When should I deliver a seven day notice cure to a tenant in violation of the lease agreement?
So you've got yourself some tenants that may or may not be behaving themselves in your rental property. And while most homeowners try to be understanding of certain situations, it's important that you still deliver a seven day notice cure, even if you're being a little lenient. You need to let them know and you need to document that they are in breach of the contract (violating their lease) and that they are responsible for clearing that breach within seven days.
Some of the items that you would deliver a seven day notice for would include things like:
- not mowing the lawn
- keeping the garbage cans out front too long
- not weeding the flower beds
- parking their car in the grass
Let's talk about maybe a few more important items that you would want to deliver a seven day like.
What if they have a pet in the property and you didn't know about the pet? Or maybe they told you the pet was a Chihuahua. Turns out he's a pit bull. These are items that you would definitely want to deliver a seven day, even if you're thinking about allowing the pet. You still need to let him know they're in breech that way. Let's say the pet decides to bite someone. The pit bull gets out and bite someone and they try to come after you in court. You need to be able to show documentation where you said, no, this pet is not allowed. And we gave them a violation to remove the pet from the property.
How about unauthorized occupants, dependents all the time?
Have friends come over and stay family, come in town? What about the one that moves in that you didn't know about? The one that, lets say, was a sex predator or has a has a criminal background. This would be a time where you would definitely want to deliver a 7 day notice to say, hey, listen, that's an unauthorized occupant and they need to get out of the home that way. If anything comes of the occupant and they cause any drama or damage to the property or issues with the neighbors. You'll have documentation where you've done what you need to do to get them out.
One of the most original seven days I've ever given was recently I gave a seven day notice for cleanliness.
Cleanliness is an opinionated term, but the lease does state that the tenants are responsible for keeping the home and a good clean fashion. And when we went in for an inspection, the home was not clean. So we did have to give the tenants a seven day notice. We went back in after seven days and miraculously it was clean over the weekend. If you have any questions about issues with your tenants or if you should or should not deliver a seven day notice, please give me a call and we will discuss.
