Finding and Dealing with Tenants . . . A Painful Lesson to Share

[Andy Sabisch]

To start with, we have several rentals and have a great group of tenants that pay on time, maintain the properties and have very few issues to deal with . . . with one notable exception.  My wife and I kid each other that the one unit must be cursed as we have had three tenants since we bought it a few years ago and everyone has been an experience.  First one must have been on meds as it depended on what day you talked to her as to what reaction you would get, the second moved out one night with no warning and the third . . . well that is the lesson to share.

When we listed it for rent, we posted it on Zillow Rental Manager and used their background screening function as it allows potential tenants to apply to multiple properties and landlords get a report.  Here is the first warning.  Do a search on this function they offer and it will show that the results are suspect at best and often miss key information.  In our case it turned out that the tenant which had a clean report had been arrested and jailed 9 months earlier.  Great piece of information to have been missed!  We found this out when after the 1st month his wife called and said he was in jail for 30 days and rent would be late.  We did a simple Google search and the first hit was the police booking report with his photo in handcuffs.  That would have stopped the problems right there.  So lesson #1 is do not trust the results of Zillow's screening and do some homework yourself as the Internet is a powerful tool in itself.

So they move in in July and miss August's rent but his wife promises to be paid up including September by September 1st.  We felt sorry for them (Lesson #2 - renting is a business and sometimes life sucks but not my problem).  We should have filed for eviction at that point but did not.

Then the tenant next door asks us about the dog they have . . . which was never discussed with us in advance, the non-refundable pet fee paid or the additional monthly fee as called out in their signed lease.  We were told at first it was the kids, then it was an emotional support dog and then a service dog with documentation to be provided which of course never was.  Violation of the lease should have served with the court (Lesson #3)

Then he submitted a maintenance request for a 1/2" crack in the acrylic tub that he said was flooding the basement.  We knocked on the door to check it out and he threw open the door screaming at us for banging to loud it scared his daughter.  The conversation (yelling at us) ended when he said he was going to burn the house down.  We left and called the police who talked with him and told us to not engage him until he calmed down as he was "unhinged".  Lesson #4, we should have pressed charges for threats and verbal abuse as the officer asked us if we wanted to do.

All this time, rent was not being paid so we gave him the 10-day cure letter and filed with the court.  Not sure if he thought we would not follow-through but we did and had court yesterday.  He found a lawyer the night before and our court case was yesterday.  We had all the facts but another lesson . . . Lesson #5 was when you go to court and have all the documentation you need, make three copies - one for you, one for the other side and one for the judge as we were not able to hand her anything once the case started.  Hope she took good notes.

We asked the court for an Order of Eviction and the magistrate said she would make a decision within 3 days.  I will update this post when we hear the results but the take away is 1) be careful who you rent to, 2) treat violations as a business and compassion needs to take a backseat and 3) be prepared with your details when you go to court and have copies for the judge / magistrate.

[Michele Fischer]

Thanks for sharing, that sounds like quite the ordeal.  I laughed at you saying the house was cursed.  There always seems to be a property that looks great on paper but something is just wonky.  I'm just glad we have the other rentals to average things out.

We always google applicants, it is amazing the things you can find, including early evidence of those unauthorized pets.

Keep on trucking, this too shall pass!