Renters

[Gilligan]

Screw that! I consider myself a nice guy but once you mess with my chit that goes out the window. Take them to court for nothing else than to inconvenience them and let their record show they are sh*tty people.

The "inconvenience" was entirely on me; not a single one of the deadbeat tenants I ever filed against showed up in court. The judgements were rendered against them but had little in the way of "teeth" that would make them enforceable. The only guy that ever paid off the court ordered compensation was a younger fella that genuinely felt really bad about what he'd done and wanted to make it right. Most simply don't care.

 

[mAlice]

The "inconvenience" was entirely on me; not a single one of the deadbeat tenants I ever filed against showed up in court. The judgements were rendered against them but had little in the way of "teeth" that would make them enforceable. The only guy that ever paid off the court ordered compensation was a younger fella that genuinely felt really bad about what he'd done and wanted to make it right. Most simply don't care.

This, and we don't live in MD, so the inconvenience was be on us. Karma's a bitch, and this will catch up with them.

 

[Lilypad]

We even had everything covered, in the event something broke. They didn't have to pay for anything to be repaired, and they didn't even do that. We're hoping we won't have to replace the floors. That's still an unknown. We're waiting to see if the guy working on the house can get rid of the dog piss odor. No, they were not supposed to have pets.

I feel your pain...it was a "live it-learn it' lesson for me.
Same here, I had all sorts of service contracts in place; yet no one ever said a word about mice.
My tenant was a good tenant in that the rent was paid 1-2 before it was due; he maintained the yard/property, etc. How he could not be aware of the infestation is unimaginable...
After rehabbing the house and adding addendums to the rental contract, I have new tenants.

 

[Rommey]

I've been lucky so far this year. We bought a house in California (the state, not the city) earlier this year and we have a property manager who has dealt with the issues. The first two months has us wondering what we got ourselves into...but everything seems to be running smoothly now. It seemed like every week I was talking to the property manager because of some issue (some of those I would have just fixed had I been living there) but a couple of problems were covered by the home warranty we got when we bought. But the past few months there has been almost no issues, so its just collecting checks and no unexpected bills or problems. And the renter has stated he wants to stay for a long time, so hopefully there will be no "damage" issues.

 

[Monello]

I've been lucky so far this year. We bought a house in California (the state, not the city) earlier this year and we have a property manager who has dealt with the issues. The first two months has us wondering what we got ourselves into...but everything seems to be running smoothly now. It seemed like every week I was talking to the property manager because of some issue (some of those I would have just fixed had I been living there) but a couple of problems were covered by the home warranty we got when we bought. But the past few months there has been almost no issues, so its just collecting checks and no unexpected bills or problems. And the renter has stated he wants to stay for a long time, so hopefully there will be no "damage" issues.

When the lease is up, have the current tenant sign a 2 or more year lease. Extend a carrot by keeping the rent static for the entire rental period. It's cheaper to keep em.

 

[Rommey]

When the lease is up, have the current tenant sign a 2 or more year lease. Extend a carrot by keeping the rent static for the entire rental period. It's cheaper to keep em.

We were considering a year-to-year lease with no change in the rental price. Hadn't thought of more than a one-year lease, so I'll check with the property manager and get her take on the situation.

 

[LightRoasted]

If I may ...

I have been through the dog pee problem myself, I talked to the local service master Co and he told me to go the the pet store and get a few gallons of Enzymatic cleaner for dog pee and avoid the pee remover products that had bleach in them. I bought a 4 or 5 gallons at 50 bucks a crack, I used a backpack sprayer and just hosed down all the wood floors a few times..

Wanna get rid of odors over the whole house? Get and use a whole house ozone generator. But be careful and follow the safety instructions as it can be potentially dangerous. https://www.odorfreemachines.com/ Spend a little now, save a bunch in the future.

 

[black dog]

If I may ...



Wanna get rid of odors over the whole house? Get and use a whole house ozone generator. But be careful and follow the safety instructions as it can be potentially dangerous. https://www.odorfreemachines.com/ Spend a little now, save a bunch in the future.

That's a good idea... The problem is solved in my home... But that would be a good avenue to travel if needed again.. Thanks.

 

[LightRoasted]

If I may ...

That's a good idea... The problem is solved in my home... But that would be a good avenue to travel if needed again.. Thanks.

No problemo mi amigo.

 

[littlelady]

If I may ...



Wanna get rid of odors over the whole house? Get and use a whole house ozone generator. But be careful and follow the safety instructions as it can be potentially dangerous. https://www.odorfreemachines.com/ Spend a little now, save a bunch in the future.

Those ozone machines do a great job, but they are dangerous. We were looking into buying one, but hub has a friend with a Servpro franchise, who loaned us one. We had a chimney fire the winter before we sold our house, and didn't even know it. The downdraft from our two chimneys caused that burned odor, after the house was empty. Machine worked like a charm; like it never even happened. We are just lucky the house didn't burn down at the time.

 

[acommondisaster]

We just sold our rental in the 'Dorf to a flipper. We realized things had gone downhill when we got a notice from the county that they were placing a lien on the house for a $500 unpaid water bill - note to mAlice - we were able to get all of the late fees, etc taken off by asking them if we were ultimately responsible for our tenant's bill, why didnt we receive notice when it was unpaid? So apparently the water had been turned off quite awhile - long enough that they'd gone out and bought a camp toilet - since they weren't paying for trash pickup, the full bags from the camp toilet were piled up waist high in the bathroom, and in the shower. We took 3200 lbs of trash to the dump, not including every appliance, aired it out. Thought about fixing it up ourselves before selling, but after the 3rd break in (and there was nothing in the place to steal), we hung it up and took the first offer. No more renters. Ever.

 

[littlelady]

We just sold our rental in the 'Dorf to a flipper. We realized things had gone downhill when we got a notice from the county that they were placing a lien on the house for a $500 unpaid water bill - note to mAlice - we were able to get all of the late fees, etc taken off by asking them if we were ultimately responsible for our tenant's bill, why didnt we receive notice when it was unpaid? So apparently the water had been turned off quite awhile - long enough that they'd gone out and bought a camp toilet - since they weren't paying for trash pickup, the full bags from the camp toilet were piled up waist high in the bathroom, and in the shower. We took 3200 lbs of trash to the dump, not including every appliance, aired it out. Thought about fixing it up ourselves before selling, but after the 3rd break in (and there was nothing in the place to steal), we hung it up and took the first offer. No more renters. Ever.

Ohmygeez! That is the worst renter story, yet, on this thread! What is wrong with people? Sheesh!

We thought we would have to rent out if the house didn't sell in a timely manner. Thank the Lawd that it sold; considering there were 67 houses for sale in St. Leonard when we put it on the market. I appreciate, and count my blessings every.single.day.

 

[acommondisaster]

Ohmygeez! That is the worst renter story, yet, on this thread! What is wrong with people? Sheesh!

We thought we would have to rent out if the house didn't sell in a timely manner. Thank the Lawd that it sold; considering there were 67 houses for sale in St. Leonard when we put it on the market. I appreciate, and count my blessings every.single.day.

I could have gone into more detail about the dog left in the house for 2 weeks, or the mattresses filled with maggots left on the front lawn, but I didnt want to ruin anyone's dinner.

 

[Pete]

Same here. My house was destroyed after only 18 months with my last renters. The issue was not "damage" as it was filth. Boogers smeared on the bedroom walls, dirty line about kid hight up and down the hall, grease spot in the back where poured grease off the deck when they finally stopped pouring it down the drain and clogging the pipe and drain field, dog piss carpet, 1,700 pounds of trash and junk in the yard. Anything they didn't want because it was broken trashed, dirty or not needed got left because taking out their trash was not their problem.

So when it comes to damages the court is very landlord averse, it has to be actually broken and not a wear and tear item. Paint, wear and tear, carpet, wear and tear, filth is a state not broken.

I will not rent out again unless I absolutely had to and if I did I would demand a much higher security deposit, do monthly walk throughs and be a total ass about ANYTHING I did not like. I also would not cut anyone a break of any sort. In the price range I was renting in EVERYONE had a sad offing story and "circumstances". The renters who screwed me were like that and I cut them a break. Never again.

 

[GWguy]

So when it comes to damages the court is very landlord averse, it has to be actually broken and not a wear and tear item. Paint, wear and tear, carpet, wear and tear, filth is a state not broken.

Not even entitled to costs for reimbursement for the cleanup costs?

 

[Pete]

Not even entitled to costs for reimbursement for the cleanup costs?

It's hit or miss. Of course the question is do you want to spend hours preparing the documents, getting them served, sitting in court and then them still not paying which means more court for a "maybe".

 

[GWguy]

It's hit or miss. Of course the question is do you want to spend hours preparing the documents, getting them served, sitting in court and then them still not paying which means more court for a "maybe".

And I'm guessing if you have landlord insurance, they won't pay off until you're done the above. ^

I rented a room to a buddy while he went thru a tough time. he was good, wasn't even in town most of the time, but I just got a weird feeling with someone else's stuff in my house and not having full run and control over my own house. I'll never do it again, and have no intentions of ever renting the house, especially after these stories.

 

[acommondisaster]

Same here. My house was destroyed after only 18 months with my last renters. The issue was not "damage" as it was filth. Boogers smeared on the bedroom walls, dirty line about kid hight up and down the hall, grease spot in the back where poured grease off the deck when they finally stopped pouring it down the drain and clogging the pipe and drain field, dog piss carpet, 1,700 pounds of trash and junk in the yard. Anything they didn't want because it was broken trashed, dirty or not needed got left because taking out their trash was not their problem.

So when it comes to damages the court is very landlord averse, it has to be actually broken and not a wear and tear item. Paint, wear and tear, carpet, wear and tear, filth is a state not broken.

I will not rent out again unless I absolutely had to and if I did I would demand a much higher security deposit, do monthly walk throughs and be a total ass about ANYTHING I did not like. I also would not cut anyone a break of any sort. In the price range I was renting in EVERYONE had a sad offing story and "circumstances". The renters who screwed me were like that and I cut them a break. Never again.

Our renter was ok for 3 years. Didn't keep the house as clean as we'd like it and had to be reminded not to park the cars on the grass, but for the most part, we couldn't really complain. Neighbors seemed to like her and her kids were decent. Things went downhill pretty fast when she got involved in drugs. There was no use taking her to court, she lost her job and was destitute. Sad, really, for all of us.

And you are absolutely right - every law protects the renter, but there's very little that protects the landlord. I've heard nightmare stories about people trying to get renters like ours evicted - we were lucky, she moved out when we told her she had to go.