Happy Easter to all. I hope your holiday goes well.

Here are my newest questions for your advices.

After months search and patiently waiting, I finally accepted an application, because they were college graduated, except I did not know they are a "high maintenance".

From the first day, they moved in, the house started had have so many issues, the electrical/outlets tripped, etc.... I fixed all issues right away, I spent hours to get them done. (yes, I also spent a lot of money to get them done), including to replace a brand new microwave (that was not in the ads, and told them the lease does not offer one. (broken by the first tenant.), but, I still replaced a brand new one.

There were some plumbing issues, e.g. to replace a cylinder of water knob at the bathroom; the oak tree roots broken the sprinkler pipe...etc. But, it all have been fixed within an hour, or within 24 hours, (to look for a plumber, the handyman etc.)

I even replaced an expensive water filter in the refrigerator for them.

Now, they said all these inconvenience, they asked for a huge discount in rent. (rent paid first day of the month, they have been in the premises for three weeks.)

I would like to ask your input. They already asked to low the rent from the beginning, so I did, the rent is the best value in this area. (did the comparison in Zillow), they already lied to have pets from the beginning. I already gave them big price break for having pets.

I do not feel good about them now. The moment the male tenant asked for the discount for the rent at 9pm, after I and the plumber fixed the bathroom issue.

What are the options do I have? to terminate the lease and ask them to move out immediately without penalty? (they paid to the end of month), I am afraid they will make more potential damages, they know a lot of fixing the house, they told me so.

Thanks.

Your tenants expecting to have everything in working condition. They are trained in a college to list all discrepancies in their dorm room at a move in time.

They will don’t need an explanation about necessity of rental insurance. It is required in college too.

I will thanks them for letting me know about some issues.

Explain that I don’t live here and really appreciate that they are caring for the property.

Not sure about discount for the rent.

Nope, not a penny. They are training YOU and not YOU training THEM.

They already got you to change your rental price? Really? Now they have pets and you didn't want them (or weren't told) and you gave them a deal on that too?

Stop... Things break down, not all things will work properly "all of the time". You fixed them in a very quick manner. No reduction in rent. Too bad for them.

No.

Thank you for your suggestions.

What is "Happy Clause" in a lease? three replies indicated it, MC/PA, Plenty/MO, and Jonny/NY. Please inform me of its contents.

I have not reported to you, how many extra miles that I had offered to this young relocated couple, but, it was all right. I hate those ungrateful people and think they can take

Definately offer them happy clause:

".....put out or shut up"

Might be careful who you say that to, when you say it, and how you put it.

Happy clause can be something like this:

Hi, Xxx.

You don’t appear to be happy with your current living arrangement. We want all our residents to enjoy their home.

I am with LIbi-give a specific date for termination otherwise some will feel it is an open offer.

I'm starting from the LL. Your place was not 100% ready to rent. Tripping outlets that needed you to fix? Major appliance on the premises that you knew was broken? Water cylinder and roots broke pipes?

You don't know how to make a place READY for rent. You blame the previous tenant for breaking the micro wave? Do you think the current tenant cares who broke it? -- it wasn't them. Very sloppy prep on your part.

So now tenant is saying-- who the heck did we rent from? What kind of place is this with broken items? What would you do if you just purchased something and brought it home and it was broken? Now imagine you brought 4 or 5 things and they were all broken?

It's commendable your trying to make it right by coming here. You need to read posts here and pick up a book or 10 on LL'ing. While waiting for mr and mrs right to make application you should have been studying.

I have one property that I took FOREVER to renovate, but everything was done, place looks great! I placed it in service just as landlords were able to evict again after Covid, and most prospects were 'Heck no!' But, there was one who was good. Turns out this tenant can be a bit prickly, a bit fussy, but tent is paid reliably, house is kept very clean.

Because the house was in such good order, there have been very few repairs needed since tenant moved in, ( 2 minor items, plus one that turned out to be not the house, but tenant's stuff) so I haven't had to deal with the prickly personality. Tenant is happy, I'm happy. Nice bonus is that every time I have been in the property, it is clean, decorated well, and tenant is happy with how the place is maintained.

I have a house I bought nine years ago, with a tenant already in it. Same tenant for the last nine years. A small part of me wants to do a quick turnover and get it back in service. But, knowing how nice it has been to not be in a tenant's space with that well-renovated property, I'm going for the full-on, get everything done remodel. I'm not getting any younger, so getting those projects done now is in my best interest.

I agree with MYOB.

I've tried to teach new and older landlords the importance of fixing things right once a property becomes vacant. A lawyer friend of mine made big bucks last year so he purchased for his family a 5M home, then rented he old home out.

He did not follow my advice. He did not map out the electrical breakers to outlets and switches. The tenant kept oh having cold showers because the power to the Tank-less water kept tripping. The outside lights were tied to the outside outlet feeding power to the tank-less water heater.

I'm with MYOB. I don't exactly understand why you are proposing to kick out your resident, or are at least unhappy with them, because of issues that should have been fixed before they moved in. Good tenants expect things to work when they move in, you failed to provide that. I commend your attention to getting them fixed quickly, that was somewhat of a recovery from the previous failures. Next vacancies, you need to walk through and check everything as part of your turnover process

The tenants lied by bringing in pets and are asking for a huge rent discount. What an auspicious start of their tenancy. They do not seem cooperative. I too would highly consider sending previous posters' letters for the Happy Clause.

Best of luck.

Some folks are hearing the pet issue where others are seeing the tenant getting a unit in less than 100% rent ready.

I would start out with just stating facts.

1) We are sorry that the unit has not worked out that well for you and is not meeting your expectation. The pet is also a bit of surprise to us too. We do need to work these issues out to avoid future friction.

2) We will continue to make any and all necessary repairs in a timely manner. We hope you continue to report them in a timely manner so that we can keep maintenance cost as low as possible for YOU.

3) We want to attempt to make you happy and to continue the business relationship that we have started. However in enlight of where we are at, we can fully understand if you decide to move early.

Ray I can't agree 100% with that post. The reason is when you leave your ammo out in the weather its hit and miss that it will work, Tenants are the same. You give them the least little excuse to dong you and your product and your losing right out of the gate.

We don't want tenants to have 1 simple excuse to blame us for anything. They need that mental crutch to justify asking for the unheard of. Like lower rent.

Thank you for your input and suggestions.

The facts are I have managed my property to its top shape as I know how. I hired a master electrician to check that the outlet tripped issue. (it only happened a few times), all I told was to reset the bottom which would worked. It usually did not repeat itself. I informed the tenant about it when the lease signed. I did not know what they did since they moved in, I hired a handymen double check all outlets and replaced all GFIs.

I learned my lesson; I'll walk thru when the tenant move out and the lease said to keep the utility open for three more days. (learned from this forum).

I had promptly repaired and fixed whatever the issues came to my attention, I had done more than a landlord should be doing. By the way, they are not new graduates, they are in their 30s, they think because I was so nice to them (because they relocated to a new city), they can get away with and asked for rent discount with no shame.

To ask for the rent discount hits my bottom line. Like you all said I should not allow to rent reduce at the first place, which I did. $50 off per month, it is $600 a year already.

I will use some of the suggestions here to reply to this new tenant, the "taste" of bitterness already happen.

I suspect that they might eventually or potentially damage the house without my knowledge. They know how.

Too bad, I thought this new tenant was a good one. Time will tell.

alice TX. 4th paragraph second sentence. NO YOU DIDN'T! So stop patting your self on the back.

Last paragraph: maybe the tenants thought the same of you?

I'll give you this unlike many who come here for help at least your making an effort to RUN your business properly and improve your rental.

What does nice -polite-and business like really mean in the rental business?

So your place wasn't perfect when they moved in (like myob's places), they persuaded you into an initial discount, then stole more beyond the contract agreement with the pets.

I'd remind them they were more than compensated up front and are welcome to undo all this if they want to end the lease and move out. It's easy to see they make a sport of beating you down and it won't stop unless YOU are able to gain control here.

I've been where you are and learned from someone smarter than me that a great way to illustrate absurdity is to be absurd.

The next attempt at getting a "rebate" from you - I'd reply:

'I thought about all this. How about if I withdraw money from the bank, pay off my mortgage, refund all your rent and security, and give you the place; just give it to you for free. Then can we try and get along better?'

Whatever their response, it's happy clause time if your state allows it.

Tony thank you for your comment "like myob's places". Tony I will guarantee you that 90% of the people who are on this site daily to help others rent out their places are "zero defect places" and LL's. We do several walk throughs with different people to verify "no defects".

Give them a very modest discount for month(maybe prorate from rent the hours workers were present), then note the unauthorized pets(who will likely morph to ESAs) and serve a cure or quit due to pets, as it sounds like they lied on ap and that disqualifies them in my book. If your lease says no pets,enforce or you will continue to be pushed by "the negotiator" Offer them a fast out by discounting the early termination fee. The Happy Clause makes you happy when they move out.

If the lease said no pets and they brought in pets that VIOLATES your lease. Give written notice that they have a certain number of days to remediate that by either removing the pet or moving out.