Overly Zealous Tenant

[Mark Pijanowski]

We placed a tenant (Military family) at my property in Germany about three months ago. I used my team to conduct the turnover, and at the time the only condition that they had was to replace (some very outdated) carpet. Since I wasn’t present at turnover there were some minor differed maintenance issues that I didn’t take care of myself. I travel back to check on the property every 2-3 years...my team takes care of the major issues as they arise.

After a month, the tenant’s wife found some other “issues” that she wants fixed. (DISCLAIMER: the tenant’s wife is an architect). Some are reasonable, but in my opinion, many are not...looking for some input on what you guys think.

Reasonable

1. Wasps in attic

2. Power wash and re-sand the driveway pavers as weeds are pushing the pavers up in some areas.

3. Minor dripping at kitchen sink faucets

4. Re-grout showers

Unreasonable/Unsure

1. Update the kitchen countertops; there are very minor chips in the laminate and some of the gaskets around the back wall are missing or old.

2. Retile the kitchen due to some settling cracks (but nothing protruding or creating sharp edges)

3. Kitchen cabinets have very minor cracks at the base, not impacting the operation of the cabinets.

4. Baseboards in living room doesn’t join completely flush.

5. Install a brand new fence. Previous tenants had dogs and installed a fence with permission (they did a bad job, and rigged the fence together with zip ties in some areas, but the fence still functions fine).

6. Re-seed the grass; the previous tenant left large objects in the grass that killed off some large areas.

Lastly, we planned to remodel the kitchen after these tenants moved out. The kitchen/dining/family room are connected with an open floor plan. We planned to redo the floors after these tenants moved out as well. The average family stays 3+ years.

My tenant plays an active role in getting quotes and material prices for the projects she wants completed. I’m tempted to do many of the renovations while they’re in the unit, which would help dramatically reduce turnover the next time, but really trying to decide if I should wait 2-3 years or start slowly doing these renovations, since I know they’re needed...eventually. My concern is if I start renovations now, the life cycle replacement on these items starts ticking once they’re installed vs if I wait a little longer.

[Nathan Gesner]

Disclosure: I didn't finish reading your post because I saw where it was headed.

This is a common tactic. People look at your rental, tell you they love it and it's perfect and they'll be the best tenants ever...then they move in and start complaining about all the problems they want you to fix.

I give them a disclosure, verbally and in writing, that says they've been given the chance to inspect and are accepting the property in "as is" condition. We do not promise additional cleaning or improvements or lock changes once they occupy. If something breaks, we fix it but we will not make improvements to the rental once they occupy.