SMF - Just Installed!

How do you do it?

Started by Afrique, September 20, 2010, 04:14:23 PM

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Afrique

I have been a small fry landlord a few times during my life and so far its been 50-50 on good and bad tenants, so not sure if I have been lucky or not. The thing is, how do you guys stay sane? How do you not act like Michael Douglas in the movie 'Falling Down'?

I have a tenant at the moment who is straight out of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest'. She phones me every other week with either 'earthquakes in the back garden' to 'Osama Bin Laden' on the garage roof. I was trying to sell the property and she refused entry to anyone and has even refused entry to my maintenance man, so I served her two months notice as she is out of her lease agreement now. In that time she has served me one months notice, so is moving out this month. As expected she hasn't paid the rent, although up to this point has been really good with payments, paying upfront sometimes.

The worry is, she phoned me a month ago and told me my cooker, fridge, dining room table, bureau, two leather chairs and the upstairs carpets are all ruined, so I could keep the deposit. I am in two minds what to do. Would you just write this off and thank the 'moving out' Gods that she is going, or would you follow this up and chase her down. She gave me her elderly mother as her guarantor, so I could go that route, and the letting agents I used to find her have found her a new house, so I do know where she is going. I also feel a bit peeved at them, as they have not asked for a reference at all and you would think they would have, as they know us as her current landlords. I just find it all gets me so stressed at the way people behave and I know I am not cut out to be a landlord and listen to other peoples sh*t.   Her and her husband have four cars and a mobile home (on my property) and thier own house is standing empty but they are claiming housing benefit  for mine, and yet they seem to have cash to pay the new rental 6 months in advance. I just feel so angry and frustrated by it all, sorry needed to rant! Hats off to all of you that stay sane and cope with it on a day to day basis.
Thanks Afrique

jeffo

She clearly has the money to pay. Maybe you should offer to go direct to the housing benefits team. Bet she pays up quick.

Afrique

Thanks Jeffo for your reply. She finally contacted me yesterday and said she was going to pay this week, I am hopeful she will as why would she even bother to contact me at all...... maybe I am just being gullible but I AM hanging on to your suggestion as I think it may work too.

fnac

I stay sane by sourcing and employing good management agents who take on my properties under a full management arrangement.   It well worth the commission fees to keep your sanity, you cant buy that.

marymoore

In this day in market you can find this type of agency and they help you in many phases and as per my opinion above situation totally depends upon rental agreement .

kim

As a professional landlord i would say first that the letting agency you have is not worth what you are paying them. No decent company would pass on a bad tenant to another of their landlords.
Tell this tenant you are going to tell the benefits office about her. You can bet she'll pay all she owes you before she goes esp. as the benefits office will be able to trace her via the letting agency. Tell her you want to do an inspection of the property (give 24 hours notice) Use the same threat of reporting her if she wont give you acess and ascertain the damage taking photos. This tenant has a property of her own so bill her for the damage if the deposit isn't enough to cover it and sue her (or the guarantor) in small claims court if she doesn't pay up.  It costs only £50 for a claim of up to £5000 but you will need photographic evidence and receipts. If your're not prepared to get tough, get out of the business.
But I suggest you inform the benefits dept. anyway. The tax payer is paying for fraud like this.
Do the property up to a good standard-you'll attract a better tenant that way, make sure your new agent  is very thorough with the reference check, minimum of previous landlord and a bank reference and if you use a guarantor, credit reference them, avoid dss and take out rental guarantee insurance: offered free from some letting agents.

Miffed in the Midwest

My best friend & I have been a managing a family owned/built/operated company (well over 200 units) in the Midwest (USA). I've been with them roughly 4 years and have rented in the past, so I've seen both sides. I've been the tenant with her world crashing down around her. I've also heard it more times than I can remember in the last 2 months. We find ways - well within our laws - to persuade them to either cooperate or go elsewhere.
I know we are treated like machines, dirt and with total disrespect by a good handful of tenants and it gets frustrating. It is a tough job and takes a person with certain skills and demeanor. Usually, it is by the tenants with an I.Q. of your average stump. i.e.: if you don't want to clean up water from your floor that leaks out of your dishwasher... WAIT UNTIL IT IS DONE RUNNING!!! DON'T call us & chew us a new one because you think your dishwasher is broken. If there is a storm and the entire block is without power... CALL THE POWER COMPANY! NOT US!
We too, have one that calls for every little thing... the neighbor kids are playing in the yard & would like us to ask them to stop. (the neighbor kids are our tenants as well).
Then there was the man that constantly thought the people downstairs from him were "cooking something illegal...it smells awful!" "people coming & going at all hours of the day/night" Half the time the unit below him was vacant.... because of him.
Or the deaf guy who calls the police because "his neighbors are playing music so loud - its vibrating things on his walls"... it was his television.

Every time I think I've seen or heard it all... a new tenant comes along and proves me wrong.
Good Luck! (& a good Scotch never hurt either!)