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Buying an investment property and the pitfalls

Hastey

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I just bought an investment property from a person who was forced to sell. I inherited two sets of tenants.

One of the tenants claims all sorts of allowances (contrary to their signed lease) that he claims the previous landlord allowed.

Parking in spaces and using the garage as storage. Because the sale of the property was forced I can only assume that if asked the previous owner/landlord will just agree to any outlandish assertion that the tenant comes up with. When told about the lease the tenant originally was shocked by the language in the lease. He then agreed to clean up the garage. One week later he declared that he had always had verbal agreement with the previous landlord that he could do what he wanted with the garage.

Is there anything I can do to stop this MASSIVE creep of this tenant on my life?
 

dpeacock

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You can certainly stick to the signed lease. How badly do you want the tenant?


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Hastey

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the tenant has claimed that they have rights and refuses to engage with me.... IN terms of the tenant. They are not great and have actually caused damage and instability at the property. Would not miss them if they were gone.
 

Matt Crowley

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Can you go back to the seller and clarify? Outside of that you basically need to go to court.

Tenant has a valid argument though. If it was allowed, it is reasonable that he could expect to continue to enjoy that space (especially if it was suggested that was part of the value of what he was paying for).

With a really difficult (and potentially savvy) tenant, just let the lease run out and live with losing the garage rent for a year.
 

Hastey

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This issue is the landlord/owner had to sell the property and is not interested in truth. I have not engaged with him but I am not holding out hope for someone acting fairly.

The tenant is on month to month so there is no letting anything run out. I would need to evict with a reason (personal use and then NOT rent it for 2 years)

So, what you are saying is there is NO WAY out of this mess short of evicting for own use and then losing rent for two years.
 

Martin1968

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It’s obviously not in Ab? If on a month to month in Ab you simply jack up the rent with the required 3 months notice by about $300/400 monthly. See how quickly they leave.
 

Thomas Beyer

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What province is this?

Why does a messy garage bother you?

Do they pay the rent?

Do they destroy property? Then cause for eviction.

Otherwise: chill and collect the monthly rent.


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Hastey

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This is in Ontario.
Because I also live in the house and they "according to their lease" do not have access to the garage in the way they claim.
They do pay their rent
Yes, they have erected walls in their units. They have drilled into the old ornate plaster ceilings. But, if questioned he will just claim the previous landlord gave him permission to do so.

Does anyone else have advice that isn't "dude, chill out and collect rent"? cuz that is not useful.
 

Martin1968

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This is in Ontario.
Because I also live in the house and they "according to their lease" do not have access to the garage in the way they claim.
They do pay their rent
Yes, they have erected walls in their units. They have drilled into the old ornate plaster ceilings. But, if questioned he will just claim the previous landlord gave him permission to do so.

Does anyone else have advice that isn't "dude, chill out and collect rent"? cuz that is not useful.

Would love to give you a few pointers........however, Ontario tenancy act is heavily in favour of tenants, that it will be very difficult to find a loophole. IMO the only thing you can do is to enforce the lease, lock up the garage and put the ball in tenants court to go after what they think is right. Only thing is that if they win you look stupid.
Personally, I would take that challenge. As for erecting walls, if the lease covers those things off and has a clause in it that they need to ask for permission and approval in writing, you could give that a go. If they can’t provide then you might be in your right. But nothing is set in stone. Maybe spend a few dollars on getting sound legal advice. Most on the forum are no lawyers. Good luck.
 

Thomas Beyer

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This is in Ontario.
Because I also live in the house and they "according to their lease" do not have access to the garage in the way they claim.
They do pay their rent
Yes, they have erected walls in their units. They have drilled into the old ornate plaster ceilings. But, if questioned he will just claim the previous landlord gave him permission to do so.

Does anyone else have advice that isn't "dude, chill out and collect rent"? cuz that is not useful.

Send an eviction notice due to property destruction then !!

They don’t pay rent? Then evict them for non-payment of rent.

Re garage: Change garage locks. Tell them it’s not in the lease. (Or is there a copy that says otherwise?) If they throw a tantrum or do damage evict them for uttering threats and/or property damage.

Or evict them for personal use !

You may need professional help ie an eviction firm.


Thomas Beyer, Asset Manager, Investor, Author, Father, Mentor www.prestprop.com
 
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