primitive rents to a primitive; landlord woes ensue

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018600814

Oh my.

Tobin S. (6,468 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 04:32 PM

My condo was trashed.

I moved 50 miles away from my hometown when I met my wife about 3.5 years ago. She had a nicer place and nothing was really holding me to where I was. I tried to sell the condo I was living in, but after almost a year on the market with little interest I decided to lease it. My first tenant was good. She paid the rent on time and left the place as she found it- clean and everything in working order.
 
My second tenant just moved out a few days ago. They were good about paying the rent on time, but they left my place a wreck. It needs new paint and carpet. A blind for the bedroom window and one for the patio door are missing. The deadbolt for the front door is missing. The screen door for the patio door is ripped to shreds. And, overall, the place is just filthy. It looks like they lived there for a year and never cleaned. There is rotten food in the fridge which smells terribly. There is trash all over the place. It's going to take about $2000 to make it right and that's with lower quality carpet.

tk2kewl (13,010 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 04:36 PM

1. sorry to here that

Being a lanlord is not fun. I've experiened worse - includining failure to pay.

cyberswede (15,522 posts)   Fri Apr 4, 2014, 04:38 PM

2. Did you collect a security deposit to cover such a contingency?

I'm sorry that happened to you!

Tobin S. (6,468 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 04:43 PM

5. One month's rent- $450

No, it's not in a slum. It's in an area of the country where housing is very cheap, comparatively speaking.

RebelOne (29,509 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 04:38 PM

3. I am so sorry. That must have been really distressing.

My mother used to rent out her duplexes in Miami. One of the tenants left the place infested with fleas.

Skittles (93,166 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 04:39 PM

4. deadbolt missing

how the f does that happen?

Tobin S. (6,468 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 04:44 PM

8. I have no idea why someone would remove the deadbolt and not replace it.

If it broke, all they had to do was call the property manager and it would have been replaced.

Skittles (93,166 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 04:52 PM

11. here in the metroplex deadbolts are like fire alarms to me

MUST be working at all times

^^^the primitive must live in one of those big blue cities run by a corrupt Democrat machine.

Chan790 (16,296 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 05:34 PM

15. Certain classes of tenants tend to remove them.

They're a real inconvenience when you're running any sort of high-egress illicit business like prostitutes, money laundering and drugs by slowing entry.
 
What they do is take the deadbolt off the outside door and use additional locks on interior doors, often also reinforcing the door. Lots of mirrors as well. (Our college fraternity house was a drug-seizure, a former crack den in NE DC that was also a bordello...we got it for half of market-rate. Kind of a vice one-stop apparently according to the neighbors: go in with $40 and leave an hour later rock-smoked and hand-jobbed.) The place was trippy. Every interior door had multiple locks and every single wall had at least one mirror permanently installed on it making it possible to see around corners and see every square foot of the first floor.
 
The exterior door had a basic keyset-lock in the handle and large windows. From the outside it looked like easy burglar-pickings, on the inside it was a fortress...there's even a trap-door murder-hole in the front upstairs bedroom floor so that a gun could be stuck-through and strafe the foyer.

sharp_stick (10,518 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 04:44 PM

6. I'm sorry to hear that

the same kind of thing happened to my Mom. She wanted to sell the old family place when she downsized but the market just wasn't right so she rented it out.
 
All of a sudden the people renting didn't send a rent check, didn't answer the phone or the door. When she went in they'd pulled a midnight move and just left the place filthy and in bad shape.
 
That was the end of her experience as a Landlady.

Xithras (14,426 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 05:09 PM

13. Sorry to hear that. I was a landlord for years.

I learned early on to put a small percentage of each months rent into savings for repairs and maintenance...including revamps after tenants moved out. The other thing I learned the hard way was to ALWAYS do a walkthrough of the property with the tenant before handing over the keys, and have them complete a damage form beforehand where they list everything wrong with the apartment. Make sure they understand that THEY will be responsible for repairing any non-wear issues with the apartment when they move out. I learned that one the hard way when I sued a tenant over damages and lost because I was unable to prove the condition of the place prior to the rental. I had photos, but couldn't prove when they were taken.
 
Toward the end of my owning them, I made it standard practice to have detailed photos of each place printed out the day before the tenant came in. The tenant would then be asked to sign the sheet of papers with the photos, acknowledging that they matched the condition of the place when they took possession.
 
I tried my best to never have an adversarial relationship with my tenants, but I learned the hard way that you have to protect yourself. I once had a tenant wipe out an entire YEARS worth of income from a rental by badly damaging a unit. Most of my tenants were wonderful, but I had a few that were just nightmares to deal with.
 
Of course, then I went bankrupt and had to sell them all, so I don't have to deal with that particular headache any longer

Chan790 (16,296 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 05:23 PM

14. Before you tear-up and replace the carpet...

call a specialty clean-up service like ServPro or PuroClean or Polygon; have them come out and get a quote. You'd be amazed what a cleaner like that can do and while it won't be cheap, it'll be cheaper than replacing the carpet with shoddier materiel that then lowers your property value. If you've got the time, willingness and aptitude you can do it yourself...it's really about having the right materials and equipment...which can be bought and rented.
 
If you're thinking about renting it out again and you're not going to be nearby, I'd suggest possibly contracting a property management contractor...a lot of real-estate offices offer that service...usually it's a percentage of the rent and the landlord just raises the rent by that much to cover the fee. That way you have someone screening the potential tenants, collecting the rent, keeping an eye on the property and a nearby easy contact to insure maintenance is being kept-up. A lot of them carry liability insurance for this very scenario...they tend to get sued when they do a bad job resulting in this kind of damage. Also, having a rental agent that is also seller's agent presents the ease of potentially being positioned to sell the property to the future tenant, they can specifically look for rental tenants that are looking to buy.

Or better yet, just don't rent the place to a primitive.

[Skul]

someone screening the potential tenants

I thought primitives were against profiling?

[tanstaafl]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018600814

Oh my.

^^^the primitive must live in one of those big blue cities run by a corrupt Democrat machine.

Or better yet, just don't rent the place to a primitive.

The horror stories I heard from Landlords in Council Bluff, IA when I worked a power plant there would curl your hair. Defecation from dogs and humans in the corners of rooms. Walls slashed between the studs, all of them Stoves, refrigerators, dishwashers, washers and dyers missing. You learn to bring a really good sniffer buddy with you on the walkdowns. Made me wonder wtf was wrong with those people. That was before I joined here. Now I know wtf was wrong with them. They were DUmmies and apparently they resented the 1% owners.

[Toastedturningtidelegs]

Quote
cyberswede (15,522 posts)   Fri Apr 4, 2014, 04:38 PM

2. Did you collect a security deposit to cover such a contingency?

I'm sorry that happened to you!

Quote
Tobin S. (6,468 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 04:43 PM

5. One month's rent- $450

No, it's not in a slum. It's in an area of the country where housing is very cheap, comparatively speaking.

What a ****ing idiot! You always get first,last and a security deposit before the tenant gets to see a key! Moron probably didnt do a checklist either! 

[JLO]

What a ****ing idiot! You always get first,last and a security deposit before the tenant gets to see a key! Moron probably didn't do a checklist either! 

Exactly right.  Even then though, it's a crap-shoot with renters.  Personally, I would never do it again.  One, just one, really good renter we had out of maybe 5-6, in a duplex years ago.

Good to see ya, Toastedturningtidelegs.   

[obumazombie]

Exactly right.  Even then though, it's a crap-shoot with renters.  Personally, I would never do it again.  One, just one, really good renter we had out of maybe 5-6, in a duplex years ago.

Good to see ya, Toastedturningtidelegs.   

Me too ! I love talking about the tide is turning. This has legs. This/that/he/her/it is toast !

As for renters...
Don't rent to Indians...you'll never get the curry smell out.
Don't rent to Italians...you'll never get the garlic smell out.
Don't rent to Jews...for obvious reasons.
Don't rent to Jamaicans...you'll never get the gange smell out.
Don't rent to Indians...you'll never get the tax free tobacco smell out.
Don't rent to Cubans...you'll never get the plantain smell out.
Don't rent to Single guys...you'll never get that new girlfriend smell
The same applies to single women, lesbians and homo's. They all leave that new girl/boyfriend smell
Never rent to the Irish...you'll never get rid of that whiskey smell.
Never rent to the Russians...you'll never get rid of that vodka smell. It's barely perceptible to the less sensitive, but it's there.
Never rent to the Mexicans...you'll have tequilla worms everywhere.

This is by no means an all inclusive list.
There are many many others you never want to rent to.
Anyone is free to add suggestions to the no rent list !

[Ralph Wiggum]

Chan790 (16,296 posts)    Fri Apr 4, 2014, 05:34 PM

15. Certain classes of tenants tend to remove them.

 

[diesel driver]

Me too ! I love talking about the tide is turning. This has legs. This/that/he/her/it is toast !

As for renters...
Don't rent to Indians (dots, not feathers)...you'll never get the curry smell out.
Don't rent to Italians...you'll never get the garlic smell out.
Don't rent to Jews...for obvious reasons.
Don't rent to Jamaicans...you'll never get the gange smell out.
Don't rent to Indians(feathers, not dots)...you'll never get the tax free tobacco smell out.
Don't rent to Cubans...you'll never get the plantain smell out.
Don't rent to Single guys...you'll never get that new girlfriend smell
The same applies to single women, lesbians and homo's. They all leave that new girl/boyfriend smell
Never rent to the Irish...you'll never get rid of that whiskey smell.
Never rent to the Russians...you'll never get rid of that vodka smell. It's barely perceptible to the less sensitive, but it's there.
Never rent to the Mexicans...you'll have tequilla worms everywhere.

This is by no means an all inclusive list.
There are many many others you never want to rent to.
Anyone is free to add suggestions to the no rent list !

Gee, zombie, tell us what you REALLY think! 

Fixed, for clarification,

[Gina]

I thought so too.  So intolerant.

[Carl]

Welcome to a section 8 tenant.

[MrsSmith]

We just had our rental trashed by a tenant. They quit paying before Christmas, were going to catch it all up with their tax return. Of course they ditched instead. The house is filthy, mice all over, almost every door has holes in it, even the closet doors. At some point, they kicked in the front door, busted the jam. They left piles of trash, 20+ bags of it outside, wet and stinking. We found all kinds of things mixed with that trash, like a very nice men's suit with sticky board mice traps (complete with mice) stuck to it. One of the things we saved was a $65 dress with the tags still in it, found it in the shed in back. They dumped more pictures of their kids than I've ever had taken.  We're done, fix it and sell it.

[Gina]

There should be a national registery like for  sex offenders where you can look people up and see if they have a bad rental record.