So, your tenant made it through the screening process and moved in.
What kind of dumb things are they saying now?
Petty requests?
Requests to remodel?
Requests for upgraded appliances?
Whining about the internet you provide free as a courtesy? (don't do it.. it's not worth it)
Excuses for not paying rent on time?
I have a tenant that continually complains of being cold, and I need to do a better job of sealing her doors (which they are sealed fine.) I go over there- and her heat is off. "Well, I don't wan to pay for all that electricity! I just run it once in a while."
.............
I had a new first year law student move into one of the little studios I managed. He calls me frantically about midnight and I was up, so I answered the phone (I was a resident manager).
"How do I open the window?"
"See those black handle-things on the window?"
"Yeah."
"You just squeeze them and lift up."
"But, I need two hands to get it to open."
"Yes, you'll need to put the phone down."
Actually you made a noob mistake.
If the tenant has $100 on Friday night, if you actually want to see it, collect it there and then. There is no chance that it'll make it through the weekend.
um, no I didn't. It was a proper business decision. I am 35 minutes away (roundtrip over an hour) on a Friday night and heading north from MA to NH would of easily double my time getting there. So, 1.5 hours for $100 bucks?? It was a lot easier to go my usual Sunday and giving them a 14 day notice and watch them scramble finding the 100 bucks. By the way, this was suppose to be a fun posting.
Had another tenant who called complaining that her shower head was dripping water and the sound was driving her crazy while she was trying to meditate. It was Saturday morning, and the owner came on Saturdays by late morning, so I said we'll come in to check it out today. (She was odd, so the owner didn't like to be in her apartment alone, in case she accused him of something.)
So, we go into her apartment to check out the dripping shower head and it's not dripping.
"But it was and it was driving me crazy and I couldn't meditate!"
"Did you take a shower this morning?"
She looks appalled that we asked her such a personal question. I quickly say, "Because shower heads will drip after you take a shower for a while afterwards."
"Well, yes, I took a shower this morning. But, something must be wrong with the shower head anyway!"
The owner looks at me and says, "I've got some new shower heads downstairs in the work room, I'll just put a new one in."
Put in the new shower head and now she's happy.
Now that I think about it. I bet he just went downstairs, had himself a little giggle, then came back up with the same shower head...
Gosh, there are so many. I will just tell one more for now.
Had a wacky woman move in who was a full-time accountant, but she had some mental issues. We could sometimes hear her wailing in her apartment.
She called me and would catch me outside and complained about the student who lived above her walking too loudly in his apartment. No loud music, no loud company, no loud television - just that his walking across the room above her head drove her mad.
He was a really nice, engineering student, so I asked him to try to tread more lightly, if possible, but that was it. If I had to lose one of them, I'd rather lose the wacko lol.
She complained often and frantically about his walking, and I regularly explained normal apartment noise to her.
Anyway, one night she calls in the middle of the night. I let the call go to voicemail, then listen. She's absolutely frantic because while she was in bed sleeping, the ceiling in her apartment somehow, for no reason whatsoever, fell down on her!
End of the world drama! I go to her apartment, and sure enough, the plaster for the section directly over her bed has come down onto her bed.
Now, these apartments had very high ceilings - about 10 feet high.
How much you wanna bet, she was pounding on the ceiling with her broom? LOL!
Surprise! The ceiling falls on your head! LOLOL! Oh God, too precious.
We moved her into a different vacant apartment, and she convinced the owner to buy her a new carpet, because the old one was supposedly ruined by dry plaster dust. I think there was a medical bill for around $50, too.
She didn't complain about the new upstairs neighbor.
Cute college tenant ...
...The next day we discovered they had used Arm & Hammer laundry detergent WITH BAKING SODA.They have all graduated & are now interning in medicine & radiology.
I have spent a large portion of the last 8 years in hospitals, clinics & doctors offices. I can tell you that these girls represent the average healthcare "professional". Incompetent airheads. They probably passed with 3.99 GPAs.
My last ever tenant (I am no longer a landlord) told us that she was leaving in under 15 days. She was with us for 11 years and always paid on-time. She told us she was leaving because she found a house to rent for the same price. Yadda, yadda. Anyway, just last week, she calls me up and ask if her old apartment was available. I told her I was no longer into renting because of various reasons, 1st reason being it is a big headache to rent anymore. So after talking to her a bit more, I came to find out that the reason she wanted to move out of the house she renting is because she did not read her lease thoroughly before she moved in and found out that she had to mow the lawn (and supply her own mower), shovel the snow and pay a service fee anytime a service man had to go to her house to fix something. In the end, the cheap rent she was paying ended up costing her way more than she thought - in money, time and discomfort (mowing, shoveling, etc - her BF left her and mowing and shoveling now became even more of a burden since she had to do it herself).
All in all, she regrets she ever moved out of my apartment because she sees now how good she had it.
Does that make her a dumb tenant? In my eyes, yes. Because she had not the capacity to see how good she had it with me and she did not read her lease - she was blinded by more space which she cannot manage. The grass is only "greener on the other side" to those who are too dumb and stupid to understand that the grass is not only NEVER greener, it is actually usually browner. But you have to look to see it. This is a very appropriate analogy because she also told me that almost every time she takes a shower at her new place, she has some gross brown substance that leaks from the ceiling in the shower....LOLOLOLOLOLOL. AND her new landlord is virtually a slumlord to fixes nothing - including her leaking brown goo problem.
Forgive me for being so harsh and laughing at another persons problems, but after decades of renting to people and putting up with their stupidity and shenanigans, I can't help but laugh at their misfortune. It's a weakness of mine, I know it.
Originally posted by @Colleen F.:
LOL. I never understood why a tenant would pay in advance until many years ago when I was a renter myself in a 4 unit complex. My downstairs neighbor always paid his rent yearly because he was a drug addict and knew that, if he would not pay a year up front, he would shoot his rent money in his veins. So I guess that makes him a responsible druggie, at least...lol!
The tenant above me paid upfront when they could because they were so terrible with money that if they had it sitting around they knew they would spend it frivolously. Given that, I guess they were druggies too - not addicted to drugs, rather addicted to spending money and being stupid.
Got a call from a tenant this morning.... Water heater not working. These are good folks but not high on the self help category so, since the house is next door I decided to check things out before hiring a contractor.
Upon inspection I noticed that the thermostat was barely above the "Vacation" setting. After turning up the thermostat I hear the whoose of gas flowing and igniting. Just to confirm I check the exhaust flue, it is warm and getting hot. Problem solved.
Last week we had a tenant who was complaining that their electric bill was high since we did a repair to the AC unit. To keep the peace we hired an AC guy to check the unit, everything was fine but his air filters were dirty. Ugh- I know enough to check that and still forgot.
**** An important note for people with AC Units at their rentals, there is a product that is the equivalent of fix a lot for AC units. Cots $50 and you will have to recharge the system but it saved me 2k on replacing the inside exchange unit! There are two products that I know of one is called Super Seal and the alternative is a competing product called AC Leak Freeze that we used in this particular case. Most AC guys will not mention either for some reason.
Bought two houses that sit side-by-side, one empty and the other with a tenant. The empty one needed work so we took the opportunity to replace roof, update the bathroom tile, paint, appliances, etc. New tenant moved in and was very happy and proud of her "new" home.
A couple of months later, when paying their rent, the tenants in the other house said they had a list of "improvements" they would like to have done to their house too, and asked when I could get started! I told them, "as soon as your lease expires, and as part of your new lease and increased rent! I don't make improvements mid-lease. If it was good enough when you signed the lease it's good enough now."
Got a call from a tenant this morning.... Water heater not working. These are good folks but not high on the self help category so, since the house is next door I decided to check things out before hiring a contractor.
Upon inspection I noticed that the thermostat was barely above the "Vacation" setting. After turning up the thermostat I hear the whoose of gas flowing and igniting. Just to confirm I check the exhaust flue, it is warm and getting hot. Problem solved.
Last week we had a tenant who was complaining that their electric bill was high since we did a repair to the AC unit. To keep the peace we hired an AC guy to check the unit, everything was fine but his air filters were dirty. Ugh- I know enough to check that and still forgot.
**** An important note for people with AC Units at their rentals, there is a product that is the equivalent of fix a lot for AC units. Cots $50 and you will have to recharge the system but it saved me 2k on replacing the inside exchange unit! There are two products that I know of one is called Super Seal and the alternative is a competing product called AC Leak Freeze that we used in this particular case. Most AC guys will not mention either for some reason.
This is good to know. I had a tenant recently who texted me late one night saying I better come quick, the kitchen faucet valve broke and there is water everywhere and she doesn't have the money for a plumber, etc.
I asked her to send me pics of the broken valve and the water everywhere. She says that there is nothing really to take a picture of. Come again?? You just said the valve broke and there is water everywhere...Can you send me a pic of the valve that is broken and the water everywhere?? Turns out she had replaced the faucet (with a white one on a stainless sink no less) and didn't put it together right. She didn't want to send pics because then it would be obvious what really happened. Apparently thinking past the tip of her nose was not her strong suit, as I had to explain to her I would find out what was really going on when I came down there. She only fessed up then.
Magically she managed to fix it on her own (and got a stainless faucet when I told her it needs to be stainless not white) when I explained to her the plumber would be there the next day and she would have to pay him and for any property damage as she is not authorized to do repair work on the house for a reason. She tried to claim that it was leaking before. Yeah, right...Just like there was nothing to take a picture of. Amazing how when anything else breaks or leaks you call me, but you replace the faucet yourself because it's "leaking" and you end up making it leak and expect me to clean up your mess. This little physicist is breeding like a rabbit too. Two minutes of conversation and you realize she is as dumb as a rock.
Had a new family of tenants getting ready to move into one of my SFH. I always provide them information on how/where to get the utilities turned on. Some of this (electric and gas) can be set up online. I provide them PRINTED copies of how to go online for the power company servicing the home and give them several options for gas companies common in my area. I tell them the gas is currently on BUT TO GET THE GAS CHANGED INTO THEIR NAME BEFORE IT IS TURNED OFF AS THIS WOULD INVOLVE ONLY A METER READING.
Gave this information to them at the lease signing which was two weeks before they moved in.
Move in was this weekend. Sunday afternoon I'm over there spraying around the perimeter of the house as they reported seeing two palmetto bugs (HEAVENS!) in the attached garage at move in. As I go around the corner of the house I see the gas meter is locked. No gas. No gas turn on. Which means no hot water.
Two hours later the tenant calls and asks "what's wrong with the hot water heater?". I say nothing. It would heat fine if there was gas coming into the house to heat it.
Gail
Had a new family of tenants getting ready to move into one of my SFH. I always provide them information on how/where to get the utilities turned on. Some of this (electric and gas) can be set up online. I provide them PRINTED copies of how to go online for the power company servicing the home and give them several options for gas companies common in my area. I tell them the gas is currently on BUT TO GET THE GAS CHANGED INTO THEIR NAME BEFORE IT IS TURNED OFF AS THIS WOULD INVOLVE ONLY A METER READING.
Gave this information to them at the lease signing which was two weeks before they moved in.
Move in was this weekend. Sunday afternoon I'm over there spraying around the perimeter of the house as they reported seeing two palmetto bugs (HEAVENS!) in the attached garage at move in. As I go around the corner of the house I see the gas meter is locked. No gas. No gas turn on. Which means no hot water.
Two hours later the tenant calls and asks "what's wrong with the hot water heater?". I say nothing. It would heat fine if there was gas coming into the house to heat it.
Gail
LOL! I love that you just went home and waited for the call tee hee.
I felt a bit bad for this family as they have children. But I already agreed to keep the power and water on in my name for a few days (they moved in on the weekend and found they needed to do the power in person to show the lease and, like our water department, local offices are not open on the weekends). At best even if they contacted the gas company by email on that Sunday it would be at least Monday before they would be out to do the turn on and would now require checking out and relighting the hot water heater.
You can lead a tenant to water (well, in this case, MY water bill) but I guess you can't make them drink (or at least take a shower in hot water).
Gail
Just evicted a tenant who moved in and never paid a dollar in rent. Sheriff evicts her on a Monday morning while she's watching Netflix in her pajamas. She tells the sheriff and I that she's kept the unit "clean" and doesn't understand why she has to leave. Sheriff tosses her to the curb and padlocks property. She strongly believed that she was entitled to the unit since she kept it "clean and in good condition" so she hired a locksmith to drill through the locks and moved back in. I bet you can guess what happened next.
Just evicted a tenant who moved in and never paid a dollar in rent. Sheriff evicts her on a Monday morning while she's watching Netflix in her pajamas. She tells the sheriff and I that she's kept the unit "clean" and doesn't understand why she has to leave. Sheriff tosses her to the curb and padlocks property. She strongly believed that she was entitled to the unit since she kept it "clean and in good condition" so she hired a locksmith to drill through the locks and moved back in. I bet you can guess what happened next.
Wow! Please share more. How did you know she had a locksmith drill through the locks? Did a neighbor report her or were you there when it happened?
Inquiring minds want to know...<grin>
Just evicted a tenant who moved in and never paid a dollar in rent. Sheriff evicts her on a Monday morning while she's watching Netflix in her pajamas. She tells the sheriff and I that she's kept the unit "clean" and doesn't understand why she has to leave. Sheriff tosses her to the curb and padlocks property. She strongly believed that she was entitled to the unit since she kept it "clean and in good condition" so she hired a locksmith to drill through the locks and moved back in. I bet you can guess what happened next.
Wow! Please share more. How did you know she had a locksmith drill through the locks? Did a neighbor report her or were you there when it happened?
Inquiring minds want to know...<grin>
I checked on the unit everyday. Stopped by one night and noticed the sheriff's sign was ripped off the door. Tried to open it and the key wouldn't fit. She paid the locksmith with a check that of course bounced. Two weeks later he shows up at the unit looking for his money. New tenants pass my name on to him and we have a good laugh.
She was a referral from my best tenants. Had an income of over 4x rent which I verified. Also received letters of recommendation from the doctor she worked for. Because she was a referral and I verified income, I accepted a personal check for first months rent (big mistake, never doing again). Check bounced, she gave excuse after excuse as to why it bounced. She then submitted another check with a numerical value of $1,200 and a written value of twelve thousand. Dated it for 2015 too. Filed eviction papers 7 days after she moved in. Turns out she's been evicted 9 times in the last 18 months and has active warrants for fraud. Sargent says she's a professional con artist and has been involved in fraud for quite some time. She has the ability to pay rent, but would rather spend it on material items than her bills. Unit was loaded with designer purses, $1k shoes, jewelry, expensive furnishings, etc. Ended up pressing charges for breaking/entering, obtaining property under false pretense, fraud, and criminal trespass. Sargent said she will eat every charge. One professional tenant down, many more to go.
@Deborah Smith I had a Tenant use that exact same excuse! I filed on her for non-payment of Rent. She skipped out and I retained the Security Deposit for the monies due on the balance of the Rent she owed me. She claimed that since I caused her to vacate (by filing on her), she didn't owe me rent for the balance of the Term! Can't make this stuff up!
Just evicted a tenant who moved in and never paid a dollar in rent. Sheriff evicts her on a Monday morning while she's watching Netflix in her pajamas. She tells the sheriff and I that she's kept the unit "clean" and doesn't understand why she has to leave. Sheriff tosses her to the curb and padlocks property. She strongly believed that she was entitled to the unit since she kept it "clean and in good condition" so she hired a locksmith to drill through the locks and moved back in. I bet you can guess what happened next.
Wow! Please share more. How did you know she had a locksmith drill through the locks? Did a neighbor report her or were you there when it happened?
Inquiring minds want to know...<grin>
I checked on the unit everyday. Stopped by one night and noticed the sheriff's sign was ripped off the door. Tried to open it and the key wouldn't fit. She paid the locksmith with a check that of course bounced. Two weeks later he shows up at the unit looking for his money. New tenants pass my name on to him and we have a good laugh.
She was a referral from my best tenants. Had an income of over 4x rent which I verified. Also received letters of recommendation from the doctor she worked for. Because she was a referral and I verified income, I accepted a personal check for first months rent (big mistake, never doing again). Check bounced, she gave excuse after excuse as to why it bounced. She then submitted another check with a numerical value of $1,200 and a written value of twelve thousand. Dated it for 2015 too. Filed eviction papers 7 days after she moved in. Turns out she's been evicted 9 times in the last 18 months and has active warrants for fraud. Sargent says she's a professional con artist and has been involved in fraud for quite some time. She has the ability to pay rent, but would rather spend it on material items than her bills. Unit was loaded with designer purses, $1k shoes, jewelry, expensive furnishings, etc. Ended up pressing charges for breaking/entering, obtaining property under false pretense, fraud, and criminal trespass. Sargent said she will eat every charge. One professional tenant down, many more to go.
WOW!!! I'm sorry this happened to you, and sincerely appreciate you posting details so others can learn from this.
Your story reinforces my decision to use SmartMove to run credit/background/eviction history.
Just evicted a tenant who moved in and never paid a dollar in rent. Sheriff evicts her on a Monday morning while she's watching Netflix in her pajamas. She tells the sheriff and I that she's kept the unit "clean" and doesn't understand why she has to leave. Sheriff tosses her to the curb and padlocks property. She strongly believed that she was entitled to the unit since she kept it "clean and in good condition" so she hired a locksmith to drill through the locks and moved back in. I bet you can guess what happened next.
Wow! Please share more. How did you know she had a locksmith drill through the locks? Did a neighbor report her or were you there when it happened?
Inquiring minds want to know...<grin>
I checked on the unit everyday. Stopped by one night and noticed the sheriff's sign was ripped off the door. Tried to open it and the key wouldn't fit. She paid the locksmith with a check that of course bounced. Two weeks later he shows up at the unit looking for his money. New tenants pass my name on to him and we have a good laugh.
She was a referral from my best tenants. Had an income of over 4x rent which I verified. Also received letters of recommendation from the doctor she worked for. Because she was a referral and I verified income, I accepted a personal check for first months rent (big mistake, never doing again). Check bounced, she gave excuse after excuse as to why it bounced. She then submitted another check with a numerical value of $1,200 and a written value of twelve thousand. Dated it for 2015 too. Filed eviction papers 7 days after she moved in. Turns out she's been evicted 9 times in the last 18 months and has active warrants for fraud. Sargent says she's a professional con artist and has been involved in fraud for quite some time. She has the ability to pay rent, but would rather spend it on material items than her bills. Unit was loaded with designer purses, $1k shoes, jewelry, expensive furnishings, etc. Ended up pressing charges for breaking/entering, obtaining property under false pretense, fraud, and criminal trespass. Sargent said she will eat every charge. One professional tenant down, many more to go.
WOW!!! I'm sorry this happened to you, and sincerely appreciate you posting details so others can learn from this.
Your story reinforces my decision to use SmartMove to run credit/background/eviction history.
SmartMove is a good choice. I screen tenants using Rentec, however, I did not screen her as I had solid references/income verification. Never skipping that again. I did check our county's eviction records but found nothing as she recently moved here.
Just evicted a tenant who moved in and never paid a dollar in rent. Sheriff evicts her on a Monday morning while she's watching Netflix in her pajamas. She tells the sheriff and I that she's kept the unit "clean" and doesn't understand why she has to leave. Sheriff tosses her to the curb and padlocks property. She strongly believed that she was entitled to the unit since she kept it "clean and in good condition" so she hired a locksmith to drill through the locks and moved back in. I bet you can guess what happened next.
Wow! Please share more. How did you know she had a locksmith drill through the locks? Did a neighbor report her or were you there when it happened?
Inquiring minds want to know...<grin>
I checked on the unit everyday. Stopped by one night and noticed the sheriff's sign was ripped off the door. Tried to open it and the key wouldn't fit. She paid the locksmith with a check that of course bounced. Two weeks later he shows up at the unit looking for his money. New tenants pass my name on to him and we have a good laugh.
She was a referral from my best tenants. Had an income of over 4x rent which I verified. Also received letters of recommendation from the doctor she worked for. Because she was a referral and I verified income, I accepted a personal check for first months rent (big mistake, never doing again). Check bounced, she gave excuse after excuse as to why it bounced. She then submitted another check with a numerical value of $1,200 and a written value of twelve thousand. Dated it for 2015 too. Filed eviction papers 7 days after she moved in. Turns out she's been evicted 9 times in the last 18 months and has active warrants for fraud. Sargent says she's a professional con artist and has been involved in fraud for quite some time. She has the ability to pay rent, but would rather spend it on material items than her bills. Unit was loaded with designer purses, $1k shoes, jewelry, expensive furnishings, etc. Ended up pressing charges for breaking/entering, obtaining property under false pretense, fraud, and criminal trespass. Sargent said she will eat every charge. One professional tenant down, many more to go.
WOW!!! I'm sorry this happened to you, and sincerely appreciate you posting details so others can learn from this.
Your story reinforces my decision to use SmartMove to run credit/background/eviction history.
SmartMove is a good choice. I screen tenants using Rentec, however, I did not screen her as I had solid references/income verification. Never skipping that again. I did check our county's eviction records but found nothing as she recently moved here.
I'd call up her "references," too, and let them know what happened. If they knowingly lied for her, they could also be held liable as conspirators. I'd tell them that, too. Let them know that this type of favor could get them arrested. What a pain. Sorry it happened to you.
Rental house is in Texas so its really hot. My tenant travels extensively for long periods of time. I've learned he completely turns off the AC when gone to save a few bucks on electricity (monthly rent is $4,500 btw so I don't completely understand this) which causes the home to get extremely hot. I've told him multiple times that he needs to maintain a reasonable temperature in the house but he continues to ignore me.
Well he leaves for two weeks and turns the AC off. Its August. In Texas. Its really hot. He has a 16 LITER giant bottle of $2,000 wine sitting on the floor in the dining room and the temperature causes it to cook inside the bottle which then ejects the cork spilling 16 liters of red wine onto 90 year old reclaimed hardwood floors. It ruins the floors in 3 rooms along with the baseboards which are now pink.
Go over to survey the extensive damage. Floors are warped. Base boards are pink and so wet that they are separating from the walls. I was just speechless but the tenant states that he is "going to call Silver Oak and let them know that they sold him a bottle with a defective cork". Um hm. Yeah. That dang wine maker is surely to blame. SMH.
We had a couple move into our SFR from New York. The husband was transferred by the Coast Guard. They reviewed the lease before traveling and agreed to it's terms, signing it when they arrived and paying the deposit.
Within the first week they were complaining about not being able to get internet at the home. There are two options for internet, the local cable provider and AT&T DSL. They were not happy with the options.
Next, they asked us to go down on the rent because they found a townhome with a washer & dryer for a lower monthly rate nearby and we did not provide a washer & dryer. They did not like the idea of using a laundramat. We explained that the details of the home were clearly explained in the rental add description.
They replied that they would probably just move to the townhome, since they would not have to cut grass there either. We then explained that they had signed a 12 month lease and were not on a month to month lease. The husband proceeded to argue with us that they were there on a month to month basis. He finally read the lease and stopped his line of argument.
The next thing for him to complain about was that there was some dirt in the shed/storage building in the back yard. He was afraid of what might be in the shed and did not want snakes or rats to attack his toddler daughter. The building was empty with a little dirt/dust on the floor. We had someone sweep it out.
Then he comes up with a story that he was being reassigned to a different office within the same area and and might have to move because he had to be within 30 miles of that office. He probably did not bother to measure the distance, because he was already within 30 miles.
We asked him to provide a copy of his orders, but he could not do that. He sent a copy of a billet list (sp?), a list of personnel assigned to a location, but still no official orders saying that he needed to be within a certain range of the office.
We then get a text message that he will be moving out within the week and he needs his deposit back when he hands over the keys so he can move into the new place. This did not comply with the terms of the lease stating 30 days notice by the tenant or the landlord.
He also stated, rather rudely, that we needed to accomplish this before the end of the month and if we did not, he would go to Coast Guard Legal with the issue.
My wife called Coast Guard Legal the very next morning and explained what was going on. Within an hour, we received a text apology for the rudeness, an emailed copy of a letter from the tenant's commander saying he needed to move, and a request to return the deposit at our convenience.
All's well that ends well, I guess. But it was a lot of extra stress and aggravation dealing with these tenant's barely passing acquaintance with reality.
I just thought of another one. I own the house next door to the house that I live and I had the next door home rented to a tenant. I take my trash to the back alley and see about 20 landscaping flowers, bushes and shrubs piled in the dumpster behind the rental house. I walk to the front and the tenant has removed thousands of dollars of established landscaping and is planting annuals in their place, which will surely die in the summer heat. I walked over and asked what exactly she was doing and she looked at me and said "oh I just realized that those were your plants that I just threw away". She definitely did not get her deposit back.
OH where to start...
Tenant calls frantically that when she turns on the stove little sparks fly off the burners. It's an electric stove, not gas. Turns out it was just grease heating up.
Tenant calls frantically, "the shower is falling out of the wall!" Oh no, I'd better call the emergency plumber. Can she turn off the water so it stops flooding the apartment? No need, it's not flooding... her husband just pushed it back into place. After trying to figure out what she meant by the shower falling out of the wall, it turned out it was just that the escutcheon had slipped down.
Same tenant later made an appointment for me to go in and fix something while they weren't home. No problem, but her husband (who is deaf and couldn't hear me knock) was asleep and in his underwear when I walked in! I left quickly without him ever knowing I was there.
Another tenant left me a note after a rent increase (I had given the legally required 45 day notice) saying that she would not accept the rent increase because she wanted to buy a house. The note was with a check made out for the old amount. I returned the check and gave her a 7 day notice.
Oh, so many calls where all I had to do was reset the GFI, breaker, or change thermostat batteries! I try to trouble shoot over the phone but it doesn't always work.