Evicted tenants and the mess they leave behind?

Question

I just experienced my first eviction, oh what fun. The actual process was pretty simple and I gave the tenant numerous opportunities to leave on her own but she refused my last attempt I even offered her $500 to leave. Quick background: Single mom with two kids at the time of move in. Couldn't do 1st, last, and security so I structured for it to be paid over the first 3 months. Three weeks after she moved in baby #3 was born (I had no idea she was pregnant). After that my back tenant told me there was a guy living there as well and he had a kid. That's 4 kids and 2 adults in a 700 SF 2/1. I told her she can't have that many people there and it's in the lease (she didn't care). She moved in Feb 1st 2018 she stopped paying rent in April and even that rent was only half what she owed. Excuse after excuse and 8 months later I'm $10k in unpaid rent. I spent approx $7k getting the unit ready new floors, appliances, vanity, sprayed the shower/tub, etc...it looked great. When the final eviction took place and I was able to get in the unit back last Tuesday night I couldn't believe what I saw. At what point does the damage become vandalism? I know I am wasting my time chasing down somebody like her who has no money, maybe she does since I know she wasn't paying rent and lived for free? I figure between what I spent getting the place ready, loss rent, and what I need to spend now to clean and fix it will be over $20k. Is this just part of being a landlord? Are there sites to warn other landlords about this tenant?

Geoff Garrett · Answer

Mike,

I've been in this place and it is super demoralizing.

As much as this is a bummer and you may want to spend time and energy chasing this person down to attempt to get actual money from her.  The likelihood that you will ever see a dime is super small.

The best thing you can do is make sure to file the judgement with the county (or whichever area you need to) for the eviction as well as a judgement for the rent owed. I haven't seen anything come of the one I did.

What this does is when this person goes to rent another place and their background is run these will pop up and the person looking to rent denies them.

I don't know if there is such a thing as a site that warns landlords of tenants.

I think you are walking in the exact same steps that I walked missing all the signs I missed. The next thing I did after this was put in a solid vetting process.

Must have references that are positive, employer that is positive (or verifiable consistent income), 1st last and security, and complete background and credit check.  If any of these fail you deny.  Even if it takes a couple more months to get a good tenant in it cost a lot less than a none paying tenant for several month, court fees and rehab fees.

If she cant pay 1st last and security right now she most likely isn't going to be able to come up with it after she gets in.  Guess what, once she is in its a long fight to get her out. Sometimes it can be tough to separate yourself from the situation. If you choose wrong you are effectively going to work or getting your income however to pay for another person to live in your place.  The kicker is that this person living there then makes you spend additional money to go through the legal process to get them out of the house that you are using to subsidize your living.

Hope this helps and let me know if you have more questions.

Geoff

Patrick Soukup · Answer

Mike,

This sucks as your first rental experience. You're on the right place asking the right questions. That being said, no, this is by no means the typical experience and you should take everything that happened and use it as motivation to get educated. As you are doing now, on here.

Red flags from the beginning. Can't afford the security deposit, they can't afford rent. Done deal. Background check/credit check, rental verification, income verification. No exceptions. If you have questions about what are good qualifying criteria, @Joshua Dorkin just posted a great thread on marketing a rental and qualifying a tenant.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/01/2...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/01/0...

Although you are probably right in that you are not going to recover your money due to your prior tenant not having any money. That being said, you should absolutely put them through collections so that future landlords can see they have a collection from a prior rental and NOT rent to them and get into your position. Tenants like this know the system and will take absolute advantage of all future landlords who do not know how to properly vet perspective tenants.

Good luck moving forward. Take this as your associated degree in landlording and do better moving forward! Keep your head up and stay as positive as you can.

Charles Molluzzo · Answer

While my experience is limited, it sounds like setting up a set of good criteria for tenants and then following them without exception is one of the best ways to avoid problems.  The fact that the tenant could not afford the up front payment was a big red flag.

On a personal note, I am sorry to hear you are going through this.  It really stinks.  Hopefully, it will be a learning experience and you will be able to avoid similar scenarios going forward.  Keep on moving forward!

Dennis Dahlberg · Answer

I feel your pain...once had a tenant that turned the house into a dog rescue facility... what a mess..

Seems  like your costs of 20K to get it back are a little high.

I've sued prior tenants in the past and got a judgement.   Kept it recorded and crossed my fingers....6 years later they got their life together and wanted to clear the judgement...lucky me...

What I learned after all these years is not keep bad people out of my nice homes.   Credit check is a good judgment of character.  Good people,  cause no problems.

If you are going to sue,  take pictures before you re do the home.....

Katie Stewart · Answer

Hey Mike! Evictions are always a stressful thing to go through but it definitely sounds like it was a learning experience. Make sure that you thoroughly screen your tenants in the future (i.e. pull a check on their credit, criminal, AND evictions history) and do landlord reference checks on everyone above 18 that will be living in the unit. I do think it would be beneficial if you did MTM instead of a yearly lease because, as you said, it protects you instead of the tenant.

Mike Crissy · Answer

Thanks Geoff, and you are right the next tenant is going to go through the ringer. Funny thing is she had an agent and they were very organized pay check stubs, reference letters, clean background, etc... but, a professional scam artist.

Do you do month to month leases or yearly? My friend just told me he only does month to month he says the yearly protects the tenant more then the landlord?

Evicted tenants and the mess they leave behind?

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