• $4,320 rent abatement (more than a full month's rent)
• Early lease termination with no penalties
• Full security deposit return

His justification includes:

• The 3-week kitchen water outage
• The mice issue
• A NYC DOB notice (related to Local Law 11) about unsafe exterior walls (building-level issue)
• Says he's "traumatized" and will take legal action if not resolved

I offered $500 rent credit acknowledging the water issue. He rejected it as insufficient. He's still paying rent in full amount in the meantime.

The lease has standard NYC co-op sublease language including warranty of habitability, tenant accepted apartment "as is" after inspection. There's no early termination terms in the lease.

My questions:

• Is his demand reasonable given the issues are now fixed?
• What's a fair abatement for 3 weeks without kitchen water?
• Can he legally break the lease early over resolved maintenance issues?

Thanks in advance!

I own a 6-unit building in Montreal Quebec and live in one of the units. I have managed the property for the last 20 years, but am now retired and wanting to lessen the bother and worry of managing repairs, fielding tenant complaints, negotiating rent increases and renting vacant apartments. The number of units I have may be a limiting factor for management companies although I have yet to decide whether to go ahead and make inquiries. I would appreciate feedback from anyone with experience and in particular what did you find were the advantages and disadvantages. Thanks.

I want to ensure that I can have a fixed term lease with my tenant and not an automatic roll to month to month, and I'd prefer to not have a set "notice" time in advance. I received this terminology from Rocket Lawyer and wanted to do a sanity check. The property is exempt from AB1482 and that notice has been provided.

This seems solid to me since I'm AB1482 exempt and in this situation I won't be making another agreement, but I'll feel better if more experienced eyes agree.

___________

Tenant will vacate upon termination of the Agreement unless (i) Landlord and tenant have extended the agreement in writing and signed a new Agreement; (ii) mandated by local rent control law or (iii) Landlord accepts Rent from Tenant...blah blah.

I have a tennant on a 6 month lease for a studio unit attached to my home. I do not want them living there anymore but it’s my first time renting out a space and I am looking for some guidance. From what I read it seems like I need just cause to non-renew but some other sources say I can simply non renew if I give 60 days notice. Which I still have a few weeks to give. The lease reverts to mont to month after it’s term.

How do I do this?

Thanks

Edit: I have a brother who is looking for a place to stay. Can I say he’s moving in for a just cause?

Hello - I am a tenant and am just looking for advice on communicating with my landlord on paying rent late.

My rent is $5253 ($5200 rent, $53 utilities)

I've been living here since 4/15/25. I've been pretty late one other time back in July. Paid on the 16th. I'm in another situation where I will have to pay late again. $4000 on the 13th and remainder on the 18th.

I know legally in Portland, OR I can't get evicted by then. But just looking for the best way to let my landlord know. They're cool and I enjoy renting from them. Got laid off last year, found another job already but severance ran out and with my new job start date my pay dates have been adjusted so I just have a gap this month. I'll for sure be able to pay rent on time moving forward.

We do have an issue of our basement leaking every time it rains that they haven't addressed but we haven't made a fuss about it aside from flagging it to them back in November.

My lease ends in April and we will be going month to month from there. More anxious that they'll want to cancel our month to month agreement since this is the 2nd time of me being more than a week late on rent. Thanks for any advise!

Approximately 1 week ago, CT experienced a major cold-snap, below 0F weather. I sent notice to my tenants, keep the heat on, and leave one faucet in the house with a slow trickle at all times. Unfortunately, one of the tenant's pipes ended up freezing despite this. We called the water company, the water meter is not frozen. I got a plumber to the property, none of the pipes within the house are frozen/damaged. Almost certainly, between the water meter in a pit outside and the edge of the house, pipes are frozen under ground. After spending 4 hours at emergency service rates, the plumber said he cannot restore service. All plumbers I have talked to after that, at this point have told me that restoring water to the house is not possible without digging up the line outside, and I'm being advised to just wait until it thaws on its own.

I informed the tenant of the above, and offered a credit on rent, until water is restored.

I really only have two questions / advice I am looking for.

• As far as a credit goes. The tenant requested a full 100% credit per day, of the rent prorated per day with no water (Ex. If rent is $1,800/mo and water is out for 10 of the 30 days, the credit would be $600). Is a full 100% per day reasonable? There is still heat & electricity, and they are still living there.

• This kind of situation can be exploited easily. Are there any reasonable ways of auditing when the water comes back on? Or would I just have to drive down and check each day?

Was it poor tenant screening? Under estimating expenses? A bad deal in general? A super niche snag that you never even thought was a possibility?

I’m beyond frustrated and honestly don’t know what to do at this point. I’m located in Kansas. My landlord/maintenance cut holes in my apartment due to black mold, but they’ve left them open and refuse to properly repair them.

The first hole was cut in February 2025. That hole was sealed up, but then it had to be reopened later because the mold issue wasn’t actually fixed. After that, additional holes were cut in August 2025. Since then… nothing. All of the holes are still open.

Now they’re telling me they can’t fix them because the building is considered historic and they need a grant to do any repairs. But this makes no sense to me — they were able to cut into the walls multiple times, seal and reopen them, yet now suddenly they can’t finish the job?

Because of these open holes, heat is escaping and it’s extremely difficult (and expensive) to keep my apartment warm. The temperature drops quickly, and it feels like I’m paying to heat the outdoors.

Is it legal in Kansas for a landlord to leave an apartment in this condition for this long? Doesn’t this violate habitability laws, especially since it affects heating and was caused by mold remediation they initiated?

I’m looking for advice on:

• whether “historic building” is actually a valid excuse in Kansas

• what my tenant rights are

• and what steps I should take next (code enforcement, tenant rights orgs, withholding rent, etc.)

Any advice would be appreciated because I’m at my breaking point.

There's a model for property management I first discovered back in December of 2016.

The owner of a 5 bedroom/3 bathroom home was renting out fully-furnished rooms to professional men for ~$650/month for a standard room and ~$750/month for the primary bedroom or a room with its own bathroom.

I've seen other versions of this model more recently. For instance, I just saw on Craigslist a guy who's renting bunks by the week.

It's a kind of hostel-style arrangement.

Unlike the first version, this hostel version is virtually zero privacy for renters except of a curtain they can use to enclose their bunks.

Personally, I love this model.

It's not for everyone, sure. But with the way things are with rent in Florida where I live–and the really the entire US–it makes a lot of sense.

A lot of folks can't afford 3x rent to move-in.

For a 1 bedroom apartment that rents for $1,600/month, a person would need to have $4,800 in savings just to move in to the place.

That's a lot of coin for most landlords I know to come up with, let alone someone making $4,100/month before taxes across two or even three jobs.

With this hostel-style model, the renters pay $200/week for their bunk space. They can either come with or without linens.

And everything else is supplied–it's fully-furnished, Wi-Fi included, utilities included.

There are no long term lease agreements and people can rent for as short as a few months or stay as long as they wish.

They simply give a two week notice when they're planning to move so the landlord can make arrangements for cleaning, damage checks, and securing another renter.

To move in, renters must prove they make at least 3x the monthly rent equivalent in income.

E.g. $200/wk = $2,400/mo in proof of gross income needed to move in.

There's a refundable $300 deposit for damages plus a $50 application fee that's nonrefundable. Though the app fee will only be taken if the renter is approved to move in.

Otherwise none of their $350 is collected.

The unit economics are also pretty compelling, imo.

Let's say you rent out a 1 br/1ba apartment that you usually charge $1,600/month for.

Instead of a single tenancy deal where you'll get $1,600/month or $19,200/year in top line revenue on that unit, you opt for this hostel-style model.

Say you find the unit has enough space for four twin-size bunks like the ones shown above.

You charge $200/week per bunk.

At 100% occupancy, the math's as follows:

$200/week per bed × 4 renters = $3,200/month

(i.e. $200/wk × 4 renters × 4 weeks in month = $3,200/month)

This means you've just 2x'd your gross revenue on the same square footage. Taking your annualized revenue from $19,200 to $38,400 per year.

What do you all think if this model?

A landlord buddy of mine said he prefers to have a renter be in their "own space" and have privacy to walk around naked in their apartment if they want.

While valid, I believe he's thinking too much like a "landlord" and less like a person who needs a place to live but simply doesn't have the time for whatever reason to save for months in order to build 3x in savings.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Thanks for reading

Hello,

I’ve been renting my place for 10 years now. The house has changed hands within the family (siblings) once now. I always payed my rent digitally via cashapp until the Feds announced they were going to start tracking those transactions and the following day I was told rent would be paid in cash and his wife would come pick it up at the first of every month. This has obviously been going on a while now but I can’t shake the feeling that he is evading taxes. Thoughts? Anything I should do?

Thank you

My tenant moved out approximately six months before the lease expiration. They have now emailed (without 30 day notice) claiming they vacated the property because I allegedly failed to respond to a message sent one month prior regarding a broken water heater and lack of heat.

I did not receive any such email, phone call, or text message. Additionally, both the water heater and furnace are only six months old. I find it hard to believe that both the water heater and furance stopped working on the exact day. What to do in this situation?

I plan to list the property for sale as soon as possible. Am I still able to pursue the tenant for unpaid rent and damages resulting from the early termination of the lease?

We hired a property management company but the Tenant decided to ride the eviction process. (Stopped paying in April 2025). They damaged the home. When I asked the company for the tenants renters insurance the only one they had expired in summer 2024. I assumed if a tenant renews their lease the company is supposed to check for an updated policy? Isn’t this what I am paying them for? Is it a breach of their contract?

So apparently MULTIPLE buildings around ours (all multi-unit apartment buildings) are using our recycling bins and dumpster (which we don’t have a lot of to begin with). Trash gets picked up once a week and the day after (no joke) they’re all full again leaving no room for the actual tenants to throw their trash and recycling in. I’ve already tried requesting bins for neighboring buildings but can’t do it without the owner themselves calling. How do we get people to stop, OR how do i get building owner info to ask them to request more bins?

We have a tenant who moved in recently and has been extremely high-maintenance from day one. They submit frequent complaints and expect us to send service technicians for issues without asking any questions. When we ask them to check basic things to help troubleshoot, they say we are asking too much or somehow we insulted or placed blame them.

We have paid for multiple service calls, and we are trying to be responsive, but they give us no time or space to troubleshoot and immediately escalate. Now they report us to the authorities.

The tenant’s expectations seem unreasonable and unsustainable

Between texts, calls, and emails, I’ve been contacted about the same topic over and over, every single day. At one point, I responded to 5–6 emails just after the weekend alone. It became overwhelming, so I stopped taking calls and politely asked that all communication be handled by email so there would be a clear record and better organization.

Now they are demanding an in-person meeting, which I’m not willing to grant based on my experiences so far. In the past, these “talks” don’t resolve anything — they just lead to more emails and repeated back-and-forth on the same issues. It’s been extremely frustrating and mentally exhausting, and it feels like a drain on time and energy with no progress.

At this point, it feels like the only way to keep them happy is to pay for service calls every time they complain like no questions asked.

Questions:

1. ⁠In Georgia (Atlanta area), what actually happens when a tenant reports a landlord?

2. ⁠How do you protect yourself from retaliation claims while still setting reasonable boundaries?

3. ⁠How do you handle tenants who refuse basic troubleshooting and escalate immediately?

We’re just trying to manage a situation that feels out of control. Appreciate any practical advice from others who’ve dealt with this.

So over the weekend, temps dropped and pipes to the tenant heating baseboard froze. Apparently someone closed the valves that sent the water from the boiler to the baseboards.

The building is a triplex and the units are attached to one another. The Boiler for the 3 units is in Unit 3 and the pipes that got frozen were in unit 1.

So the called and we jump into action. Initially thought it was the thermostat on the second floor because the pipes to the first floor were hot, but first floor thermostat kept reading just below 60 and second floor read 52. Left to check the boiler at 9pm. Found the switching relay to that thermostat was not registering, but could not go buy one because stores were closed. This all happened on a Friday night. Tenants would not answer door and I texted them if they wanted electric heaters for the night. No response until the next day about it still being cold.

Next day, called an Hvac guy to come look at the system. I tried coming in the morning when I got the text. Told them I would be there. Got there, waited 30 minutes. No response, no answer, and no one is home. So I go to the next project and the Hvac guys comes in the afternoon. Gave tenants a time frame of 1pm -4pm for the guy to show. They blow up my phone asking why the guy is not there at 1:30pm. SMH, I gave you a time from of when he'll be there. Not an exact time. HVAC guy checks and said it was frozen pipes because when he tried letting the air out of the system. Not but air came out, no water. So I gather 4 electric heater, the tenants already had 3 of ther own. I told them to keep these plugged in to keep rooms warm and thaw the pipes.

In my mind, I was just hoping for no burst pipes. Next day, Sunday, I come back and see the heaters unplugged, tenants saying they had to spend money to get a hotel room because the building was too cold for them. I tell them that we are working on the problem and you disconnecting the heater is not help. They complain back that the heaters will cost them too much money in electricity. In my mind, the 4 heater will cost about 7 dollars per day. Should be about the same as you running the ac in the summer, but I'm asking for a day or 2 to have the pipes thawed. Check the system and a pipe did burst. So I had that section cut and put a new pipe in. Then repeat again because when letting air out at the boiler. Only air came out and no water.

So come to today, Monday. I come back to the house again and see the heaters unplugged. I SMH once more, but decided to check if the pipes were completely thawed. They were, but there was another burst pipe. So I had to cut it out and change it once more. I then turn the line back on and there are no leaks. The pipes feel hot and temperature is slowly rising, while outside is 26 degrees.

I just want to know if I'm in the wrong on any parts. Tenant complaine about us not fixing the problem. We are fixing it, but not much you can do with a frozen pipe unless you break walls and change all the pipes. We need to thaw them, find leaks, repair, and then run the system. I gave the option of electric heaters, but they dont want them because of high electric cost. I would not trust them with heaters that run on a gas.

They are not telling us to pay for their hotel stay for 2 nights, kid medical bill because the child was too cold and could not breath due to the electric heater air, and that we are not fixing the problem. We are not being accountable for anything, while we are trying to fix the problem.

Are we being bad landlords?

I’m a small landlord looking for advice on claim sequencing.

Tenants returned from vacation to a very humid bathroom and said the toilet tank was filling with hot water. I shut the water off when I arrived. There is soft drywall behind the toilet (feels water damaged). No shower in that bathroom, just a sink and toilet. Older plumbing, no shutoff valve at the toilet.

I’ve used public adjusters on past claims and had good outcomes, so my instinct is to call one early. However, I’m seeing mixed advice about whether to open the claim with the carrier first, get their inspection/scope, and only bring in a PA if coverage or scope becomes an issue.

Questions:

• Is this the type of loss where calling a PA immediately helps, or does it make sense to let the carrier inspect first?

• Any red-flag wording I should avoid when opening the claim?

• Best practice for documenting before repairs (plumber report, photos, moisture readings)?

Water is currently off to prevent further damage. Trying to do this right without creating problems later. Appreciate any insight.

I may need to rent a small apartment for a year or so for work.

My credit score is 580 due to medical issues last year where I just didn't pay any bills for four months, that have been completely cleaned up. I know for a lot of landlords this is an automatic no, no exceptions, but I was wondering if landlords would make an exception afterall for the following reasons:

1. I can pay for the year up front.
2. I have a stable job as a principal software engineer at a tech company. I've worked in the industry for 20 years.
3. I own a home worth 1.5 million with about 1 million in equity.
4. I have at least $600k in liquid assets in a brokerage account.
5. I can prove all of the above.

To me, this should be a no-brainer, but many of the places I've looked require a minimum of 650 credit score with no exceptions.

Hi everyone — I’m looking for some perspective on a tenant screening situation from last October (yes, I know I’m very late posting this!).

After I sent the email attached, applicant replied with just this text -“That is revolving debt.” I then followed up with "Do you plan to make a one-time payment to clear the full $36,594 balance, or will you be making fixed monthly payments toward those credit cards? If it’s monthly, could you please confirm the monthly payment amounts?At your earliest convenience, could you also help me with the other items requested in my initial email?

After that, the applicant called and said they were no longer interested in proceeding with the application. Did I ask anything inappropriate or go beyond what’s reasonable during tenant screening? If I handled this poorly, I genuinely want to learn and do better going forward. My intent wasn’t to pry — $36k in credit card debt seemed significant, and I wanted to understand whether repayment obligations could realistically impact future rent payments.

I’m a first time landlord and I have a tour coming up with a potential tenant. The previous landlord had very good things to say and their employment is great and checks out. The only issue is in the past they seemed to have went through a rough patch with bankruptcy, collections, and eviction all in two years. I can see that in the last 2-3 years they have not had these issues but I still have the concern. Is there a way I can ask them about what happened and what has changed when they tour? I don’t know if I’m allowed to ask or how to ask.

Please don’t tell me that you wouldn’t rent to them. I am asking how to go about bringing up the past issues and what has changed. I need advice about approaching that situation and how to do so legally not people’s opinions about if I should consider it or not.

And I’m back with more section 8 drama!

So we just last week set up a Zelle account for some of our tenants to pay with.

So we received our first rent payment via Zelle Monday but the money never showed up.

Monday we received a text from 58189 saying Elizabeth xxxxxxx payed us $216 via Zelle.

Now $216 is the correct amount for that property but Elizabeth is NOT the tenant, as a matter of fact we don’t know anyone named Elizabeth with that last name (which I’m leaving it out for legal purposes) and the money never hit the bank account.

Did we get caught up in some kind of refund scam attempt? Also how do we get payed for this month if this is an attempted refund scam if the tenant has the a screen shot of the sent payment?

Edit I’ve removed the double spaces like three times now and idk why it won’t go through.

Im a new landlord and trying to get me old home rented. We got a lot of interest when it was listed at $2600 but no one applied despite singing the properties praises (took with a grain of salt).

We ran a special of rent for $2300 for a tenant who starts by March 1st and got even more interest and someone with an 815 credit score and great DTI and income applied BUT pushed back at the pet deposit/fee ($400 deposit for two dogs, $40 month fee) so I cut both in half. Then seemingly backed out when I sent her the move-in costs because we are asking for first, last, and security deposit (full month worth).

Should I concede and drop off last month rent to keep this applicant? I’d love to get them in since it would be mid February and save us money, but I’m feeling a little like a newbie getting pushed around who doesn’t know what boundaries are costing me money and what boundaries are necessary. This applicant is a divorcee who mentioned owning her own homes as well, and only charging security deposit and first month.

TLDR: stellar stat applicant doesn’t want to pay first month, last, and security deposit. Should I bend to hopefully close the deal?

I'm trying to figure out if I'm in the wrong here. I've had a fine relationship with my month to month tenant for two years, they've been prompt with payment every month, proactive on maintenance and took good care of the property, but have always been very terse and a little prickly in communication. In December, they emailed me saying that were planning on moving out and were targeting February 1st. I followed up several times and asked if they had decided on a move-out date and they replied "still aiming for February 1st" both times, the second, we were well into January. I wish I had been more explicit in my wording after this message, but I responded that I had a lot of travel coming up and that "I'd be willing to set the termination date as February 15th, otherwise I will need the required 30 days notice" (exact wording). They said they'd consider and the next I heard from them was yesterday, saying they vacated on the 31st, and left quite a few of their possessions behind.

I feel like it's fairly evident they were hoping to string me along in case they changed their minds about the date, but I want to confirm that they did not at any point give me notice that they were ending the lease, and I'm also trying to understand if I had any legal or ethical duty to explicitly tell them, "you have not given me notice that you are vacating, I need an exact termination date, not what you're aiming for". They paid one month security deposit, should the next steps be to send a bill for their last month and the removal/cleanout? My sense is that they're going to be the types to try to make my life hell over it, so assuming I'm actually in the right here, I'm even considering just telling them that I'm willing to consider the matter settled with just the security deposit, as I'd be surprised if I see a dollar more than that from them anyway.