Tenants given notice running out of time

[1911naomi]

I have posted about things prior re: this house

It's a 2 story house with self contained downstairs and upstairs

We have lives upstairs for over 4-5 years and rented out downstairs for the same time to 3 lots of tenants

Current tenants have been there approx 2 years and we get along with them really well.

We bought a ppor elsewhere and moved out a few months ago and rented out upstairs straight away, the new tenant ended up moving out Afew weeks later due to noise etc (that's a prior post)

So we had to decide to either rent out upstairs again (not worth the trouble as probably noise issues and don't want to spend money sound proofing when doesn't guarantee it will resolve the issue) or rent house as a whole.
So we gave downstairs tenants 8 weeks notice, they had been looking over the last 6months or so anyway just nothing had come up.

It's now onto week 5 and she just texted me saying she's so worried as they have a limit they can afford and not much comes up that is dog friendly and anything they apply for has many applicants (eg over 15) she had one accepted but declined it as decided it was too old but had applied to see if she would be approved. She offered to pay more rent to us while they continue searching

As far as I see options are
1. Increase rent to their max (what they are currently searching for) $360 current to their $420 max
2. Leave rent as is but only extend for 4weeks then they must leave
3.tell them they have to leave

I'm leaning on option 1. If tenanted as a whole house which we are looking to do we will get around $600 so we will still be loosing $180ish per week plus we don't charge downstairs electricity or water which new
Tenants will be charged when renting whole house

We don't have new tenants or even advertised yet as was waiting until we had more of an idea as to when downstairs would move

What do you think is fair and smart. If we go with option one and increase rent for a selected period of time what happens if they still haven't found something

This makes at hard to advertise too for new tenants

 

[jrc]

Option 3 looks pretty good. It gives you what you want.

 

[DaveM]

Why not let them rent the whole house and sublet upstairs to persons of your approval.

They get to stay and you dont have to deal with any issues with the sublet, as the tenant has to manage any issues/relet

Win for all I reckon

 

[pinkboy]

Why not let them rent the whole house and sublet upstairs to persons of your approval.

They get to stay and you dont have to deal with any issues with the sublet, as the tenant has to manage any issues/relet

Win for all I reckon

Until you cant get the sub-lets out when the tenant wants to move, and they just move out and leave them as your problem..........


pinkboy

 

[Perp]

Until you cant get the sub-lets out when the tenant wants to move, and they just move out and leave them as your problem.

That's one problem. Another is that it would still be illegal to sub-let. The prohibition is against two separate households occupying the premises, not about who leases to who.

 

[1911naomi]

Yes prefer not to sub lease but thanks for another options.

Kicking them out once their 8 weeks is up is obviously what's work best for me but feeling alittle bad about doing it considering they have been good tenants

Will call agent to see what she thinks but I'd say she'll say it's upto me what I want to do as I'll be loosing out on. $$$

Thinking I might increase their rent to the max give them extra 4 weeks and tell them they must be out by then ... But then worried what of they still don't find anything

What would you do??

 

[Perp]

Thinking I might increase their rent to the max give them extra 4 weeks and tell them they must be out by then ... But then worried what of they still don't find anything

What would you do??

Remember that 1) you can only increase rent in line with market, and 2) you have to give 2 months' written notice, so the rent increase wouldn't take effect until after you intend for them to have left, anyway.

So I'd say you're stuck with "tell them they have to leave", but see if there's anything you can do to help them.

As they genuinely have been good tenants, have you written a glowing reference letter? I know that they can nominate you as a referee when they apply at other places, but it sounds like there are so many applicants that their application's not even getting to screening. I would think submitting an application with a glowing reference letter would have to "move them up the pile" with the property managers doing screening.

 

[1911naomi]

I've given them multiple letters as thy keep loosing! But glowing reference
Gave them an extra 2 weeks and told them although I know they wan to find their perfect next place they need to start looking at 2bdrom houses and other areas. Tried to sound nice and understanding but also can't let them stay longer as costing us too much

Just worried if they haven't found somewhere by then...... Didn't want to leave on a bad note

 

[serendip]

Sounds like they're taking advantage of you....how convenient that they keep losing the letters! And they've been offered a place but chose not to take it. My interpretation is that they're on a good wicket and they know it. They have little motivation to leave. Time to get tough me thinks

 

[zimby]

Sounds like they're taking advantage of you....how convenient that they keep losing the letters! And they've been offered a place but chose not to take it. My interpretation is that they're on a good wicket and they know it. They have little motivation to leave. Time to get tough me thinks

Might not be entirely true, it can be difficult to find the exact place you are after if you include pets.
Most people have a tonne of prejudices when it comes to picking a place, and almost always leave it to the last minute.
Make sure you advertise early for new tenants, don't want to have the place vacant early.