How to kick out the tenant "nicely"

[lazypucker]

I am here to ask for suggestions from the brilliant minds here at CP for help.

I have a rental unit where neither me or the tenant likes each other (long story - basically a lot of back and forth on rent negotiations and unit maintenance items). It is a 6-month lease and will end at the end of March.

I am for sure not going to renew with this tenant. According to the Alberta Tenancy Act I don't need to serve any notice technically but they suggest to give courtesy notice.

https://www.alberta.ca/ending-a-tenancy.aspx

What would you recommend me to do? I am afraid if I give the tenant a heads-up too soon they will start playing games and tearing my unit apart by the time they leave.

[Northendzone]

while i am sure there are folks here with direct and relevant experience in this area - my initial thought is get to a lawyer and get their advice.

i was always under the impression that generally speaking rental laws skew towards protecting the tenant.

Hopefully this works out for you and the tenant with no drama or damage to your property

[Dan02]

You don't get to kick them out because you don't like them and they make you do maintenance.

Did you read the link you posted? There are 3 reasons for a tenancy to end. The tenant wants to end the lease, the lease is breached, or you are planning on moving in.

That being said, you can with 90 days notice jack the rent up so high they leave on their own volition.

Unless your lease explicitly says after 6 months they have to vacate it rolls over to a month to month lease automatically so don't assume they have to leave after 6 months.

[Coach]

Sounds like you’re willing to wait until the end of the lease and then just not renew, yes?

You can just give them 30 days notice at the end of the lease that you won’t be renewing with them. It doesn’t have to be personal. Not sure if 30 days is legally required in your scenario, but it’s a courtesy that can avoid problems.

[firebug]

Cash for keys.

IANAL but work in a law office. Engaging counsel is expensive and getting the courts to take action is slow.

If you want him gone... figure out what size of cheque it will take for him to leave (contingent on the unit being in good shape).

[tony-soprano]

Sleep with his mother, he'll leave without ever looking you in the eye.

[lazypucker]

Originally Posted by Dan02

Unless your lease explicitly says after 6 months they have to vacate it rolls over to a month to month lease automatically so don't assume they have to leave after 6 months.

Originally Posted by Coach

Sounds like you’re willing to wait until the end of the lease and then just not renew, yes?

You can just give them 30 days notice at the end of the lease that you won’t be renewing with them. It doesn’t have to be personal. Not sure if 30 days is legally required in your scenario, but it’s a courtesy that can avoid problems.

Did not know that leases automatically roll over to month-to-month unless I explicitly ends it after the term.

Yes, there are only 4 months left, I will just serve them a 30-day notice with one month left in the lease and tell them to leave.

[Huntingwhale]

Since the lease appears to end in 3 months, why not just give 3 months notice to them and say you want to have them leave by that date? Unless there is a reason to avoid speaking with them, is that not feasible? Call them, say the lease ends on this date and you want the unit back. That gives a lot of notice to them to find another place and puts the thought in their mind that it's time to leave.

I'm not an expert in the small print, but if there is push back for them to stay, then you guys have a lot of time to work something out and maybe at that point you can consult with legal aid.

But seems to me you have plenty of time to at least tell them of your plans to get the unit back (just say you are moving in, or selling?). If you are worried that if you give too much notice that your tenant will start destroying that place, well then you really do have reason to push for them to leave and protect your asset.

[lazypucker]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Since the lease appears to end in 3 months, why not just give 3 months notice to them and say you want to have them leave by that date? Unless there is a reason to avoid speaking with them, is that not feasible? Call them, say the lease ends on this date and you want the unit back. That gives a lot of notice to them to find another place and puts the thought in their mind that it's time to leave.

The problem of telling them way in advance is that they will probably going to trash the place. For example, they manage to break the glass on the oven door. Out of my 30-some years living on this planet I have never heard of an oven glass door being broken. They demanded me to pay to fix it, plus they have the audacity to ask me to compensate them because they can't cook!! It's stupid sh*t like this that I don't want to give them a prolonged notice as they will definitely going to cause more damages...

So 30-day notice it will be.

[Huntingwhale]

Fair enough. Just, the point I was getting at is that if you give them notice and they begin to destroy the place, they are POS to begin with and absolutely need to be vacated.

Whether it be 90 day or 30, sounds like you need them gone at the end of the lease and letting them stay past that point is not acceptable. Tell them you yourself are moving in, or selling. Whatever you need to do to get them to leave.

Crappy situation.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

I think you're setting yourself up for trouble by giving 30 days notice.
If you really think these folks are inclined to wreck the place do you really think they can do much more damage in 90 days vs 30 days?

Besides the mechanisms are already in place to kick them out sooner if they are actively damaging the place.

Seems to me telling them "Hey you're out at the end of the month" is more likely to illicit a negative response compared to telling them now "I don't think we should renew this lease, you've got 3 months to find a new place to live"

[Sliver]

Maybe a lie will work to your advantage? Something along the lines of your mom/dad/aunt/uncle/whatever has been diagnosed with late-stage cancer and you're going to be moving them into the apartment when the lease is up. So sorry...you've been a great tenant and I had hoped we could renew.

[Coach]

I’ve been a landlord, a renter, and a defacto “manager” as a primary tenant collecting from everyone else and dealing with finding new people to live w etc… both in Calgary and Vancouver.

30 days notice is pretty standard people have never been upset about it even when there have been tension issues. It doesn’t have to include animosity. Make something up. “We have a tenant with longer term coming in” “a family member is moving to town and is going to take the place” whatever.

[topfiverecords]

In this rental market if I was told I had 30 or 90 days to find a new place and come to terms with having to move and arrange it, I’d be more at ease with 90 days. 30 days would inject some stress.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

In this rental market if I was told I had 30 or 90 days to find a new place and come to terms with having to move and arrange it, I’d be more at ease with 90 days. 30 days would inject some stress.

Yeah I’ll add that it’s definitely beneficial to have more notice than not obviously. When a relationship is good it’s nice to have a few months for both parties (ie finding a good replacement and finding a new place).

30 days is just the minimum notice before it rolls to the month to month. And truthfully people usually aren’t looking to rent that far in advance. The last month is where most of the turnover is happening anyways.

I would agree if someone’s going to leave a place trashed they will regardless of 90 days, 30 days or no days. Crappy people are usually crappy all the time. Being a landlord and even the “manager” has taught me to expect that people will leave things in a pretty rough state and be prepared to hire cleaners, and then be pleasantly surprised sometimes when people don’t suck.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

The problem of telling them way in advance is that they will probably going to trash the place. For example, they manage to break the glass on the oven door. Out of my 30-some years living on this planet I have never heard of an oven glass door being broken. They demanded me to pay to fix it, plus they have the audacity to ask me to compensate them because they can't cook!! It's stupid sh*t like this that I don't want to give them a prolonged notice as they will definitely going to cause more damages...

So 30-day notice it will be.

This actually happened to me. Left the oven door open (horizontally) for too long after use and the uneven cooling of the glass resulted in it exploding. This was only the inside pane of glass - I don't know which pane of glass of the oven you experienced being broken.

[KTrain]

Giving him 90 days might give him the chance to find place sooner and want to get out of the lease sooner.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by KTrain

Giving him 90 days might give him the chance to find place sooner and want to get out of the lease sooner.

Yeah depending on how you have payments and deposits set up, and you do truly think this person is a piece of crap, more notice may have them skipping the last few months all together and then you’re dealing with trying to find someone shot gun which is never ideal.

Of course they can’t legally break a lease and not pay, but who’s going to court for a few hundred dollars in rent?

The tenant/landlord market can be a minefield especially in large cities with a lot of turnover and rising costs. When you have a good situation I find it’s better to have a little less money with more peace of mind if it comes to it.

[Zarley]

Originally Posted by Dan02

You don't get to kick them out because you don't like them and they make you do maintenance.

Did you read the link you posted? There are 3 reasons for a tenancy to end. The tenant wants to end the lease, the lease is breached, or you are planning on moving in.

That being said, you can with 90 days notice jack the rent up so high they leave on their own volition.

Unless your lease explicitly says after 6 months they have to vacate it rolls over to a month to month lease automatically so don't assume they have to leave after 6 months.

I don't think you are understanding this correctly. Those provisions do not apply to a fixed-term tenancy, only to a periodic (ie: month-to-month) tenancy. Provided there is a lease agreement in place, the landlord or tenant can elect to end the tenancy with no notice required by law.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

I suppose trashing the place is a risk, but I would give 90 days notice. I think it better to make it clear that you do not intend to renew, and you can also tell him that if he finds a place early, you will agree to terminate the lease early. That will give him motivation to look early and if he can lock something in, he knows he won't be penalized by holding 2 leases.

I mean, if he doesn't like you either, he might be happy to cut bait and leave.