Okay, so we got a phone call from a tenant who claims that she is now scared to be, at one of our buildings. I'm not sure she is,.."all there"... and so this is at least in part hearsay at this point.

She claims that the tenant upstairs stabbed her boyfriend 10 times. The upstairs tenant consists of a mother and adult daughter (who was stabber) and an eight-year-old child.

Further information seems like this stabbing definitely happened (Daughter is in jail this AM) but apparently did not happen at the apartment or even in the town but at the boyfriend's house 10 miles away.

Frankly I would be happy to get rid of the whole group,.. the mother is demanding and cranky the daughter ( she too is apparently is not mentally stable ,).. the kid is very noisy running back and forth for hours and sounds like a baby elephant to the floor below.. I know that is a fact as we were working on the second floor upgrade a could hear the kid. But now this.

This is a very nice building in a town that has degraded economically and it seems like the only tenants we can get our section 8 people. Yes it's going up for sale after 32 years.

I'm wondering what to do in this case. Can I get rid of all of them? Can we evict any of them? Can we tell her she's no longer able to stay at the property? If so could we charge her of trespass if she does? Do we need something legal to do that? Do we inform the section 8 housing people?

I could live with the cranky grandmother but apparently those two do long and noisy arguments on a regular basis. I'm hoping the daughter would leave.. and take her kid with her. Not sure how that would work with sect 8 as this is a very large 3 bedroom apt,..if only grandma is left.

So the downstairs tenant is also a single mother with a child says she's worried about staying there because of a person who is capable of stabbing someone.

Hopefully your rental agreement says something about obeying laws and allowing neighbors quiet enjoyment of their units.

Then you have grounds to evict-or not renew if month to month or getting close to the end of the lease.

We had a "boyfriend" kidnap his girlfriend at knife point in the property next to my apts. I missed the show but my tenants watched the outside part. Apparently the guy cut the Mom inside, grabbed the girl, threw her over his shoulder cave man style, and ran off down the street with the cops in hot pursuit!

My rental agreement says: This agreement is void if tenant is involved in a criminal activity.

Ann,

My local Sec8 office instantly terminates anyone involved in any crime.

Your next problem will be an occupant without rent. I suggest starting eviction immediately.

Fred,

I suggest a slight change of wording. If your lease is VOID technically you cannot implement the things in the lease such as collect rent, late fees, or charge for cleaning/repairs. A free atty will jump on this like a bird on a bug.

I suggest something like "Tenant's rights will be terminated and will trigger eviction."

BRAD

At the least be stern on lease clauses you can in force and plan on not renewing their lease. Do what you can, accept the rest. Is the daughter on the lease? If not read your policy for over night guest and enforce with paperwork. Takes alot of energy and babysitting on your part. I would also provide the scared tenant a spiral note pad and pen ask her to keep a log of activity and what she experiences.

They will both either settle down and go about their own ways or move on.

Brad,

You're right...so I looked at my rental agreement, and I have it under "Termination": (D) This agreement will terminate if tenant(s) is involved in criminal/illegal activity.

BTW, I have never had a tenant represented by a lawyer in an eviction case.

Luckily, I've only had a few.

fred,

Count your blessings! They can get a free atty thru legal aid or Fair Housing. At a minimum they can get free (landlord hating) advice from legal aid.