All Forum Posts by: Sara M.

Quote from @Bob Stevens:

Quote from @Sara M.:

I had a rough tenant who finally moved out. It’s been a long 18 months and to no surprise she left the place a mess. We replaced all the upstairs carpet. I only charged her for one room because it smelled heavily of dog feces and urine. She is saying that is what her $250 non-refundable pet fee is for. No where on my pet addendum does it say it exactly. Am I okay charging her for this?

Her son also vandalized my vinyl fence that is on the other side of the duplex. I spoke to her about this and said she was responsible for the replacement panels. I didn’t call the cops trying to be gracious to a kid who did something stupid. Now she’s asking for a police report. 

The day she moved out I had to have the gas company come and shut the gas off because the basement smelled like gas. This was not a small gas leak. They found 4 leaks and said it’s rare to see this many. Pipes are in the ceiling. Plumber said it could be from kids playing/hanging on pipes. I only charged her half of the $800 bill. Is this responsible or am I on the hook for the whole thing? She never reported this gas leak to me. She had all her CO detectors on the kitchen counter when I walked in and all her smoke detectors needed batteries and some were dead. 

She also left several large items behind. Mini fridge, TV, microwave, vacuum, chair, and left alcohol bottles all over the shed in the back. She also left a huge pile of junk out on the side of the road. I charged her for disposal of the large items. Thoughts on this?

Shes owes me back about $1600. Has anyone ever had anything like this happen before? I am being realistic and knowing I won’t see I dime. I did write on there it’s due in a month and legal action may be taken if not paid. I offered a payment plan option. I don’t see the point in wasting the time and money to take her to court. Just curious what others have encountered? Any tips for adding things to the lease? Any advice in general is welcome. All I ask is please be kind :) This is all a learning experience for us. Any land-lording classes you recommend?

Thanks!

 Try collecting  by harassing her a bit, if nothing comes out of it move on, its only $1600

Now if they had drove their car into the garage to purposely knock it down, then go after them, YES this happened to us. Or how about the entire house blows up, meth lab in basement, Yes this happened to us as well. Just google meth lab blows up house in Cleveland. Worst part the insurance co will NOT pay for it, " the property was damaged due to illegal activity " YES you believe this crap!! Or the animals steal the furnace and HW tank. So, I hope my experiences have made you feel better LOL 

All the best 

Thank you 😂 it does make me feel better! We are learning as we go.  My lease says I can charge her for most of what I did, so hopefully once I tell her that she will pay. She didn’t give me a forwarding address tho the SD wasn’t returned within 21 days. 

Quote from @Chris Perrotta:

I would say the most important thing is that she is no longer int he unit and while $1,600 isn't fun to pay, in the overall bigger picture, just move on and work on how you can properly setup leases going forward to make sure this doesn't happen again. Is this your first tenant?

 No not my first tenant. Each duplex I bought had tenants in. This is the first tenant I screened tho. I had a plan in place but they didn’t have SSNs so couldn’t use the screening tool I had planned on. I did call their previous landlords and got good feedback from them. At this point I don’t expect to see the money. But I’ll take what I can get. 

As for the fence, it says in my lease she is responsible for damage caused by guests. 

I had a rough tenant who finally moved out. It’s been a long 18 months and to no surprise she left the place a mess. We replaced all the upstairs carpet. I only charged her for one room because it smelled heavily of dog feces and urine. She is saying that is what her $250 non-refundable pet fee is for. No where on my pet addendum does it say it exactly. Am I okay charging her for this?

Her son also vandalized my vinyl fence that is on the other side of the duplex. I spoke to her about this and said she was responsible for the replacement panels. I didn’t call the cops trying to be gracious to a kid who did something stupid. Now she’s asking for a police report. 

The day she moved out I had to have the gas company come and shut the gas off because the basement smelled like gas. This was not a small gas leak. They found 4 leaks and said it’s rare to see this many. Pipes are in the ceiling. Plumber said it could be from kids playing/hanging on pipes. I only charged her half of the $800 bill. Is this responsible or am I on the hook for the whole thing? She never reported this gas leak to me. She had all her CO detectors on the kitchen counter when I walked in and all her smoke detectors needed batteries and some were dead. 

She also left several large items behind. Mini fridge, TV, microwave, vacuum, chair, and left alcohol bottles all over the shed in the back. She also left a huge pile of junk out on the side of the road. I charged her for disposal of the large items. Thoughts on this?

Shes owes me back about $1600. Has anyone ever had anything like this happen before? I am being realistic and knowing I won’t see I dime. I did write on there it’s due in a month and legal action may be taken if not paid. I offered a payment plan option. I don’t see the point in wasting the time and money to take her to court. Just curious what others have encountered? Any tips for adding things to the lease? Any advice in general is welcome. All I ask is please be kind :) This is all a learning experience for us. Any land-lording classes you recommend?

Thanks!

Bruce, these were my first tenants that I picked myself. I definitely did not do a good enough job! I was planning on using a paid screening service that I had seen mentioned on this site. But it requires SSNs and my tenants didn’t have SSNs. So I was at a loss on  what to do. I verified income and called previous landlords and since it was a recommendation from a friend, I figured hey how bad could it be. Things went smoothly at the beginning and then went down hill. Then I was pregnant and had a stressful pregnancy so I just couldn’t sit there and stress over every little thing with them and just let the lease run out. I definitely plan to screen better next time around. Learned my lesson. 

As for my lease, I feel it is pretty strong. The last property we bought was under a big management company so I was able to gather some information from their lease to make sure I was covered. 

I appreciate any and all advice! I would hate to get a management company involved since we only have to. Would hate to give up a slice of the pie if it’s not needed. We both still work and just had a baby  6 months ago. So we may not be the best at it but we are willing to put in the work and learn along the way. 

That’s harsh lol. One tenant moved out so we could owner occupy the property…..one was a long term tenant who ended up buying a house and then this one. 

Not section 8. My fiancé and I have only been doing this for 2 years now. We own 2 duplexes. His friend recommended this family. Which was our own mistake. I called the previous landlords and everything was good. I just don’t understand why they wouldn’t mention the smell of gas….would I somehow be held responsible for this? This is our 3rd tenant move out and I haven’t experienced this before so trying to handle it the best way possible. 

For the last 18 I rented to tenants who pretty much trashed my duplex. My main concern is there were FOUR gas leaks found in the basement. I noticed right away the day they moved out. The gas company came out and shut off the gas and marked the leaks. The plumber came out said how unusual this is. I asked if kids playing on the pipes (hanging, etc) could cause the damage. He said it’s possible. Is the tenant responsible for this $800 bill? They left the house so filthy. Broke the handles the kitchen faucet, put Pennie’s in the garbage disposal, food in the fridge, evidence of 2 fires. Destroyed the stove top. Broke the storm door off and it’s no where to be found now. Dog pee/poop smell so bad in one of the bedrooms. Her son and his friends intentionally kicked and broke the other tenants vinyl fence (theee broken panels). What’s the best way to handle this?