Landlord Temporary Residency at his convenience / Occupancy
Good Morning, I wish to consult about my issues with a Tenant.
Thank you for your time in reading me. Best, PatZatar
Objectives:
Respond and fight the 21 / 30
Request payment of past due rents/utilities
Request repair of Damages (removed bushes) / Yard overgrown
Stop Harassment and stop Basement issue (preventing from renting out or occupying)
Can you property manage the House, renters, leases, etc. (fees ?)
Claims against tenant
- Bushes removed
- Yard not maintained
- Curtains removed causing HVAC strain and shorter life expectancy
- left attic window opened all Winter (did not give access to close it and did not close it)
- Did not use Attic Fan to reduce the Heat and ease on the HVAC
- Working from home prior to CoronaVirus causing higher ‘wear and tear’ / usage of a House and Mechanicals (HVAC, Plumbing, Electric) (lives like a Hermit (never goes out but once 1 week for about 4 hours)
- extensive communication / emails (harassment)
- Block driveway
- Unpaid Rent/Utilities + Internet (5 months) (about $850 owed by Tenant)
- prevent peaceful basement occupancy of Basement
- violation of private space / barged in the Basement
- called the police to have me move my car, without asking me first
- Tampering of my US Postal Mail
- Discussed extensively the same issue (3 x 2 hours) of my occupancy in the basement / gave him my answer and still served 21/30 Notice
- Tenant Served on Landlord (!) the 21 / 30 Notice of Material non-compliance three (3) times (harassing)
- abusive 21 / 30 Notice , inaccurately (incompletely) stating the Provision 32. 5.
- abusive cure of non-compliance (attempting to rewrite the lease and making unreasonable demands)
- attempting to Evict during CornonaVirus
- repeated Attempts to Get Discounted rent (causing issues to put pressure)
- Landlord 'residence/occupancy’ not an issue till failed attempts to Discounted rent (May 26 expressed in writing, prior was asking to extend lease, was asking to rent basement, was saying fine to complete 2 more years to end of 3 years)
- Harassment, Violation of Domicile (break and entering), abusive, verbally violent, threats, Stress, anxiety, anguish,
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Do I (the Landlord) have to respond to the 21 / 30 Notice ? and how ? by postal mail ? post at this front door ? by Email ? Can I ignore this frivolous Notice ?
Upstairs Tenant has not paid his Utilities since about 5 months (Dec / Jan), has been tampering Postal Mail (not delivering my postal mail), has removed bushes and damaged the front Yard before September 28, 2029, has been harassing Landlord (me), has violated basement space by entering aggressively without notice, has abusively called police to be unblocked by my car in the narrow driveway.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR RESPONSE.
As of May 5, 2019, Upstairs Tenant is renting main-level- only (upstairs) of a Single Family House in Fairfax Va for 3 years.
Basement room with a Separate entrance has been rented to another tenant that was already in place since November 2018.
Basement other side is occupied by Landlord since September 28, 2019..
Upstairs Lease reads as follows:
Landlord shall be permitted to use the basement at his temporary residence at his convenience. His occupancy is excepted from the one-Tenant limit.
Upstairs Tenant is claiming that Landlord breached the Upstairs Lease by staying too long in his downstairs basement that has a separate entrance.
Upstairs Tenant is renting only the Upstairs Main Level of a Single Family House that has only one Upstairs Level and one downstairs level (Basement). (separate entrances, no areas are shared)
Upstairs Tenant has served on Landlord a 21 / 30 day notice to cure the (alleged) material non-compliance with the Upstairs lease agreement and is trying to get the Landlord to move out and if not cured by Landlord , Upstairs Tenant is calling the Upstairs Lease Terminated in 30 days.
The Upstairs Tenant, Stated default / violation described as: "Landlord’s residency in the basement beginning September 28, 2019 and spanning 237 consecutive days, ongoing, in material non-compliance with your lease agreement Section 32, Other specific provisions: 5. Landlord shall be permitted to use the basement at his temporary residence at his convenience."
To cure the stated default Upstairs Tenant requires from Landlord:
"1) Fully vacate the premises, 2) cease occupancy for the remainder of the lease term and, 3) Submit a United States Postal Service change-of-address form establishing a primary mailing address that is not on the premises."
Upstairs Lease reads as follows:
Landlord shall be permitted to use the basement at his temporary residence at his convenience. His occupancy is excepted from the one-Tenant limit.
The Upstairs Lease is a 3 year lease and it does not define 'temporary" it could be anything 30 days, 18 months, 2 years….
Temporary residence different from occupancy. Lease refers to Occupancy. ‘temporary’ not defined in the Lease. (residency vs. occupancy concept)
Landlord does not want to move out at the Demand of the Upstairs Tenant (but will be moving out soon) , Landlord does not wish to have Upstairs Tenant Break the lease , by trying to 'define temporary' by counting the number of Days, that Landlord has been in the Basement.
Landlord is waiting for Opening of Borders and resuming Air Flight Traffic overseas.
NOTE: Landlord Name and Address Listed on the Upstairs Lease is the House Address of the Upstairs Lease (this re-enforces in my opinion that the Landlords has rights to reside / occupy the Basement of that house)