Craziest Tenant Experience?

Craziest Tenant Experience?

Investor · Port Hueneme, CA · Member since 2017 · 73 posts · 34 votes

So I have to share mine, because it just happened this week. We went back and forth with the tenant in our rental home but finally convinced them to move out without having to go the eviction route. When they did finally leave, it costed about 10k to fix the house up so it was move in ready again. We're showing it this coming weekend and are excited to find a better tenant, knock on wood. 

After we were just about done cleaning it up though, my wife decided to go over there on Monday to throw away some junk the tenant had left in the back yard. While she was tidying up the back yard she noticed a bucket filling up with dirty rain water. The bucket's lid had a big U shape cut into it for some reason. She kicked over the bucket to spill the dirty rain water out onto the concrete walkway beside the house. To her horror, she saw (and smelled) a whole bunch of human turds go rolling and oozing out onto the concrete. 

... Queue the stunned silence.

I guess our old outdoorsy tenant wasn't satisfied with the 3 (yes, THREE) perfectly good toilets in the house, and decided to make a DIY toilet in the back yard.

For the next few hours she texted me some very colorful comments about our old tenants while spraying dish soap she had brought along all over the concrete and scrubbing it out as best she could. Needless to say, I picked up the expensive dinner tab that night and showered her with as much praise and gratitude as I could muster. 

This was only the latest head scratcher in a long line of oddities which led us to show this tenant the door OUT. I have a hard time believing other landlords could top the leftover DIY toilet in the back yard... but I kinda want to see if you can lol. Any of you have any hilarious or maddening tenant stories that you love to tell at parties? 

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Jordan MoorheadBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
8y
Maybe he wanted to poop with a view?
See this reply in the discussion

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  • Real Estate Agent · Cupertino, CA · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    8y

    Swallow the pain. That comes with investment property ownership.

  • Jordan MoorheadBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    8y
    Maybe he wanted to poop with a view?
  • Investor · Post Falls, ID · Member since 2016 · 606 posts · 699 votes
    8y

    No hilarious tenant stories --- my stories are just sad.    Look in your properties dumpster on a Monday morning and count the beer cans.

  • Sunnyvale , CA · Member since 2017 · 373 posts · 362 votes
    8y
    Sorry but what type of home was this, in what type of neighborhood that the tenants turned out to be so out of whack!
  • Investor · Northern, VA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 904 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @James R. Copeland:

    So I have to share mine, because it just happened this week. We went back and forth with the tenant in our rental home but finally convinced them to move out without having to go the eviction route. When they did finally leave, it costed about 10k to fix the house up so it was move in ready again. We're showing it this coming weekend and are excited to find a better tenant, knock on wood. 

    After we were just about done cleaning it up though, my wife decided to go over there on Monday to throw away some junk the tenant had left in the back yard. While she was tidying up the back yard she noticed a bucket filling up with dirty rain water. The bucket's lid had a big U shape cut into it for some reason. She kicked over the bucket to spill the dirty rain water out onto the concrete walkway beside the house. To her horror, she saw (and smelled) a whole bunch of human turds go rolling and oozing out onto the concrete. 

    ... Queue the stunned silence.

    I guess our old outdoorsy tenant wasn't satisfied with the 3 (yes, THREE) perfectly good toilets in the house, and decided to make a DIY toilet in the back yard.

    For the next few hours she texted me some very colorful comments about our old tenants while spraying dish soap she had brought along all over the concrete and scrubbing it out as best she could. Needless to say, I picked up the expensive dinner tab that night and showered her with as much praise and gratitude as I could muster. 

    This was only the latest head scratcher in a long line of oddities which led us to show this tenant the door OUT. I have a hard time believing other landlords could top the leftover DIY toilet in the back yard... but I kinda want to see if you can lol. Any of you have any hilarious or maddening tenant stories that you love to tell at parties? 

    I think you owe me a sandwich... LOL.. Nasty $h1t.  Reading this as I am having lunch...lol. 

    I don't know how you prepare for that? Maybe next time as a part of your screening you can ask the previous landlord if the tenant is properly potty trained? lol

  • James R. CopelandPro Member
    OP
    Investor · Port Hueneme, CA · Member since 2017 · 73 posts · 34 votes
    8y

    This is a single family, 4 bed, 2.5 bath single family home in vancouver, WA. Apretty nice place in a great middle income family neighborhood! But yeah, this tenant's behavior took me by surprise. Busted doors inside, cigarette butts everywhere outside, dog pee soaked into the carpets and padding, beer splashes all over the walls, complaints from neighbors. In hindsight I shouldve kicked them out sooner.

  • Pottstown, PA · Member since 2017 · 79 posts · 31 votes
    8y

    @James R. Copeland did this tenant pass standard screening before moving in or were they inherited? I feel like if you had met them while showing the property you may have seen some red flags, or they fell off their rocker recently. Or maybe now in hindsight you know what to look for next time.

  • Rental Property Investor · Upstate, NY · Member since 2012 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    8y

    I remember the best years ago when my father was teaching me all about rental real estate in Australia.

    It was not unusual to had several European generations living in a home & they often collected a substantial amount of urine to boost the soils deficient in N, K & P under the fruit trees we had on the properties. The best was seeing a cow being milked in the bathroom. The bathrooms & laundries were often back behind the kitchens so access was easy for such livestock & their veg garden was always well fertilized. 

    In those days they dumped large deposits of spongy human waste (bio-solids) in the sand hills behind our rentals. (it's now a multi million $ housing subdivision). The locals would collect it for their gardens so we would often find piles of it drying out in the backyards.

     When visiting back in 2012 I discovered one these sprawling ranch style homes on silts (we once owned) was gone & had been replaced with 5 patio style bungalows. 

  • James R. CopelandPro Member
    OP
    Investor · Port Hueneme, CA · Member since 2017 · 73 posts · 34 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Account Closed:

    @James R. Copeland did this tenant pass standard screening before moving in or were they inherited? I feel like if you had met them while showing the property you may have seen some red flags, or they fell off their rocker recently. Or maybe now in hindsight you know what to look for next time.

    Yeah that was another lesson learned. The "Tenant" lady was actually very squared away, prior navy, good credit, no criminal background, no evictions, had a great career and income. Where we screwed up was not checking her fiance and nephew who we also met briefly. I could tell the fiance was a bit... Off, but didnt really do my homework on them. Of the folks we met they seemed on paper to be the best fit. Live and learn.

  • Specialist · Riverside, CA · Member since 2015 · 6k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    8y

    Once had a tenant who occasionally missed the toilet, he complained that the toilet was old and had to be replaced because it was causing urine to splatter on the floor which he then had to clean up.

  • Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
    8y

    Had a 'left behind girlfriend' once when my screened tenant left.  She was acquired during his stay and seemed nice enough the couple of times I saw her. 

    After he left she was ok for a couple months until she went off her bi-polar meds and resumed drinking heavily and smoking crystal.  She was soon  fired from the little grocery story and getting behind on rent.

    Weird noises started coming from her apt at night. Bangs and clangs and yelling. Things were being broken  and she was caught by police twice outside the building screaming at herself.  What the heck was she doing at night?

    Thankfully she was behind on rent and had given (with a nudge from me) notice, so I could declare her apt and tenancy abandoned if she left for 1 day.  I checked the daily inmate list of our county jail until I saw she was incarcerated again.

    Every morning I'd check.  I had a go bag at the ready when I saw the county had her.  I immediately drove the 40 minutes up and posted the abandoned property and tenancy declaration on her door and commenced an old school move-out.  Everything to 'the curb' (actually to a reasonably secure storage area).  My maintenance guy and I had everything out and the apt re-secured in 2 hours. Nothing like the smell of an old school eviction in the morning!

    She had broken a couple windows and the front door glass, which I had to upgrade to tempered.  After getting out of jail, sober, she apologized and I forgave her back rent and damage debt.  Self-managing at its finest!  

  • James R. CopelandPro Member
    OP
    Investor · Port Hueneme, CA · Member since 2017 · 73 posts · 34 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Steve Vaughan:

    Had a 'left behind girlfriend' once when my screened tenant left.  She was acquired during his stay and seemed nice enough the couple of times I saw her. 

    After he left she was ok for a couple months until she went off her bi-polar meds and resumed drinking heavily and smoking crystal.  She was soon  fired from the little grocery story and getting behind on rent.

    Weird noises started coming from her apt at night. Bangs and clangs and yelling. Things were being broken  and she was caught by police twice outside the building screaming at herself.  What the heck was she doing at night?

    Thankfully she was behind on rent and had given (with a nudge from me) notice, so I could declare her apt and tenancy abandoned if she left for 1 day.  I checked the daily inmate list of our county jail until I saw she was incarcerated again.

    Every morning I'd check.  I had a go bag at the ready when I saw the county had her.  I immediately drove the 40 minutes up and posted the abandoned property and tenancy declaration on her door and commenced an old school move-out.  Everything to 'the curb' (actually to a reasonably secure storage area).  My maintenance guy and I had everything out and the apt re-secured in 2 hours. Nothing like the smell of an old school eviction in the morning!

    She had broken a couple windows and the front door glass, which I had to upgrade to tempered.  After getting out of jail, sober, she apologized and I forgave her back rent and damage debt.  Self-managing at its finest!  

    Stories like that, somehow I had a feeling you were from Washington!!!

    Jeez, thanks for sharing, good reminder it could always be worse!

  • Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes
    8y

    Inherited tenant, prime suspect in the deaths of two husbands and attempted poisoning of a third. Escaped charges of check fraud by checking her self into a looney bin at one point and was a known drug dealer. She terrorised all other tenants, in fact was feared by most in the township. She also had a large bull dog that never left her side and was highly trained to protect her. All tenants were so afraid of her that none would testify against her at a eviction hearing.

    Ended up taking 12 eviction hearings, nearly three years and two orders of rent rebates (harassing her) before I made her life difficult enough for her to decide to leave. 

    Cost me about three grand and was peanuts compared to what it was worth to the rest of the tenants to have her gone.

    It was a personal challenge to get rid of her and a well worth while experience. 

    I do not like having difficult tenants but reality is that dealing with them is a enjoyable distraction for me from the usual responsibilities of being a hands on landlord. Second most enjoyable job after cashing rent checks.

    Two statements from tenants that should make you take notice:

    ...I know my rights.... and....as long as I pay my rent I can do what ever I please.

  • Professional · Anaheim, CA · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 686 votes
    8y

    @James R. Copeland

    It is all about handling expectations. If you expect the worst from your tenants then you will not be surprised when they do something. Pee and poop from pet or human is to be expected. No rents and late rents to be expected. Damage in any share or form, and dollars amounts could be thousands. This will cover about 99% of issues.

    Now, here is the 1% that you will not expect, which is a true story.  I was watching CNN television, and the news was about vacant apartments and illegal activities. Behold, undercover journalist in car outside vacant apartment watching people go in and out of boarded up apartment with no utilities. Lights are on via flashlight. Journalist comments about squatters, drug deals, children in apartment, and maybe even prostitution going on. Police come and raid the apartment and arrest people. Children services called to the scene.

    Hey..........I know that apartment building, next to mines. How's that for the unexpected.

    Terry

  • Brie SchmidtBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Chicago, IL · Member since 2013 · 6k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    8y

    I had a tenant of 5 years get evicted from a SFH. Full working bathroom on the first floor and a finished attic bathroom with a bucket of human waste. I counted 20 steps from it to the working bathroom.

  • Michael DangPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2015 · 454 posts · 273 votes
    8y

    I had once a makeshift dental office in the living room with a compressor hose out the window.  The tenant had a full waiting room until I showed up and stopped the party.

  • James R. CopelandPro Member
    OP
    Investor · Port Hueneme, CA · Member since 2017 · 73 posts · 34 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Brie Schmidt:

    I had a tenant of 5 years get evicted from a SFH. Full working bathroom on the first floor and a finished attic bathroom with a bucket of human waste. I counted 20 steps from it to the working bathroom.

    Aha!!! Another poop bucket!!! Is this a new trend? I'm pretty sure this was how the black plague started...

  • Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @James R. Copeland:
    Originally posted by @Brie Schmidt:

    I had a tenant of 5 years get evicted from a SFH. Full working bathroom on the first floor and a finished attic bathroom with a bucket of human waste. I counted 20 steps from it to the working bathroom.

    Aha!!! Another poop bucket!!! Is this a new trend? I'm pretty sure this was how the black plague started...

    You dont look that old

  • Columbus, GA · Member since 2017 · 88 posts · 115 votes
    8y

    Had a lady in a four-plex who stopped paying rent, and gave every excuse in the book why she couldn't pay on time.  After the 3rd notice to pay rent or quit, I finally got fed up with her and decided to through with the eviction...or so I thought.  She was a paralegal at a local law firm, and well-versed in tenant rights.  I hired an attorney who specialized in real estate law in that town, and he said she was the most clever evictee he had come across.  Took 5 months to get her on her way.  As payback for me evicting her, she turned on the water in the laundry room, stuck the hose down the drain, and let it run...for 3 months. 

  • Sunnyvale , CA · Member since 2017 · 373 posts · 362 votes
    8y
    Tenant from hell ! Sorry to hear, glad he is finally out.
  • James R. CopelandPro Member
    OP
    Investor · Port Hueneme, CA · Member since 2017 · 73 posts · 34 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Jack P.:

    Had a lady in a four-plex who stopped paying rent, and gave every excuse in the book why she couldn't pay on time.  After the 3rd notice to pay rent or quit, I finally got fed up with her and decided to through with the eviction...or so I thought.  She was a paralegal at a local law firm, and well-versed in tenant rights.  I hired an attorney who specialized in real estate law in that town, and he said she was the most clever evictee he had come across.  Took 5 months to get her on her way.  As payback for me evicting her, she turned on the water in the laundry room, stuck the hose down the drain, and let it run...for 3 months. 

    Holy crap!!! That's just twisted. How do those people sleep at night. 

  • Flipper/Rehabber · Orlando, FL · Member since 2016 · 311 posts · 150 votes
    8y

    Cleaned a murder scene after she was stabbed to death 

  • Investor · Edwardsville, IL · Member since 2015 · 432 posts · 481 votes
    8y
    My brother is a plumber in Loveland, CO. The poop buckets are there as well. He has found many at job sites that have porta potties provided. He told me "if you ever see a 5 gallon bucket with a lid on it. Leave it that way"! Its usually the imigrant workers that do this for some reason?
  • James R. CopelandPro Member
    OP
    Investor · Port Hueneme, CA · Member since 2017 · 73 posts · 34 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Chris Grenier:

    Cleaned a murder scene after she was stabbed to death 

    Wait... what? 

    In my head I always imagined the police somehow got that done... You seriously had to clean that up?

  • Portland, ME · Member since 2012 · 616 posts · 550 votes
    8y

    I had a tenant a few years ago who passed all my screening and seemed like a really nice guy.  Maybe a little "bug-eyed" and intense, but otherwise no red flags. He left the unit early to try to work things out with his wife, but I re-rented it no problem. The crazy thing about this one was how normal he was! 

    Last year he was on the news - missing and wanted for sexually abusing children!  Last month they found his body.  I still haven't heard if it was murder or suicide.

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