What is the craziest thing your tenant has ever stolen?

Question

My Mom has always has rental properties in the city of Grand Rapids growing up, I thought she had the craziest story when she told me that one of her properties one time my step-dad pulled up to it to check on it, and the whole GARAGE door was stolen. Taken off. Gone. Opener and all. What the world!?

But now that I work with landlords on their insurance, one of my clients told me a story that he had a stand alone single stall garage on a cement slab, completely GONE one day when he pulled up to one of his rentals,

INSANE!

what’s your craziest stolen story?

Greg M. · Answer

Not crazy, but just head scratching as to why... I had one tenant, a doctor living in a B+ unit, take most of the light bulbs. I'm assuming they were the ones that had been replaced over the years. What was really odd was they they had an unsual type base, so it is highly unlikely that they would fit her new place. Another tenant took the back-up batteries in the smoke detectors. And I just had a tenant take the batteries from the doorbell. They were living in an A unit.

It's now in my lease that tenants are responsible for replacing all consumables with like kind materials. I even spell it out that if there was an LED bulb when you moved in, there better be one when you move out and if there is suddenly an incandescent bulb, I'm charging you for the replacement.

Jennifer T. · Answer

The used batteries out of the smoke detectors.  Same tenant.  A part for the tub faucet.  I forget which one, but it was something we had just replaced a couple months earlier. It wasn't copper.  It wasn't valuable.  That one was a puzzler as to why they even took it.  They stole other minor items out of the unit also.  But those were the especially weird ones because they were worthless to the average Joe anyway.

And for as much as those deadbeat lowlifes cost me.  I was actually angriest about the smoke detector batteries.  Thank goodness I'm a conscientious  and detail-oriented landlady who checks for that kind of stuff between tenants.  Because they could have literally killed people if a fire had happened and I hadn't checked.  Over worthless batteries they could have bought brand new for less than $5.

Sylvia B. · Answer

A window sill. They also took the toilet paper holder and towel bar out of the bathroom -- the cheap wooden ones. Same tenant cut a 12" square out of the vinyl in the living room.

Brent Paul · Answer

Not my property but a good friend of mine had boards off the fence gate stolen.  I still can't figure out why.

Dave Thomson · Answer

@Tj Simmons a garage door, that’s crazy!

I had a Nest Thermostat get stolen, which they conveniently replaced with a standard thermostat. Not a tenant, it was a contractor that had the lock box code to the rehab project. Could’ve been a lot worse!

On a totally different note, this thread reminded me of a guy back in college that subleased through craigslist at our place. After a month he bailed and stole an iPod, 50 state quarter collection, and Buffalo Bills poster. I’m not bitter at all ;)

Jennifer T. · Answer

It was my first bad experience with tenants and I was definitely naïve about how unreasonable and wacky people can be.  I could see that.  Putting themselves and their three children in danger because the batteries on the tv remote died, smh.

And they were so furious with me.  Um, for what?  Because I kept politely and professionally asking them for payments to their overdue rent (yes, so naïve!)?  But the psychological lesson I learned was it's easier to be mad at someone else and blame your troubles on them, then it is to face the truth about one's own shortcomings.  Now with potential tenants, if I start hearing a lot of "woe is me" stories and their troubles are everybody else's fault, major red flags start flying!

Billy Linn · Answer

@Jennifer T. Sometimes people will take the batteries out of smoke detectors to put in other things. It’s a lazy move and a bad decision, but that might have happened instead of taking them on move out.

Sometimes people just take things that they think you won’t notice to “even the score” in their mind.

One that really gets me is a tenant took the tv in a furnished place and was adamant that it was his and there wasn’t one there on move in. At least TVs are cheap these days.

John Teachout · Answer

I had a screen door stolen off a vacant property. Not an aluminum one. It was an old wooden one that was 6" too short for the door. I was bemoaning it on Facebook and someone said those were popular for decorating. So I looked on Pinterest and lo and behold there was a door almost exactly like the one that came up missing. If the thief had asked, I would have given them the door. Weird stuff goes on.