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Renters are slack

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M

mjcg

Guest
One year ago this last August we put my husbands mother into a nursing home and rented out her house. The same people have been in it all this time. At first the rent was always either paid on time or they would call to ask for an extention.
The rent is due on the first of each month and we give them 10 days grace because his work pays every other Friday and it doesn't always work out for them to pay by the 1st.
They did real good for several months then one of the rent checks bounced. It has been all downhill ever since. The rent is very seldom paid by the 10th, two more checks have bounced and they are coming up with one excuse after another why they need to pay late. I finally told them, after the last check bounced that I would no longer except a check, that they could either pay by money order or bank draft.
Now for the touchy part of this. My mother-in-law only has life estate on the home, she is 93, and the home goes to one of her daughter's upon her death. There are not very many people who would rent under these circumstances. As soon as mother-in-law dies whoever is renting has to move out. We know the daughter will make them move.
Now my question is what can we do to resolve this habitual late payment? They pay every month, though not on time, and they take very good care of the home and yard. We started charging a late fee which they gladly pay. The problem with them not paying on time is that the rent money has to go to the nursing home each month to help pay the rent there. When they are late we have to come up with this money out of our pocket. Any advice? We live in Kansas if this makes a difference.
 


HomeGuru

Senior Member
Evict these tenants and get better ones that pay on time. If the tenants are on a fixed lease and the life estate is extinguished, the lease is NOT terminated but is binding on the owner of the property.
 
M

mjcg

Guest
Since this renting business was new to my husband and me I'm afraid I don't understand what "fixed lease" means. And you said when the life estate is extinguished that the lease is binding. Does this meant that if we had a years lease with the renters and the mother-in-law were to die before the lease was up that the daughter who gets the house would have to honor the lease to it's end? We never signed a lease with these tenants due to 1. our stupidity 2. due to the odd circumstances of the life estate. When we first started renting it we didn't think the mother had much time to live. She was in pretty bad shape from trying to take care of herself. But as stated before that was a year ago this past Aug. Any way if you could give me a few pointers here on the above questions I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
Since there is no written lease then the tenants are considered m/m tenants. This is a moot point anyway since you will be evicting due to nonpayment of rent.

You need to hire an attorney to start the ball rolling.
 

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