RENT Magazine Q2 '23

TRASHY TENANT

THE GHOSTS DID IT

MOVE-IN GOES WRONG

We had a tenant who was on housing assistance. They left trash everywhere in the common areas of the property and made loud noises in their unit all night. They would cuss out their neighbors on a weekly basis and refused to change anything that they did, from the trash to the late-night gaming sessions that were loud enough to be heard by the tenants in the next building over. We gave them multiple notices before assessing them a fee. Because of the fee, they came into the office and threw garbage everywhere and cussed out my assistant manager. After this incident, they were kicked out of their affordable housing program for not maintaining the home to the standard that was required to stay in the program. Don't be afraid to enforce your lease policies and fees when necessary. They are in place for a reason!

We’d had a few complaints of fighting and noise from the neighbors of a resident who lived alone. The police went several times, only to find the man there by himself with no noise going on. When the office contacted him about the issue, he explained that his apartment was haunted. When he eventually moved out, we discovered that he had stabbed every surface of the apartment to try to eradicate the ghosts, including the ceiling, tub tile, and appliances. There were thousands of dollars in damage as everything had to be replaced. Having a clause in your lease that allows you to regularly inspect your rental properties can help you detect issues like these in advance before they get worse and prepare you for the aftermath.

I owned property in Chicago. A new tenant insisted he leave after work in Missouri and drive seven hours to take possession of my rental. He arrived at 2:00 am and the lockbox wouldn’t open although my realtor had said it would. I found out it was preprogrammed not to allow access before 10:00 am or after 5:00 pm. The new tenant was angry and called me in California screaming that he couldn’t get in. Then he started unloading his furniture on the front lawn.

Two weeks later, the tenant killed himself in my property.

Don’t allow tenants to move in at odd hours and make sure to have a plan in place for deaths on your property; it can happen unexpectedly.

Dallas Roark Real Estate Investor Destination UX Connect with Dallas

Julie Anne Peterson Senior Director Old Capital Lending Connect on LinkedIn

Anonymous Landlord

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