[Landlord] Tenant is charging people to park my front and backyard. What should I do?

He's running an unauthorized business on your property as well as damaging your property. There are a lot of options starting with charging him to repair the lawn up to eviction.

Hopefully, his acknowledgment is in writing, such as email or text.

Issue a notice of lease violation. Spell out that this is a warning and the next action will be eviction

Questions: (1) does your lease ban the tenant from running a business out of the property? (2) is it causing any damage to the grass?

Charge him for the lawn repairs. Don’t worry, he came into some extra cash.

Ask an attorney to help,you draft the notice of violation and see if you can add some language that you are not liable for any personal injury, property damage etc that may result from this illegal usage.

This is a liability nightmare.

What if one of the vehicles gets damaged or stolen while parked on your property? What if someone breaks an ankle walking across a lawn now covered with fresh tire ruts from being used as a parking lot? I can guarantee that it won't be the tenants renters policy that will be covering any issues that crop up. It'll be your homeowners policy that takes the hit, and it'll be you that enjoys the associated hike in insurance rates.

I hope that your jurisdiction has remedies in the tenancy laws for unauthorized commercial use of a rental property, because you have to shut this down ASAP.

Split the money with him. Change the lease so that you aren’t responsible for keeping the yard in good condition during football season and they have to fix the tire tracks in February or March.

It’s difficult to find renters in a college town?

You should start charging people $50 to park during football games. There's clearly a market that you're not exploiting and he's making your money.

I'm sorry this is happening to you, and you've received some great advice already. One thing I'l add is that when I bought my duplex, it came with a tenant and her sometime live-in boyfriend who was not on the lease. I caught him riding his 4-wheeler through the yard and around the duplex. I told him to stop. He did it again while I wasn't home. But I got it on camera. I told him to stop, again, and said I would charge her for any damage. I also proceeded to plant shrubs all along the border of the property, which was already the plan. Lol. Take that!

Lmao that probably pays the rent

First, what does the lease say? If you don’t have anything about it in the lease, you probably can’t do much about it until he moves out and you charge him for damages. You might be able to charge him for lawn repair or direct him to do it in the meantime

Second, when does the current lease end? When it’s time to renew the lease, make sure to add a provision about parking in the yard

Third, is there an HOA? If so, there’s probably some rules about that in the HOA that are being violated which might be in the lease

I think you have several remedies: 1) tell him you may evict him for continued breach of the terms of the lease, this could fall under noxious behavior, or even a subleasing clause. If this somehow doesn’t actually breach terms of the lease, then you should probably add this to your standard lease agreement for the future. 2) bill him for having professional landscapers repair the damage 3) just tell him after every game if there’s damage you’ll be repeating 2 then he has to figure out if the economics are there 4) actually begin eviction proceedings

Personally I’d do 1(to stop the behavior) and 2( to fix the damage)

you're not going to win the argument in court that a clause in the lease prohibits running a business from the property. This isn't the kind of "business" that even needs to be filed as a legal entity & a rental court judge will see it slightly more valid, but still similarly petty as if you were trying to stop a lemon aid stand, pop-up car wash to raise money for summer camp, or someone from giving piano lessons in the home. If they did it every weekend year round you'd have a better argument but there's no way he's able to do this more than a handful of days a year.

I think your best course of action is to not really make this a huge deal but do tell your tenant that you know about it & that landscaping costs to repair the yard will be coming out of their damage deposit & that if they renew the lease after the lease is up it will include a new clause banning any parked vehicles from the lawn.

I would consider this temporarily subletting part of the property as well. Cure or quit notice maybe followed by an eviction depending on the verbiage of your lease.

Look at this as an opportunity. Have him cut you in. 60/40 or 70/30 since you have all of the risk and it’s your property. He gets 30 or 40 for running the day to day operation and because he’s giving up some of his use of the property as a tenant. Grass is easy to replace.

I learned this from The Office. Running any business without the landlords permission is against a lease, unless the lease specifically says you can. Thank you The Office.

Does your lease not have any clauses about unauthorized commercial/business activities? If not - add it.

Get a quote or two to fix the lawn, and send him the invoice.

I personally wouldn't renew either.

Send a letter of warning. Unauthorized business destruction of landlord property etc. Next lease violation is notice of eviction if allowed in your area.

You should be able to put down sod in most areas of country. I've seen sod put down in New Hampshire in December. It went dormant and shot up in spring.

Let him know he will be paying for sod. Either now or in court. This is not normal use. Grass does not depreciate like a carpet. You could offer to split, but only to be nice.

I would also estimate how many cars and how many games and write down how much he made. Might be useful later in court.

This is a liability issue. If any of these people hurt themselves on your property, you will be responsible.

Injuries and damage happen and when they do, the injured parties lawyer will come after you. You should talk to an attorney.

I learned long along to just assume that anything a tenant says to me is a lie. That way I’m never disappointed and sometimes pleasantly surprised.

This could fall under the “no subleasing” clause of the lease. Or you could just go with the property damage angle. Either way, send the tenant a “cure or quit” letter and if that doesn’t work proceed with the eviction.

He's running an illegal home-based business if he's making any money doing it. You could also be liable and up for major fines as that lot won't be zoned for a parking lot. Your lease should state they can't operate a business without your approval and that the home is for the leaseholder's occupation only, meaning they can't just rent space for people or cars. Pretty sure you can evict someone for this. Not saying that's the answer but you shoild definitely hardline them.

As someone who lived most of my life within Lambeau Field, this may possibly be referring to Green Bay, WI and Lambeau/Packer games, or potentially a college location (but not sure if there would be $50 for parking there). So if not, ignore this and check your own local ordinances.

Green Bay however, has by ordinance expressly legalized yard parking on the day of home Packer games. I believe Ashwaubenon has done the same. So you cannot cite that they are violating any ordinance.

Doing business-like activity does always not legally equate to operating a business. Otherwise your renters couldn't sell on Facebook marketplace, couldn't work from home, couldn't run a lemonade stand, or work on their vehicle, etc...

You need to address this likely common activity in your lease specifically based on the nuance of the venue and activity. And you need to present him this change at the next opportunity. This also allows you to ensure you and your tenants are on the same page - this could literally be 25% of their annual rent in income from this activity that is assumed allowed if not expressly restricted.

Could be as simple as stating that "Parking any vehicle on the lawn at any time is expressly prohibited". There's no realistic way to stop him from not parking them on the driveway for money - it's his choice to park himself in, and that's what a driveway is for. If you try to fight this, while maybe not with this tenant, another tenant may play legal gymnastics and say "the parking was free, but that hotdog/bathroom usage/romantic advice was $50".

Where my parents live now they park for Packer games. First game of the year that they park the cars the $ goes straight to the LL to offset any potential yard damage (there hasn't been any in 10 years, but you never know, and the LL has it in the lease that tenant won't be liable for any grass damage so long as they pay this), however any damage to curbs that requires repair or tax assessments is on my parents.

This was an issue around the Patriots Stadium in Foxboro, MA.

The city cracked down on it after pressure from the stadium due to lost revenue. Check your city ordinances for similar.

Where I am at, the city has a law against parking any vehicle on a non paved surface. Same problem, game parking.

What’s your goal? If you want him to stop sounds like you’ve accomplished that.

Charge $40 a car yourself

Is it in the lease?

Alternate idea: replace the grass with gravel/crushed granite and have him split parking revenue with you

In the Minneapolis area, State Fair parking is a huge moneymaker for local houses. It’s accepted and if it’s a violation it’s not enforced. If I liked the tenant, I’d come to some agreement to split the profits. If not, I’d bolster my lease to prohibit it, or take ownership of that business yourself.

He'll do it again, guaranteed. Is this the only issue you have with him? If yes, then maybe work out some deal with him when he inevitably does it again that you get a cut of his take. If you have other issues as well then he's got to go. It may be difficult to find renters but is it worth keeping a difficult one?

Get the cars towed from ur property next time

OP you need to start with having the yard aerated & if that doesn’t work, have the yard tilled & new sod put in. These aren’t super expensive but are labour intensive repairs. Compacted soil from the cars weight can cause drainage issues that will grow over time & you might end up with a muddy mess in the worst spots like at the doorway.

Assign him a parking spot. Rent out the rest. Get rid of the grass. Install gravel

Write a letter.

Be vague enough to not have to get caught up in technicalities.

State the issue: "Tenant is allowing non-resident vehicles to be parked in the yard.

State a penalty like:. "Should this activity persist, the lease will be terminated immediately and reclamation costs to repair the lawn will occur.

Give notice that "random inspections to ensure compliance will occur".

Offer to split it with him?

Oh my how the turns have tabled.

Why not just split the profits? Who cares about the grass

Evict him, take over the business. Sounds lucrative.

If he was a good tenant otherwise, honestly I’d just talk to him about keeping the yard up.

How do you know it’s hard to find renters? Have you placed an Ad? Or was it hard to find THAT tenant at THAT time?

Send him a cease and desist notice and if he does it again, it will be grounds for eviction from excessive damage beyond normal wear and tear . Check state laws and consult with an attorney first

You are liable if anything happens to the cars . Break in, accidents, someone gets hurt on your property . They will sue tenant and you since you are landlord

Sue. Evict.

Where do you live that you can't find renters

Yeah, if anyone is gonna be greedy here, it’s you.

You have threw options: 1Push to quit 2Work about a cut. 3Force client to maintain lawn

First one the pathway is obvious. Second one is more complicated and hard to enforce. Depending on the overall quality of your rental, a few extra bucks might worth it. Third one is easier as you could name standards a certified lawn company could be held to.

Send him a written summary of your discussion via text and keep a copy of those texts. In the summary remind him he cannot run a business on the property and subletting is forbidden by the lease. In addition, the practice is damaging your property and you have the right to have him repair that damage at his expense. Remind him that he can be evicted for violating the lease should there be further violations. Send it certified mail, return receipt to make sure you can prove he gets the letter.

Check his place on game days for evidence of violations. Take pictures of license plates.

If he keeps doing it, evict him. It's a tight housing market; you won't have any trouble getting a new tenant.

Evict now before damage can build up. Block off your yard to prevent damage.

You should stop parasitizing off college kids

Go into business with him. If he's a good renter then keep him. Split the fees with him. He does all the work. You have a de facto rent increase . It will offset your landscaping bill.

well either pave over the area so the grass stops dying. tell him that his rent will be going up $50 for every car that he has allowed to park on the lawn or just tell him that since he has the money for it now, he can pay for things when they break.

overall you might now be able to do any of these but its best to look up your local laws.

If he’s been there years and pays rent make him get insurance and let him

This is such a personal safety and personal liability issue. Are they covered under your renters insurance. If you don’t already have that get it and use it as an extra arguing point.

you should charge less to the same people or have him cut you in at 75% to you

Get your $25 a car player! You’d better build rapport with this huzzlah because you know he’s doing other shit to make money off your property, and you want to know what that is.

The tenant likely was not reporting that parking revenue income to the IRS. Remind him if that and get him to pay for landscapers you hire to fix the lawn. Get three quotes, share with the tenant so they can budget the reimbursement to you. Pay the landscapers extra for boulders or feature to prevent cars parking on your lawn since it is in an area where events make people in parking entrepreneurs.

do you have anything in your agreement that says they can't do that or operate a business? I think it's OK unless they agreed not to do something like that, or the agreement says what the front and backyard are to be used for..provided it's not breaking any bylaws or regulations in your area.

Parking on grass for a football game didn't kill grass. Maybe 5 hours cars would be parked on grass?? The real issue is your are offended he is making money on your house. However he pays you rent. Young guy trying to be entrepreneur and improve himself. Then you have the FU I got mine attitude!!!!

When we rented in Ann Arbor we were specifically excluded from doing this. Because the landlord reserved those rights for herself!

I'll offer a different prospective than what I'm seeing here.

If I'm not getting violations from the city and rent is paid as agreed, I don't really care. If he ever moves, then I'll fix the lawn. It's of little impact to me that my enterprising tenant is profiting. Provided he passes those profits along in the rent, I don't want to know. I would never in writing acknowledge that I know it's happening. I don't need the liability of it.

After he said that he charges money for it, did he stop? Could be already done with. If he doesn’t stop then charge him for law repair, give him a second formal written warning, then threaten eviction if ur that serious about it.

So, can't run a business like this at a private residence.

You have massive liability, if someone fell, got hurt, etc... you will be sued.

Send an immediate cease and desist. Violation of lease. Send a bill for repairs and lawn. I would visit and walk the property to inspect for other damages.

Inform them if they do it again you'll contact the city, and evict them.

Smart business guy though, give him kudos.

Unless your lease states something to that effect, you don’t have any recourse besides the damages, which generally don’t get tallied up until end of lease.

Add something to the effect of “no unlicensed business activities allowed

I allow the tenant to park on my property as per my discretion, in a designated spot, that can be revoked at any time. The spot is not included in the rent.. it is strictly at my discretion. It is not to be rented out, or used for any other vehicle except with written permission.

I have never had to call out a tenant on this, and generally am happy to allow a visitor, etc, but the clause helps clarify things.

What does your lease say? Do you specify proper or improper uses of the yard? Do you mention standards about the lawn care or not parking on lawns? Do you mention specifically not running small businesses out of the home (doubt it has enough revenue to count on any scale but still an avenue to look at)?

If no to the above, look at city laws. Many cities have laws about parking on lawns or charging for street parking spots. If he is in violation then likely also in violation of a standards clause of the lease.

Otherwise tough learning experience.

Did the renter stop after you asked?

You can try a couple things in the future.

You can fence off the lawn area, if he takes it down it’s destruction of property and you can evict.

Although I don’t know where you live, you shouldn’t be afraid of having to find a new tenant. It’s cannot be that hard to find another renter and sometimes it’s worth it in the long run.

Kick him out and turn it into a parking lot. Sounds like you will make a killing.

I’d just tell him to stop. It’s destroyed the lawn and he isn’t authorized to use the property that way. If it happens again, you’ll have to evict him. If you want some compensation for the lawn, have a quote done to have it airated, plugged and top seeded (it’s a great time of year to do it in most places) and add it onto his below market rent for the next several months.

Take a cut. /s

Difficult to find renters? Bullshit. There’s an extreme housing shortage

Don’t say anything funny to him, if you’re going after against him. One thing, he supposed to fix the lawn then clear and simple.

He sounds like a businessman, don’t ask for a cut tho… Think bigger than that. Let him feel “let off the hook” with just a small rate hike in January and you have him turn the business over to you. Just imagine how might you turn his entire yard into full time private parking. Possibly let him valet for tips but the house always wins.

Have you thought about just being cool?

Split the money with him?

What does your lease say about the tenant sub-letting or running a business from the property? You may have a case, or may not depending on your lease and state laws.

Hard to find renters?

1. Do the cease and desist letter as planned. Make it very clear to the tenant that there will be zero tolerance for this from now on.

2. Get a sturdy sign to put on the property stating “PRIVATE PARKING FOR TENANTS ONLY. THIS IS NOT A PAY TO PARK LOT! Any unauthorized vehicles will be towed at the owners expense” Watch the property on game days and have the tow truck on speed dial.

3. Do not renew this person’s lease once it’s up. If you really want to though, implement a hefty rent increase and a two car maximum for the tenant. Add a fine of $100 per car per day for any unauthorized vehicles found on the property.

Liability .. you could get sued for any injury incurred .. unlikely tenant has coverage

Zoning law violation .. municipality can hold you responsible .. possible fines and/or serious criminal charges

I would immediately file for a retraining order to document the activity before something happens

It actually might not be allowed per the utility company. Look into your local utilities and let them know, there have been instances where people park over buried cables and cause damage or a disconnect. In this situation, the tenant would probably get an official warning from them, with a list of potential fines if it happens again.

Difficult to find renters?

Like a couple of people have said, if your charging him below market rate, write up a new lease with all the suggestions here and start charging him market rate. I'm sure you will be able to get another tenant in there if you are charging below market rates. Now a days a good with rents the way they are, below market rate should attract some good prospects.

You are liable if someone’s car or someone gets injured on the premises. Personally- I’d tell him that if he wants to run a business out of the house, then you need a copy of his city permit and a copy of his business insurance policy with you listed as an additional insured. This will likely get him to cease.

I would charge him damages for the lawn. It will take several years to get it healthy and looking good again.

I'd raise the rent by the amount they're earning and let them continue. New sod is not expensive. But definitely don't acknowledge you know about the parking fees.

Bulldoze the house, Make it a parking lot, probably make more with less headaches.

Sounds like you just don't like how this guy is making money from property he rents. Because you want to be the one making money for doing nothing. Landlords are the worst.

There are so many problems with this as most have missed. First, your lease being silent on this could likely cause you grief. You cannot "cease and desist" something that isn't prohibited by the lease, or some other laws/regulations. Second, your liability could be significant. Does your insurance agent know that you're renting the property? Finally, I am always leery about having fights with tenants about things that aren't clearly prohibited in the lease. If your lease is silent to this fact, live with the mess and correct the lease, whether you decide to give him a lease or not. I might argue that a non-prohibited activity such as parking cars on the lawn causes normal wear and tear such as described here. You can tell him you don't want him to do it, whether you'll prevail if he refuses to listen clearly depends on your lease and the judge/lawyers involved.

Put up a fence. Problem solved.

God, talk about a liability. if some one gets in a fender bender on your yard or injured while he is charging people.... yeah. My vote is to get rid of him

Tell him he's running a business on a residential lease.

He's out IMHO.

Useually in your rental agreement the landlord prohibited others cars, rv from parking on the property except the tenants car. So if so they are in violation of the rental agreement. Give them a order to stop in 5 days... or be evicted

Town of Foxboro, MA made it illegal for home owners to have game day parking. People were charging $10 less than the official parking lots and cutting into Billionaire Robert Kraft's profit!

raise his rent

Lol he’s guaranteeing your rent and you’re complaining. Typical LL behavior OFC

I respect the hustle but the guy also knew it wasn't his yard he was killing. I'd ask him to pay for the yard to be restored.

Next game day go check. Have some folks towed. Let them talk to the tenant. Bet it doesn't happen again.

If he pays all his bills, leave him alone.

Evict him for violating no subletting clause in lease.

Force the tenant to repair the damage and complete a thorough interior inspection of the property.

Unfortunately they have set you up for failure because now people will just start parking in the yard "since they've always done so".

Anyways to do a small picket fence to close off the backyard and isolate the front yard from the driveway? It will be a good renting point for getting a new tenant at market rates and getting rid of the dead weight while protecting your property

that's how he's paying you rent lol... mmm to get paid or not to get paid

Add a clause for new sod grass once a year

The answer is landscaping. Just plant inexpensive bushes and shrubs everywhere. Long gardens full of roses. Potted plants.

Get rid of him, then YOU should start charging people to park there.

If you like the tenant, I would figure out how much they make off this each year and raise the rent by 1/4 of that. Maybe it will be an extra $1-200 a month or whatever and tell them to fix the lawn.

I wouldn’t cease and desist a good tenant over something like this personally. This type of thing is common around event venues.

Kick them out. That's subleasing. Pretty simple

Seems like you should try getting a job about it

Y u such a hater b? My man’s earns extra cheddar n u being a wonk.

Wow land lords really are the worst

Start having them towed. Owner will be in a real shit show at that point.

Where on the planet is it hard to find renters right now

Take your 50% and deal with a sad lawn.

If you want to keep him as a tenant with a decent relationship I think going the lawyer route is way to stiff.

This would be considered a form of subletting and is against most standard leases as is. I would revise your current lease to include it if necessary.

A side note, if this tenant has been good tenant for years, always paid and kept the home in reasonable condition is a trashed lawn that big of a deal at the moment?

I’d say I want half the take.

Tell him to buy enough 3/4" ply with the earnings to cover the yard on game days, and then moving forward the two of you split the money. Win/win

Raise the rent to include liability insurance and keep upping it until he pays you more than he makes in "rent".

I can’t reconcile these two things you said:

1. You’re charging below market rent
2. You struggle to find tenants

If you struggle to rent it, the market is telling you that you’re not charging below market rent.

put a sign that says "Free Parking! Do NOT get Scammed!"

let him continue but you get 40$ from every car

I would wait till he does it again, then have all the cars towed at his expense.

Let the guy make some money!