All Forum Posts by: Tracey B.

I have a tenant like this. He is my best tenant. He is single and his father pays his bills. Weird, but passed all my screening. had excellent credit and has his house rented out at a profit. Hes been with me for 3 years and counting.

My husband has suggested this and I want to know what other landlords think. We have a great family that has lived in unit for 1 year with no issues, always pay on time, never bothers us. They are immigrants with low paying jobs and pretty much work to pay us. They want to move out because they said they need a cheaper place to live. Would you lower the rent say 50 to 100 bucks to keep such people? Has anyone ever done this and if so, did tenants stay good tenants or get cocky?

Brian, some of my units are very hard to rent too. I charge market rent and will wait as long as possible to get the right person in. I have an issue right now with a tenant i took in out of desperation, but i will never do it again; I recommend you open the doors to section 8 or other voucher people that you can get to pay market rent. See how in your area you can advertise to those people as well as craigslist with pictures, postlets and local newspaper.

Mike, during the showing they were fine. But I have strict policy that I do not accept people who have previous landlord issues. The reason I accepted them was because they lived in each place for many years so I thought I would have a long term tenant. They are just so nasty to deal with and complain all the time, I am worried that they are a liability. They threatened to sue me so many times now over the littlest things. Their previous landlord wouldn't say anything bad about them per se but I could tell from his tone he didnt like or recommend them. They moved out of their previous house prior to the end of the lease and didnt tell section 8 so previous landlord was still getting paid.

Rob, let me tell you something I am going through right now that is my fault. I put in a couple in a property in the ghetto I was having a very hard time renting. These people are section 8. They pay their portion on time every month but they are a problem. My background check revealed they had previous landlord issues and guess what, I have issues with them. They are all or nothing whack jobs. Meaning, if something goes wrong in their unit, they go bananas! They harrass our office and maintenance office, call every minute for hours and leave threats on our voicemails. I had a talk with these people 3 months into their lease about their behavior. For a little while it seemed ok, but everytime they see me they start complaining about something, they expect our office to do everything, they even tried to get the section 8 inspector to fail the unit which he refused to do. I have decided I had enough of these lunatics. Their lease is up and they were notified they were not being renewed and they now refuse to leave and claim they are getting a lawyer. The point of people telling you these things is from real experience. I put problem tenants in my unit. I knew. The thing about problem people is they have a history of this. The guy you say is not a criminal, but I can guarantee you there is a history of his behavior. I would be willing to bet talking to some of his previous landlords would reveal some stuff as it did for me but I didnt listen, now I will have to go through an eviction process with a bunch of lunactics. Point is, I wish I had followed my tenant guidelines for screening.

Claudia, do not charge a security deposit equal to a months rent or some tenants will try to use that to pay rent owed at end of lease. If rent is 1000 charge security deposit of 1050 or 1100. For a lease move-in I charge 1 mnth rent plus security deposit to move-in.

I send a simple letter stating their lease is expiring on x date and circle below whether they plan to renew. I have one line below that says I want to renew my lease for 1 year ad another line that says I plan to move out by x date. And require they send it back within 30 days.

My lease explicitly states that after 45 days, the tenant is responsible for all minor repairs up to $100. So if they call me 3x a year about their toilet being clogged, the first call is free if within 45 days and the rest I repair then bill them $100. Recently had to do this and tenant paid no problem. I also explain this to them at lease signing so they get it. If the toilet or sink is always stopped up, it means they are doing something wrong (I always have plumber go through house before they move in to make sure no stoppages in lines). I also fill out move in checklist and make tenant sign it during the first week they move in.

thats kind of mean to do to the landlord. whats is better, in my opinion, is to drive her crazy, complain about something all the time, and make her want to get rid of you then she will most likely easily sign the paper; getting landlords in trouble with the city is mean and can cause her a lot more problems then just letting you go

thanks for the laugh Mike