Some People Should Not Be Landlords

[John Dirgo Deweese]

There's a million threads on here about how expensive, incompetant and generally horrible property management companies can be - but not much about how horrible landlords/property owners can be.

Today, I got both a nastygram and a BBB complaint from a former landlord.  It was an amiable breakup between me as their manager and them as the property owner -- or so I thought.  The tenant had given notice; the owner said she wanted to do it herself once the tenant was gone, so it was a no-brainer to end our working relationship and go our separate ways.  No hard feelings or bruised egos.  Just time to move on.

By way of background, this is a house in relatively low-rent, low-income area of Hawaii.  It has been a Section 8 rental for a long time but we were generally really lucky in getting mostly good, responsible tenants.  But it is a poorer neighborhood that is fairly isolated and the houses are each on an acre in the jungle.  Property crimes, like theft, are common.  Thankfully, there is very little violent crime, but "stuff" has a tendency to disappear.

The tenant moves out on January 31st.  We inspect the property and it was fine.  It was in good condition, reasonably clean and could have had a new tenant with just a bare minimum of effort. But, the owner was taking over, so we sent her the keys and her reserve funds and that was all.  This was at her request, mind you.

Today, I get blasted by how horrible and incompetent and unethical and ...you name it... I am. According to the landlord, the house is trashed and dirty and unlivable.  Finally the truth comes out -- the landlord just arrived this weekend from the mainland for the first time in years.

She left the house sitting unoccupied, unattended and unwatched, for nearly two months in a higher crime area on an acre with no neighbors able to see the house.  But it's my fault that someone broke in and trashed the place.

Thankfully, we have pictures of the house showing how it looked at the post-move-out inspection.  It was fine then.  It is not fine now, but its the owners fault - not mine.

Some people should not be landlords.