High Maintenance Tenant - Looking for your input

High Maintenance Tenant - Looking for your input

Member since 2021 · 44 posts · 8 votes

Hello all, I am looking for your input on managing this tenant. He is very high maintenance and I am at my limit. I am not perfect, so maybe it's me... Regardless, please feel free to share your constructive feedback. I always find great advice on this forum. 

Background

I rented out our previous home of 10+ years. House was built in early 90's. Highly desirable neighborhood. Newer roof, new windows, HW flood throughout the house, new master bath. Rent is 3K, but is average for that area. 2-yr lease and we are halfway. Tenants are husband+wife+6 & 2 yso. Husband owns a small business, has a rental in another city, 800+ credit score. Wife just started working. 

I mainly deal with the husband and I've found it get increasingly difficult to manage tenants. I would say that they are my stresser these days. I am quite surprised by the maintenance needs. Here's the laundry list of repair items in the past 12 months.

1) fridge doesn't make ice consistently: we repaired twice. I also offered to buy silicone ice trays

2) sprinklers don't water the lawn evenly causing certain area saturate with water: repaired

3) basement shower head occasionally dripping water: repaired 

4) master bedroom ceiling light/fan turned on by itself at nights: repaired

5) gas fireplace flame is smaller than optimal: ignored

6) water accumulating on window wood sills: turns out they set humidifier at 60% indoor causing condensation

7) Kids bathroom toilet water tank - slow water intake: repaired

8) unused rifle bullet found on the sidewalk - tenant was very agitated: I went to the sheriff's office and was told it's hunting season and someone probably dropped it. 

9) Washer making loud metal banging noise. - Manufacturer attempted to repair three times and eventually I managed to get a new washer under the warranty, but the delivery was such a headache because tenant refused to let us in if they were not home. He even accused my husband "broke into the house with the delivery team when his wife is with her client". 

10) master bathroom tub faucet pipe leaking causing water stain on the family room ceiling: repaired. We used maybe 10 times during our 12 years living there. They use every day, so the copper pipe eroded. We took down tiles to access the plumbing, so there's tile, drywall repair, paint, etc. 

11) fridge sometimes froze his food, sometimes is not cold enough - I checked it and told him "it's uncommon that the fridge is both hot and cold. Please make sure the door is sealed shut". It's a 17 years old fridge, but we've never had any problem with it and we cooked daily living in that house. 

12) The main valve for the sprinkler system (outside) leaked water - repaired

13) a sprinkler head broken shooting water to the sidewalk - repaired

14) Backyard wooden deck has two quarter-size paint chips which exposed wood filler underneath - ignored. 

The tenant's always emailed the maintenance request, polite and LONG emails. They are monthly and the most recent one is bi-weekly.  As I was thinking the repair needs would ease off while entering the 2nd year of the lease, I was quite stressed when I received another LONG email when I was out of country. In this email, there are five items. 

1) Outside spigot is leaking water inside the house - we have never used that spigot. 

2) a dead small aspen in the front yard

3) clogged gutter

4) Deck has rotted posts and floor boards - "unsafe for his children"..."hurt their bare feet"..."try to screw would be temporary fix" - the wood deck was repaired and painted one year ago. 

5) Fridge spoiled his food - tenants said he told us "multiple times" the fridge is bad news and it costed "$550 damage" to his food over the holidays because they were "frozen" in the refrigerator section and spoiled as they adjusted temp higher. 

I immediately told tenants that they can go buy an used fridge and  I will reimburse them when I am back to the States. I told them I will inspect the deck and address other items when I am back. In the meantime, no one should walk on the deck barefoot or ride on railings like it's a toy. TBH, I was quite annoyed by the frequency of his long emails and told him please send future maintenance needs to a designated email and a business phone number. Instead of stopping there and then, the tenant wrote another LONG essay fully aware that I was out of country and couldn't do much. They didn't buy the fridge, said the deck repair is not urgent and inquired if I feel them as "challenging tenants".  I didn't read this essay until my flight back, but I couldn't get rid of the annoyance and it did negatively impacted my vacation. 

I don't have a great first impression for this tenant. He chased after us for a 2-year lease. We marketed the property as "no pet, only W/D hook up". Somehow, I allowed their future cat and bought new W/D for them when we signed the lease (I thought it's a goodwill effort, but I now know those are mistakes). Three weeks after signing the lease he told me he wanted to buy a house. I know he has been looking aggressively in our area since moving in. While I think he should be honest upfront and maybe rent from a rental community (there's a nice one 5 min away and belong to the same elementary school), what's done is done. About a month ago, he started pushing me to share our plan after the 2-yr lease ends (which is one year from now). He said it would help decide "how aggressively he should be looking".  

Overall I am pretty fed up by this tenant, but I don't want to make an emotion decision. Maybe I just don't know how to manage him. How would you handle this situation?

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JD MartinBusiness Member
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Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
4y

You really, really need a property manager. You should not have allowed a tenant to buy their own appliance. You should not have visited the sheriff's office because someone left a bullet on a public sidewalk. Copper pipes don't erode because they use the tub and you didn't (I spent years in the water industry). You should not have signed a 2 year lease. 

You have high maintenance tenants, but you have exacerbated the problems with your actions. Your best course at this point is to end the tenancy at the first available option and start over. Where you run the rental, not your tenants.

PS: if you are in an easy eviction state, I would tell the guy flat out that he better be looking for new housing every day because at the end of the lease he's out on his ear. That might mellow out some of the nitpicking.

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  • JD MartinBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
    4y

    You really, really need a property manager. For the following reasons:

    1. The tenant had some legitimate issues that you ignored or put off. That has increased the agitation of the tenant. I know this to be true because of nothing more than the claim of "the tub pipes corroded because he uses the tub and we didn't" comment. 

    2. You shouldn't be getting into these kinds of conversations anyway. You should either have a formal process for putting in a repair/maintenance request, or if you are going to have an informal process you should have some kind of response that includes: you acknowledging the request, your position on the request (your responsibility/tenant's responsibility/BS request), what actions if any you will take, and when you will take those actions. That's it. Nothing else is required. Conversations about fire departments breaking down doors to take locks off the electrical panel are nonsense and not required. An issue found during a formal/informal inspection is dealt with by telling the tenant the issue is unacceptable, what needs to happen to correct it, and when. No further explanation is necessary.

    3. You gave the tenant the green light on doing something you should have done - replacing the refrigerator. If it is part of the lease, and it goes bad, if you want a used one put in then you find and have it delivered. You don't put this on the tenant. 

    4. Your interactions with the tenant ruined your vacation.

    3. Your angst about having to repaint a room or two and have a vacancy encourages you to keep a tenant that clearly is unhappy either with the house or the way you are managing the house. You should be encouraging this tenant to move along. Your job is not to placate the tenant. It is to manage the house and repair issues that are your responsibility, and inform the tenant of his responsibilities. 

    Skyline Properties
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  • Investor · Member since 2021 · 591 posts · 695 votes
    4y

    @Anne W. I'd still suggest moving on to a better tenant.  It's very doubtful that this tenant will ever change their behavior, and the longer you stick with them, the more headaches they will create, unfortunately.

    The last time I had a very high maintenance tenant like this, I texted them and said something like "It's clear that you're not satisfied with the property, so let's discuss the options for getting you out of the lease so that you can move on to a property that better suits your needs"  ...long story short, they left, and I found a new tenant who was much easier to work with, and they've been at that property now for several years, and have been excellent. I lost some money in the process, but I gained a large amount of my time back (since I didn't have to spend time communicating with an overly-needy tenant), and I also substantially reduced my stress level--so it was definitely worth losing some money. I'd MUCH rather have a good tenant and make a bit less money than have a bad tenant and make more money.

    Good luck out there!

  • Member since 2021 · 44 posts · 8 votes
    4y

    @Leo R. thank you for sharing your experience. Last night I emailed the tenants an offer of no-penalty early termination that is valid for 60 days. Haven't heard from them yet, hope they will take it. 

  • Member since 2021 · 44 posts · 8 votes
    4y

    @Nathan Gesner @JD Martin UPDATE: Last night I emailed the tenants an offer of no-penalty early termination that is valid for 60 days. Tenants don't want to move, just received another 4000-word email kicking, screaming, sobbing, complaining, blaming...How would you handle this kind of situation?

  • Rental Property Investor · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    4y

    I honestly don't see many of these issues as tenant problems and really see a lot of it as a cost of doing business.  They have complained about the refrigerator and other options several times and you have failed to act and your biggest reason is it worked fine when I lived there.  Everything works fine until it doesn't and a 17 year old refrigerator is not worth your time, get a scratch and dent and call it a day.  Usually I say the food is on the tenant but after repeated requests and being ignored I'd say it is on you.  Some people are just long winded but you copied and pasted a previous email and it really didn't take a significant amount of my day and many of these are repeat requests.  I would be furious at a tenant not reporting water issues which tend to get worse good for them for protecting your property and trying to not run up their water bill that I assume they are paying.  May they be slightly high maintenance sure but I also see some of this as the result of you failing to act on legitimate concerns.  That said I'm not showing up at the station bullet in hand, that seems ridiculous.  You complain that they roped you into a 2 year contract, provided a washer and dryer, and allowed their cat but these are things you agreed to. 99% of the time I'm on the landlords side but this is one where they seem reasonable at best, at worst you both have unreasonable expectations of each other and the property.  

    I just re-read before posting and I don't want it to seem like I'm coming down hard on you but put yourself in this persons shoes.  They are out money on food due to bad appliances, water costs due to poor plumbing fixtures, and realistic or not fear for their child's safety due to a deck that needs repaired.  Based on how you have been with the fridge I assume this deck is pretty bad.  

  • Member since 2021 · 44 posts · 8 votes
    4y

    @Adam Martin thank you for the feedback. If you read my latest post, I am trying to release tenants from the lease early without penalty and they don't want to leave. I am not a perfect LL, but to clarify the deck was repaired, fully painted 14 month ago. The rent is at least 10% below market at this point. I addressed nearly all maintenance requests (see OP) within 2 days. I didn't want to replace the fridge, but I told them that I would replace with a new one last week. The master bath eroded pipe, I hired a master plumber and paid premium to fix it in 1 day. It's an expensive house in class A neighborhood, I was still evaluating if I should sell it so I fixed every potential damage right away. I am not neglecting the house, but I do want those tenants out. 

    All conflicts started about three weeks ago. They want a new deck ($20K), a new fridge. 

  • Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
    4y
    Quote from @Anne W.:

    @Nathan Gesner @JD Martin UPDATE: Last night I emailed the tenants an offer of no-penalty early termination that is valid for 60 days. Tenants don't want to move, just received another 4000-word email kicking, screaming, sobbing, complaining, blaming...How would you handle this kind of situation?


    If they insist on staying, let them. Just stop responding to their unnecessary requests. When they write a novel, either don't respond or write back one sentence.

    You have to find a way to ignore the crazy and only respond when you know it's a valid complaint.

    I would also let them know that you won't be renewing their lease. Tell them now and tell them again 60 days prior to lease ending so there's no confusion.

    The DIY Landlord Book4.7248 Reviews
  • Colleen F.Pro Member
    Investor · Narragansett, RI · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    4y

    @Anne W.  the other thing you might communicate to him based on what I gather from his hiring a home inspector and what are your plans comment is that you intend to keep the house as a long term rental. Of course you don't have to do that but I am not sure that your tenant isn't wearing you down to get you to fix everything he wants and then buy it.  He could just be a PIA. You might want to be clear on that point.

  • Member since 2021 · 44 posts · 8 votes
    4y

    @Colleen F. you read my mind! I have been suspecting that myself. Tenants mentioned it before we signed the lease last year, I told him "no plan to sell" back then. 

  • Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 75 posts · 24 votes
    4y

    I use apartments.com for tenant screening and lease creation and tenant's payment processing. I have some complainers too who use text but mostly email to write long ridiculous rants. I just noticed there is a maintenance and repair request submission form for tenants on the apartments.com website that I will give them vs. allowing to text and email me any old time. I am not a hotel concierge, and most items are minimal. I think I might also have a once-a-month handyman come out to the site (several single-family homes) and inform all tenants the week before that this is the time for reporting anything that may not be working properly (outside emergencies of course.)

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