Signs of "weak landlord face?"

[Jon K.]

What things show weakness to tenants.

Another thread mentioned "weak landlord face." What are the signs?

I would call these weakness:

- Rent not due until move in day
- No lease
- No rental application
- No reference check
- Accepting unemployed tenants
- Not requiring deposit
- Not telling them what you expect. With my new roommates, I tried to be clear about my expectations about what we do, don't do, cleanliness, etc.
- Roommate rules: I put overnight guest limits, occupancy, parties, etc. in lease.
- Being too nice... sometimes it's nice to help a roommate tenant move in a couch, but I'm sure if you give an inch too often they'll take a mile. That's the balance I worry about.. being too friendly or too cold with roommate tenants.

I like to think I have a "hard" lease. A lot of it came from the sample lease here. I made the tenants initial every page and sign the end of it. It's about 7 pages long, mentioning late payments, max occupancy, smoking, insurance rules, where/what can be parked on property, liability, fire pits, pools, late pay.

I'm sure some professional tenant could still screw me over since I'm not experienced. I try to screen them, but I didn't check credit. I looked up court records for evictions, small claims, and to see if more were on probation. (ha!) I checked employment and ownership of their previous rentals. I checked age & ID. Looked at their car to see how it was kept. Looked at them. Asked a lot of questions. Told what I'm looking for and wouldn't tolerate in roommates. Said something about leases at month-to-month at my discretion. I didn't ask for bank statements or credit check. Hopefully I won't regret not checking that.

What else shows landlord weakness to tenants?

[Rob K.]

Originally posted by Jon K.:

By "rent not due until move in day," I get a lot of prospective tenants who say something like "I have the deposit money now, and can give you the rent on the 1st when I move in on the 1st." I haven't allowed that, but I get that question a lot. I figure they can't afford their new rent and rent at their previous place when they say that.

I'm not sure what price range you're in, but most of my tenants are not "savers" and have a hard time coming up with a months rent and 1 to 1.5 months security deposit. If they give me substantial money to hold the house and the rest when they sign the lease and get the keys, I'm ok with that. Most Americans live from check to check.

On the flip side, if I were a tenant, I would be a little leary of your sytem. If I was going to move into one of your houses in two weeks, but you want all of the money now, that would make me nervous. You hear about so many scammers out there renting out houses they don't own. Also, what if I gave everything to a landlord now, and then in two weeks I go to get the keys only to find out he was hit by a bus a week ago?

I have no problem holding a house for a deposit equal to the monthly rent. If they change their mind, they lose that deposit and I find someone else. When they come to sign the lease, they bring the balance owed in cash, money orders, or cashier's check. After they move in, they can send a personal check or go to my bank.