Friday, June 02, 2006
Dirty Tenants
You have probably all heard the story about the tenant in Utah that left 70,000 beer cans in the town house he rented. He seemed like the ideal tenant for 8 years, never complained and paid his rent on time. For pictures you can check out www.ksl.com under local news.
I really can't understand a landlord not checking in once in 8 years. I have to say I always come up with an excuse or reason to see how my tenants are living. You need to get in there sometime in the first few months and see what living conditions your tenant has. Waiting 8 years means a long and expensive cleaning process. Unfortunately, even if you do get the chance to check things out it may be too late. If your tenant has a lease it is difficult or impossible to evict them because they live like pigs, even if other tenants are complaining. You usually have to wait them out. One way to avoid this is a careful screening process, but some landlords just won't be truthful. Another trick is to get larger security deposits. If your area has a tight rental market I recommend at least a year and half security deposit and don't let tenants apply it to the last month's rent.
Here are some of my own experiences with messy tenants:
One tenant had 4 cats, when she moved I had to tear out all the carpet. It smelled like cat pee and there where fleas too. I was lucky that the cat pee did not damage the wood floors underneath the carpet. Cat pee is very destructive and will discolor wood floors. Unfortunately it may take a few weeks for the damage to appear.
Another tenant, I called him the bird man, had left the carpet covered in chicken bones, feathers, newspaper and change. There was probably $100 dollars worth of change on the floor but no one was brave enough to pick through the other stuff to get to the change. I think they just rolled up the carpet as is and threw it away. I didn't stay to watch that clean up. The most amazing part was that I rented it to a young girl who came to see it with her mother! I promised them new everything and lowered the price a little and they said ok.
I had a couple that lived in filth. They moved out a few weeks early, but I still could not show their apartment it was so dirty. I offered to clean it for free just so I could start showing. At first they said no and we actually had an argument about it, but then they finally acquiesced. There apartment still smelled like smoke for months after.
Good luck and remember careful screening is the best way to avoid messy tenants.
I really can't understand a landlord not checking in once in 8 years. I have to say I always come up with an excuse or reason to see how my tenants are living. You need to get in there sometime in the first few months and see what living conditions your tenant has. Waiting 8 years means a long and expensive cleaning process. Unfortunately, even if you do get the chance to check things out it may be too late. If your tenant has a lease it is difficult or impossible to evict them because they live like pigs, even if other tenants are complaining. You usually have to wait them out. One way to avoid this is a careful screening process, but some landlords just won't be truthful. Another trick is to get larger security deposits. If your area has a tight rental market I recommend at least a year and half security deposit and don't let tenants apply it to the last month's rent.
Here are some of my own experiences with messy tenants:
One tenant had 4 cats, when she moved I had to tear out all the carpet. It smelled like cat pee and there where fleas too. I was lucky that the cat pee did not damage the wood floors underneath the carpet. Cat pee is very destructive and will discolor wood floors. Unfortunately it may take a few weeks for the damage to appear.
Another tenant, I called him the bird man, had left the carpet covered in chicken bones, feathers, newspaper and change. There was probably $100 dollars worth of change on the floor but no one was brave enough to pick through the other stuff to get to the change. I think they just rolled up the carpet as is and threw it away. I didn't stay to watch that clean up. The most amazing part was that I rented it to a young girl who came to see it with her mother! I promised them new everything and lowered the price a little and they said ok.
I had a couple that lived in filth. They moved out a few weeks early, but I still could not show their apartment it was so dirty. I offered to clean it for free just so I could start showing. At first they said no and we actually had an argument about it, but then they finally acquiesced. There apartment still smelled like smoke for months after.
Good luck and remember careful screening is the best way to avoid messy tenants.
