Sometimes the worst tenants are the ones who leave you alone!

[Kay March]

 I have learned after about 10 years of landlording that sometimes the worst tenants are the ones who never complain or ask for anything. They either ignore problems, or they use some stopgap measure to deal with problems, or they fix them themselves with mixed results, or they cause problems and are reluctant to tell the landlord. Sometimes it's laziness, or shame, or pride, but it amazes me that even when a solution to a problem is available at no cost to them, they will not report a problem to the landlord. I assure you that I am patient, fair, and sometimes even indulgent with my tenants and I give them no reason to fear dealing with me, but I'm about to terminate someone's lease because he did not report a problem to me and flooding was the result. Regular inspections are a good idea, but they don't turn up everything, so is there any other way to deal with the quiet troublemakers? Ah yes, and then there are the tenants who are needy and picky and who complain about every little thing -- don't get me started on them . . .