Well I had the place inspected and it seems like he burns candles all the time. There was soot everywhere.

My rep offered to clean the place entirely for $75. I think that's a deal. He is afraid she'll tell me everything about how he lives if she gets involved. I don't care, just take care of the place!

4 days later the AC breaks on Memorial day. The cost $274! Holiday and service call.

The air flow was almost blocked from the soot. The filter was black. He hasn't changed the filter which is stipulated in his lease.

Things I'm considering about this are:

Charge him for the repair
Take it off his security
Eat it but make sure he knows that any other soot related repairs are his financial responsibility.

Now if the market wasn't so soft there and apts everywhere were occupied I would just tell him to pay.

He paid April very late and incurred $500 in late fees (half the amount of rent). I am asking him for $250 in late fees. The lease states that it's $20 per day after the 5th.

I'm human and realize some people have trouble sometimes but this guy has been late before and now that we have found damage from the soot I'm not so happy.

I want to get what I'm supposed to get and treat is as a business decision but I'm afraid of not having a tenant in the apt to help pay the mortgage. If he decides to leave (and maybe that could happen) then I would have to rent it out again and who knows how long that would take. I would incur another rental fee and possibly get some else who is worse.

He does eventually pay the rent so it's not costing me anything but aggravation. I feel that if he's always late with the rent and has cash flow issues, me asking him for more money is pointless.

Boy I wish I could sell this place. I hate being a landlord-especially an absentee landlord.

I know I sound like a doormat here. I'm really not. This guy is really strange.