Landlord-tenant hell: too close for comfort
Today, I reactivate the series "Landlord-tenant hell" with issues about being a landlord and being a tenant. Ideas for 2010 are welcome!
Rental season in greater Boston is already in full swing. As apartments open up at the end of May, current renters jockey for better places. Then come July and August, new residents come in to start school and jobs in September. So, this is the first in a series on landlord-tenant posts. I expect to be covering rental issues for the rest of the summer.
My clients are generally sensitive to conflicts of interest. Recently one of them had this dilemma:
He wanted to rent his condo for one year, for a tax advantage, and then sell it. Should he rent my condo to someone he supervises at work?
My client and I brainstormed all the things that could go wrong:
What if the tenant wanted to stay after you decide to sell? Will that cause tension in the office?
What if you had to fire someone without cause? Would you hesitate to fire him for fear of losing rental income?
What if you had to fire him for misconduct? Would you also have to evict him?
What if you had to evict him for cause? How could you keep supervising him?
This begs the question of how inter-meshed the relationship between landlord and tenant should be. It is not only work associates, but relatives, friends, and friends of friends or relatives.
Many landlords eventually become sellers. Bad tenants are frequently the last straw. When that bad tenant is an acquaintance or the friend of an acquaintance, it gets more complicated. One seller said this about her last tenant: “I dreaded him as a tenant and now I dread running into him socially.”
What’s your advice for someone who is thinking of renting to a co-worker, friend, relative or a friend of a friend, co-worker or relative?
