Most tenants are cooperative, decent human beings. However, bad tenants are more common than many landlords would prefer. Dealing with a bad tenant can be costly and stressful. If you’re fighting against a particularly arduous tenant, you may be questioning why you ever became a landlord in the first place.
Bad tenants can eventually turn into squatters, which can take months to evict or eject. For quick tips on evicting squatters, review the local laws and regulations you must abide by as a landlord. Ideally, you can reference different online sources to remedy the squatter or bad tenant situation.
Fear not, for there are several ways to deal with terrible tenants while ensuring you protect their rights, like our three refreshing methods below.
1. Attempt to Negotiate
Granted, this may not work for every type of lousy tenant, especially if they’ve been less-than-dreamy from the beginning. However, if they dutifully paid their rent previously but are, for whatever reason, failing to pay you now, negotiation could be your best option. Everybody finds themselves in times of financial hardship at one point or another. Your tenant could have experienced an unanticipated drop in money, putting them under a lot of pressure to meet their rent payments.
You can relieve the burden by creating a payment plan that suits both parties. For example, you could let your tenant pay their owed amount in smaller increments over the month. That way, they have time to wrangle their finances back to healthy levels. When negotiating the terms, remember to mention eviction. This incites urgency in the tenant, prompting them to find the money as quickly as possible to avoid ending up on the streets.
2. Provide a Cash Incentive
Yes, the idea of giving money to a tenant who hasn’t paid their rent seems unthinkable — and wholly unappealing. However, it can be more than worth it under the right circumstances. Eviction is both time-consuming and expensive. So, offering a cash reward to your tenant in exchange for them vacating your property can actually save you stress and money in the long run.
Just keep in mind that the tenant may not accept this — it just depends on their mindset. Some are willing to leave for a few hundred dollars, while others want more from you. Weigh your options before choosing this option. After all, we understand that it’s a blood-boiling scenario for many landlords. Bad tenants can beat up a property while occupying it.
This could lead to expensive renovations in the future for yourself. Although it hurts your wallet to pay them to get out now, it could save you money down the road.
3. Sell Your Property to a Cash Buyer
As effective as the other two methods can be, they won’t work for every situation. Our final refreshing way to handle bad tenants gives you the option of cashing out and eradicating the problem.
Unbeknownst to many landlords, you don’t have to go through lengthy eviction proceedings.
You can sell your property to a cash buyer willing to take on the circumstances. That way, you receive an influx of money, and the pressure is off. Plenty of investor groups or LLCs buy houses with problem tenants. It’s just a case of finding the best ones in your area (Google is your best friend here).
Dealing with Bad Tenants
While there are many ways to deal with unruly tenants, offering a cash incentive, negotiating a payment plan, and selling the property to a cash buyer are the most refreshing. You’ll eliminate the problem as effectively and efficiently as possible.
