As always, prior to reading this post, please review my disclaimer by clicking on the link above or by clicking on this link. As always, any legal principles discussed apply only to the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Introduction
One of the most complicated issues I face as a landlord/tenant attorney is the issue of what to do when two tenants in the same property don't get along. This matter is complicated whether I'm representing the landlord or one of the tenants, yet it is frequently made even more complicated because neither the landlord nor the tenant did any advance planning for the possibility of a dispute between tenants. Unfortunately, most of these disputes end up being costly and unpleasant for all involved, and much of the expense could have been saved with proper planning.
In this post, I'll address some of the basics of how to address a tenant dispute when it arises (from either the landlord or tenant's perspective), and then I will discuss a few ways advanced planning can prevent these disputes from escalating.
Know Which Law Applies
I've discussed many times before the difference between leases that are and are not covered by the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (for a basic breakdown of figuring out which law applies to you, view my post here). This is a situation where it does matter whether or not your lease is covered by the VRLTA - especially if you are the landlord.
What a Landlord Should Do if Tenants are Fighting
As the landlord, if two tenants are fighting, it might be your temptation to throw up your hands and say "not my problem, you two work it out." This would be a mistake. A landlord is under an obligation to provide a home that is habitable and tenantable, and that includes a home where the tenant is safe and free from improper invasion of privacy, harassment, etc. If a tenant has a legitimate dispute with their fellow tenant in that their fellow tenant is actually preventing them from having quiet enjoyment of the property, they could be within their rights to terminate their lease early, force you to return their security deposit, and leave you with a smaller rent check each month than you had planned. Worse yet, if word of your lack of caring gets around, you may have trouble finding a new tenant. In other words, yes, it is your problem.
The first step you should take as a landlord is to investigate your lease to see if the offending tenant has, in fact, violated any provision of your lease. If they have, you can proceed with action for a breach of the lease against the tenant, including a 21/30 notice if your lease provides for it or is covered by the VRLTA. If, however, the offending tenant has not actually violated the lease, you could be in some trouble. If your lease is covered by the VRLTA, you have the right under Virginia Code Section 55-248.17 to adopt rules and regulations for how your tenants are to behave in the property - the only restrictions are that the rules must be reasonable, and must not amount to a "substantial modification" of the lease in which they entered. It is very unlikely that reasonable rules about how your tenants behave towards each other will be such a substantial modification, however. This is important, because once those rules are adopted (and I do recommend consulting an attorney in order to ensure they are prepared and adopted properly), a violation of those rules is legally equivalent to a violation of the lease.
The common law has no identical provision, however, and so if you have a common law lease, you can only adopt such rules and regulations if the lease expressly allows you to (I've said this before, and I'll say it again, the VRLTA leases is a double-edged sword and there absolutely are circumstances where it is more favorable to a landlord than the common law). If you have a common law lease and the lease does not include a rules and regulations clause, I would strongly advise you to consult with an attorney on how to proceed.
What a Tenant Should Do in a Dispute with Another Tenant
The first thing a tenant experiencing problems with another tenant should do is try to resolve your issues. If that fails, you should alert the landlord as soon as possible. This will give you an opportunity to see if your landlord will work with you to resolve the dispute. If your landlord fails to act, however, then you need to assess whether or not the other tenant is breaching the lease, violating the law, violating properly adopted rules or regulations, or is engaging in conduct that is making the home unlivable for you. If any of those situations is occurring, you likely have the right to provide a 21/30 notice to the landlord requiring the landlord to fix the situation within 21 days, or terminating your lease in 30 days (a more detailed explanation of 21/30 notices is in my post here).
How to Prevent these Issues
It probably does not surprise you that the vast majority of tenant dispute cases I see, both representing landlords and representing tenants, are cases where a) the lease is not governed by the VRLTA, b) the lease does not have a rules and regulations provision, and c) the offending tenant is not in actual violation of the lease or the law. Most of those cases, the landlord actually is interested in helping the tenant, but because of the way the law works, the cases end with the landlord agreeing to terminate the offended tenant's lease at no penalty. The landlord's not happy - they've lost a good tenant and are stuck with a bad one, and the offended tenant's not happy - they've had to move through no fault of their own. The sad thing is, it doesn't have to be this way.
First and foremost, landlords planning to rent to multiple tenants, and tenants planning to live with other tenants, should ensure that your lease itself contains provisions that not only outline a tenant's duties towards the property, but also a tenant's duties towards other tenant's. At a minimum, the lease should require tenant's to behave in a respectful manner towards each other, forbid tenants from entering the bedrooms of other tenants unless invited, forbid tenants from harassing or stalking other tenants, and require tenants to share household chores in a reasonable manner.
Additionally, all leases (even VRLTA leases, since it's always better to have in the lease instead of just the law) should have a rules and regulations provision. The provision should lay out how rules can be made, how they are adopted, how they come into force, and the effect of violating a rule or regulation. The simple reality is, the best lease drafter in the world cannot foresee every issue that might come up, and it's always a good idea to give you some power to handle issues as they may arise.
Conclusion
Disputes between tenants in a multiple tenancy property are one of the toughest issues we face in landlord/tenant law. It is made much tougher by the fact that most landlords renting to multiple tenants simply are not prepared for the possibility of such a dispute. With proper planning, such disputes do not need to be the horror show that they tend to be. If you are dealing with a tenant dispute, or would like to plan a lease or rules and regulations to deal with tenant disputes, please feel free to call (703)281-0134 or e-mail me at SLeven@thebaldwinlawfirm.com. We offer free initial consultations for up to half an hour! Also, our firm just completely revamped our website - you should feel free to check it out here.
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