How long is their lease? Can you give them notice and look for new tenants? I'd be as irritated as you are. It is a business venture and they are not meeting their terms of the agreement.

Their lease ends on June 30th......and although I am anxious about not getting it rented again quickly, to me, it seems like it would be worth it. The only plus side is that they have only called us once to fix a garbage disposal......that has been nice.

DH has not been freaking out at the little things that they do...........he says it's pregnancy hormones. LOL

Actually it sounds to me like your husband is the one not treating this as a business. If they underpay, they should be sent a bill for the remainder. That's what a business would do. No emotion, just the bill.

I think letting them slip on a few things had caused them to take advantage. I'd send them a notice that from now on PayPal payments will have a surcharge. And is absolutely ask for my amazon box back! I wouldn't sue them over it or anything but if they insisted on keeping something that they know they didn't pay for, I wouldn't be renewing their lease either. I don't think they are actually good tennants. I've rented before and would never think of ripping up landscaping without permission or stealing packages. You can find better tennants. If ride. Out the lease and not renew them.

Oops that should be "I would ride out the lease". Stupid phone.

DH is correct, this is a business opportunity. As such you absolutely need to enforce the late fees. "Letting it go" is a personal "I don't want confrontation" response.

You also need to schedule an interior inspection. This will tell you whether or not you want to terminate their lease.

Plinda.........if I could get him to do that, I would. LOL

I have been bugging him for months to go and check on the house. He refuses, says that he has the security deposit to cover damages and if it is over that.......Where's that shruggy smiley?

For some reason, he sees doing these things as bothering them. I can understand that if it was a like "once a week" thing. But asking to check on the house once or twice in the year you live there?

As for the package.......I did contact the company after finding out that they were stupid enough to put or current resident on my speakers. That was their bad. But them taking them still left a bad taste in my mouth. I mean it's not like they don't know where we are and we skipped town. They pay us every month! LOL

I'm a landlord too:

Um, they DID steal from you. They are constantly stealing - even if it's "just" speakers or "just" a late fee or "just" a paypal fee or "just" some plants in the yard they are thieves. I would ride out the lease, not renew it and be there on moving day to make sure they don't take "just" the fridge and stove. They are not honest, ethical people. Get rid of them!

They stole something you ordered (and paid for)!?! That is outrageous. Now if it was a coupon book or something that said "or current resident" I could see them keeping it, but... a box delivered from Amazon with STUFF inside. Not okay.

I thought the giving away your plants was awful - I'd never dream of changing landscaping without express written permission. If you can prove that they violated the lease (and wouldn't not paying their bill in full be that?), then I would start advertising your rental.

Also, agree with others that your DH is not treating this like a business. A business would sent a late notice and include any unpaid balances, and not let the renters "round it down." Also, I'd add a service charge for paypal.

For all you know, they could be selling your light fixtures on Craigslist. Time for an inspection. You can use that opportunity to drop an invoice for the money they owe you.

I wouldn't let all this crap slide. They are not nice people, and a little here a little there.. Sure adds up.

Thanks all! Glad to know it isn't just me.....(and my hormones).

As for the paypal thing, she has paid that way all along. While inconvenient for me, it wasn't a huge deal because she would send the money as personal (no fees). I don't know what happened this time, but I told DH that he needs to let her know that we will not accept it if it happens again.

As for the package, the Post Office said that they have the right to keep it because of how the wording on the package was written. Still dishonest, IMHO.

Have you asked them to give you your package? If so, what did they say?

That stinks & they stink. Please tell me you ran a credit check on them before renting to them??? My parents had a horrible time when they tried to be landlords--ended up with eviction & going to court. They never saw the money he owed them. I'd go w/ dh, swing by the house this week & let her know her time will be up at the end of the lease, then get it ready to sell.

I'm so sorry you are going through this~hugs~

I did not ask them for it because the Post Office said that they legally had a right to keep it and DH said to just let it be........I have no idea why he feels that they are good tenants. Probably because they have not called us with any things to fix.

We did run a credit check and spoke to their previous landlord also. He said that they paid on time.....I have no idea why they have such a problem paying us. They don't communicate well at all. We get little notes in emails saying when they will be paying us.

I would love to sell it and just have it out of our hair. But we are still underwater on it, and it rents for more than we are paying. So as long as it is rented we are making money. There is that. It's just can that happen for the next 7 years? I am hoping to have it paid off by August 2020. (along with our debt and my own property!)

They are absolutely not good tenants. If your DH won't schedule an indoor inspection, find someone who will go with you (like a big brother?). I'm sure on paper, the people who live above me are "good tenants" because she pays the rent on time, but at least once a week, I smell cat urine in the hallway, the carpet is destroyed (animal urine/feces, dog tears it up), I hear the guy swearing at someone/something regularly...I'm sure the deposit won't cover the cost of flooring replacement. HOA dictates only one dog/cat, but they have at least two cats and one dog...sometimes two (the second one sounds big, but I have never, ever seen it...the dogs don't make it outside very often).

Good luck. I hate confrontation too, but this is a business.

As a business.... And granted the laws in your state may differ greatly, so figure out what they are before you begin ANY process.

The box, while showing their ethics and morals, and would convince ME not to renew their lease, is something that you will just have to let go. You have no recourse. Was it slimy? Absolutely. But there is simply nothing you can do about it. I assume that the company sent you a new shipment and did not charge you extra, so they are the harmed party and in the position to go after the tenants.

There is likely something in the lease about you have the right to inspect at ANY point in time, with a certain amount of notice. Give them that notice, and go inspect the property. I'm sorry, but these folks have proved their ethics, and already sold things from your house.... it's time to inspect. I generally do it twice a year (and I have GOOD tenants) simply because I am looking at different things than they are. I look at carpet, check for leaks on the ceilings, check the "attic" and roof, holes in the wall (not with these tenants so much), the general upkeep, make sure everything is working the way it should and fix little things that could become big things if not taken care of. My tenants tend to call when something is a problem or if enough small things break. You are protecting your investment when you inspect. Tenants do not think the same things landlords do are important.

At this time I would identify ANY alterations that she made to the landscaping and price out the plants and send her a bill for them as well. Note that the following plants were removed without permission and need to be replaced within the next 30 days, or she will be charged for them. I am fairly certain that there is no legal reason she has for selling the plants without permission.... I'm pretty sure my lease says that the tenants are not authorized to make ANY changes without written permission. (this would include a pool, and change in landscaping)

Send them a nice little letter saying that they owe $x.xx.... the late fee plus the underpayment of the water bill, as well as any damages noted to date (like the plants). I agree with the "surcharge" on the paypal bill. If SHE has to pay it she will be sure that you are not charged. Or tell her that you are no longer accepting paypal since you are being charged a fee. Effective immediately.

You next lease needs to include a clause about NOT having those "nuisance" items. And note the increase in insurance as a "charge" for each one. Like if it cost you $100 more on your insurance to have that pool there, then that is what the "charge" for having a pool should be. As in they will have to pay that much if they want to put in a pool. (Lesson learned.)

These are NOT "good" tenants. I would figure out the laws in your state.... there is a possibility that you will have to send them a letter 30 days from the end of their lease stating your intention NOT to renew their lease, in order to end the lease. My lease generally includes something along the lines of after the current lease ends the tenancy becomes month to month unless either party cancels it. Personally, I'd give them 60 days notice, just on the hope that they would move out sooner and enable me to fix whatever is needed and re-rent it prior to school beginning.

Good luck. These folks are not good tenants. They aren't HORRIBLE tenants either. But they are taking advantage, and that doesn't give me a good feeling about ending this lease. (*Well it gives me a good feeling about ending the lease, but not about how easy it will be.)

Why don't you just ask them for the package? Isn't that the first reasonable step before checking into legalities? Maybe they will just give it to you.

I don't understand why you would allow them to have things on the property (pool, trampoline) that your insurance doesn't cover. You don't have to be a victim unless you allow it. If that had happened to us we would notify the tennants that they are in violation of the lease by having those items and they need to remove them or pay $X as a surcharge (which would likely be more than my increase in homeowners). You are not actually helpless in this situation. You have a legally enforceable document, the lease.

I would ask for the package today. Who cares if you can't go after them legally, you can still ask for it back!

One other thought...they may not be calling to ask you to fix things because they don't want you to see the inside. Silence isn't always golden.

One other thought...they may not be calling to ask you to fix things because they don't want you to see the inside. Silence isn't always golden.

That was my thought exactly.

Thanks momto6. Our lease is set up like that also. We have 30 days from their lease being up to let them know if we want them out. And then it goes month to month.

Not sure what we can do about the plants since she did not sell them, she gave them away. I knew that they needed pruning down(think something that spreads easily) and I did that. I wouldn't have had a problem with it if she just would have called us and asked. But she didn't.....she just up and gave them away. And I saw it on CL when I was checking the free section.

DH is waiting to see what kind of move they make. They have already asked if we would extend their lease by 2 weeks to a month because of a party they wanted to have........he said that was ok if we could show the property to other potential renters during that period. We never got a response from them so not sure what is going on with that.

I think that I would just like to see them gone, start fresh with someone else, and make sure we put in the new lease all the little "mistakes" that we have learned from them not to do. Or what you have to state in writing. Live and learn I guess.

Get your DH on here, he should read that you're not alone on this --- all of your weird llnoe friends agree with you.

Do you really want these people to have a party in your property?

Do you really want these people to have a party in your property?

I didn't look into the legality first about the package.......it took me 3 weeks just to track down what happened to it at all. I would have just asked them if I had known that they were going to take it. When the Post Office finally found out what happened, that is when they told me about the wording and that they had a "right" to keep it. Kinda a "it wasn't our fault" thing.

I have no idea why DH let's them get away with the things that he does.........the whole pool/trampoline thing I never even thought to put in a lease because we didn't have those things and I guess I never thought about how it would affect our insurance. The increase was small, so DH said just let it go.

I notice that he is very lenient with them.......I don't know why. Guess he is thinking that they are paying us, the customer is always right mentality. But to me, this is still "my house". Not that I want to live in it, but it's not yours.....does that make sense?

No I would have said no to their request.....not my call though. I have just sent him an email about inspecting the property so we can see if there are things we need to begin saving up to fix.

No I would have said no to their request.....not my call though.

In what way is this not your call? Your opinion is just as important if not more so since your husband seems too lenient with the tenants. Plus the investment in the house is both of yours.