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7 Types Of Problem Tenants To Prepare Dealing With
The ideal scenario is that your tenants will pay rentals on time, keep your property in tip top condition, never call you on any issues to attend to, and even recommend you to all their friends who are looking for a place to rent. But we know that this is not an ideal world. You better get to grips that you are going to run into tenants you wished you’ve never signed up in the first place. Because it will happen sooner or later if you stick around in the real estate game long enough.
It will serve you well to get acquainted with the most common types of rouge tenants so that you are mentally prepared to handle them once they emerge from their likable facades. These are 7 types of problem tenants you will run into.
1) Rental controllers. This is the tenant that has appointed himself as the controller of when the rental is paid and how much of it is to be paid without regard to the terms of the tenancy agreement. They delay payments by a week or 2 just to “test water” and see how much they can get away with it. It is also a personal need to feel more powerful in the landlord/tenant relationship – by controlling the money. Other times they make a portion of payment and delay the outstanding payment to a later date. The problem compounds when they do this every month. You can tell when someone is doing this on purpose to play with you or if there is a real situation where cash flow is tight. For those that just do not pay for a prolonged period, you have to start reading up on eviction laws.
2) Petizens. It’s not that you hate animals and would kick a stray cat the moment you see one on the streets. It’s just that you are running a business and your business decision was to rent out to tenants who do not keep pets. Pets cause neighbor to complain about noises. They can also chew up the carpets you got from Egypt among other things. If a pet lover is going to rent a place to stay, it would only make sense to rent from a landlord that allows them. Not from a landlord that disallows them in the first place. Yes they might be cute and you want to cuddle them the moment you see them. But that cannot deviate you from your business goals and objectives.
3) Destroyers. Different people have different living habits. And some are just more destructive than others. They abuse your property and causes damage to everything from the remote controller to a crack in the wall. You replace the controllers and find that they are damaged again a month later. These types of tenants are just not worth it. Half your rental collected will be used to repair your place at the end of the tenancy. If damages are severe enough to breach the terms of tenancy, read up eviction laws governing your state.
4) Panickers. This particular type of tenants are those that call you regarding everything at anytime regardless of what time of the day or night it is, and demand immediate resolution. It could be that one of the bathroom lights are not working, the ceiling fan does not seem to be running at full speed, or even a crack in the paint. Although it is your responsibility to solve these problems for your clients, your time has to be respected just like you respect theirs. You don’t send someone to go vacuum the place in the middle of the night do you? However, you must be sensitive to your tenants’ needs. Something that you think is trivial could be viewed as an emergency to others. For example a lizard can be a matter of life and death for pest haters. You have to make a judgement on whether something is an emergency and act accordingly.
5) Night owls. It is fair to say that homes are not expected to be noisy at night. This is why it is a legitimate action to call in the authorities when your neighbours are disturbing everyone in the neighbourhood with noise pollution late into the night. It could be parties with funky music or something else. Whatever the case, these disturbances will encourage complaints from the neighbours. Before you know it, everyone neighbor will be pointing their fingers at you mumbling something to strangers about how inconsiderate you are and incapable of managing your properties.
6) Vanishers. You might laugh at this one. But it is more common than you think for tenants to just vanish and disappear. You just realized that the rental is overdue and decide to give a tenant a courtesy reminder call. But whatever method you try, you are just not able to reach him. Finally, a call to his employer emerged the news that he is no longer employed there and probably went back to his home country. You wonder how people can be as irresponsible as this. There’s actually not much you can do which is worth the effort. The best thing is to move on.
7) Multipliers. You could just remember that a particular property is being rented out to 1 tenant only. And you found 3 people in it on an adhoc visit. They could just be guest so you let it slide. But mysteriously, your next visits uncover the same 3 people inside your property. Something is wrong and you are sure that you are being taken for a ride in some way. This is common for leases that is leased on a per head basis. Tenants may argue that it is not a big issue at all if their friends are living in the house. But it is definitely a big issue to you. Other than the costs of utility bills, you are losing out on opportunity cost as well. This is an issue that you surely cannot hold back and be soft-hearted. The longer these “guest” remain in the house, the more likely they will feel like having a legitimate claim to live in it at no additional costs as well.
You could be cursing your luck when you do run into these undesirable tenants. At times like these, your tenancy agreement is what will help you out and guide you on the course of action you can take. So you best course of action is always be set the rules and terms of tenancy clearly in the lease in the first place. Have patience and give them some leeway initially. But if the same problem persists, look for the most convenient way to end the relationship. Eviction and legal channels can be time consuming and costly at the same time.
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