This story comes from a landlord friend of mine, Stacey*, who painted a picture of a particularly unpleasant tenant who left his rented property in a particularly unpleasant mess.
This story comes from a landlord friend of mine, Stacey*, who painted a picture of a particularly unpleasant tenant who left his rented property in a particularly unpleasant mess.
Jim McDonald* was looking for a furnished, two bedroom house to rent with his expecting girlfriend. Stacey had one available, and she was desperate to find a tenant. Jim’s references checked out and despite his somewhat scraggly appearance, he seemed to have the best of intentions.
After a problem-free six months, Jim McDonald missed his March rent payment. Following several days of unsuccessfully trying to reach Jim, Stacey finally got in touch with her tenant. He explained that he and his girlfriend were overwhelmed with the arrival of their new child, but that he would have both March and April’s rent on April 1st.
April 1st came and went without Stacey receiving a penny from Jim. Trying to reach him proved unsuccessful again, and she decided to visit the property.
Here, Stacey realized that Jim and his new family had moved out without telling her, and that her once beautiful house was in a state of chaos. According to Stacey, “they had stolen the washer and dryer, most of the furniture and all of the light bulbs. There was offensive language spray-painted across the inside walls and they had broken all of the railings inside the home. They left garbage, dirty diapers and cigarette butts strewn across the floor, leaving the carpets stained and the house smelled awful.”
What’s more, Stacey discovered that Jim had ripped out the recently finished deck, taking all of the wood with him. Without the deck, the house declined in value and a whole lot of time, effort and money went to waste. Stacey was both saddened and disgusted, not to mention, about to be drained financially.
Jim McDonald’s leftover mess took an entire year of intense cleaning in order to make the property rentable again. Someone had to be hired to remove the garbage and clutter, 80 per cent of the flooring required replacement, the walls needed to be completely re-painted and the deck needed to be rebuilt. After completion, Stacy was out over $20,000 and was very reluctant to ever rent her property again.
Here are some tips:
This situation can be avoided. No matter how desperate you are to rent out your property, ensure you take the proper steps to discover exactly who your prospective tenants are.
• Consider your target tenant and advertise appropriately: A landlord renting a small basement apartment will have a much different market of potential tenants than one who is renting a large four bedroom house. Take this into consideration and choose advertising vehicles that reach the right demographic to avoid attracting unqualified applicants.
• Screen your prospective tenants properly: Credit and background checks tell you if your potential tenant has a good history of paying their bills on time and helps to protect you against the potential risk of income loss and identity fraud.
• Keep a record of the condition of the property before you hand over the keys: Take photos and when possible, walk tenants through the property on the move-in date to ensure that there is no damage to the property. As an added precaution, you may want to have them sign a form acknowledging the condition of the property and noting any pre-existing damage. This could come in handy should you need to take legal action.
*The above story is a fictionalized combination of many ‘tenant from hell’ stories that landlords have shared, and names have been altered. We can only say that Jim McDonald is still at large, and his guilt is to be decided by a trial of his peers and you – the reader, Landlord, and Property Manager alike.
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