Tenants trashed my nurse rental what can I do?

Question

We have three nurse/HCP provider MTRs, and have been doing well with this strategy. I rented to 2 CNAs who were a nightmare. They claimed the sturdy bed broke and my husband had to go and repair, then broke a glass in the disposal so when my husband went to fix it he cut his hand. I only got half the rent last month, and they had a BS story about their checking account being locked. At that point, eviction would have been more costly than eating the month.

My cleaner is in there now, and she found marijuana and paraphernalia, (the lease states NO smoking or marijuana use on the property), dog poop all over the carpets (they said they didn't have a pet and didn't pay a pet fee), a broken kitchen cabinet, dog pee on the bedsheets, sex toys under the bed (just in case the dog poop wasn't nasty enough for my poor cleaner), stickers on the wall and a hole in a door, and lots of personal property of the tenants. Cleaning is going to be much more than typical.

We have long-term rentals where tenants typically move out with NO damage, this was 3-months!

Unfortunately in our area the security deposit is only $350. What are my options? One tenant stayed in the area for an extension of her contract, I have no idea where the other tenant went. Can I contact her employer? It is a joint lease, so both women are responsible for everything.

Gretchen P. · Answer

Not sure it is legal to contact their employer, but I agree they should NOT be caring for patients, the place was unsanitary and they are not people who have any scruples.

Gretchen P. · Answer

Damages and lost rent are over $2000, so I am doing the small claims court route. I have very good detailed photos.

Gretchen P. · Answer

Hi Gregory,

I was searching to see what others do for a screening process because maybe I need to make mine more robust. ;-)

We've had these 3 units in service for about 18 months, 13 renters, with no other terrible renters. One renter lost $150 of her security deposit due to extra cleaning and damaged linens, but not a big deal, it was just a pain, nothing out of my pocket.

I use a standard lease for tenants, prepared by a lawyer. To keep in line with other listings for HCP rentals, I charge $250 cleaning and $350 damage deposit. I notice some areas are higher, but this is in line with what other units in my area charge. I allow pets with a non-refundable pet fee of $300.

I assumed the traveling nurses were professionals and would behave as such; until now, that has been the case. We screen heavily for our long-term rentals.

I have required a copy of the contract, and any non-HCP traveling along must do a background and credit check. I may require a background credit check for all tenants in the future, I'm on the fence about this as this market has gotten tighter in the last few months, and I had a vacant unit for 2 months (and there were lots of vacant units on FF), which never happened before. On the one hand, I don't want to discourage renters; on the other hand, I don't want to get in this situation again. I am thinking a landlord referral is probably a good idea.

The two renters I posted about were young CNAs. They couldn't come up with the initial deposits until they were paid. That should have been a red flag. These positions pay enough that they should have some savings. On the last month they had a BS story that one tenant had trouble accessing her bank account, so they paid a little more than half the rent. At that point I didn't want them to trash the unit, and eviction would have been more expensive than the $850 owed.

I would love to hear how other MTR landlords screen renters.

Scott Mac · Answer

Some renters are just harder on the units than others.

I always wonder how they break cabinet doors and drawers.

In my entire life I have never broken a cabinet door or drawer--yet it happens with renters.

Theresa Harris · Answer

Is the employer on the lease?  If so, send all of the people on the lease a copy of the full cleaning bill and follow your local rules as to how long they have to pay it.  Make sure your cleaner took photos of the condition of the home.  You can take them to small claims court.

Charles Carillo · Answer

@Gretchen P.

Yes, you could get a judgment for the unpaid rent, and repairs. Then you need to speak with a collections agent, or go to their employer, and garnish their wages. If you are successful, you will get a portion of what is owed to you every pay period. In my experience, however, the old tenant just finds new employment, and you need to restart the garnishing process by first trying to find out where they are now legally working (if they are working). I personally would just clean/repair the unit, and re-rent.

Nicole Heasley Beitenman · Answer

I'm glad you're pursuing them. I would also contact their employer out of principle. They should be very wary letting people like that care for patients.

Michael Bailey · Answer

@Gretchen P. I'm so sorry to hear about your property and the experience that you had to go through.

If you are looking to get a comprehensive background report, Bigger Pockets actually offers tenant screening on their site through a trusted partner. There are multiple options available for screening packages; tenant involvement/no tenant involvement, instant reports, hand-compiled reports, and even income verification.

You can find further information by going to Tenant Screening under the Tools tab.

Best of luck to you!

Bonnie Low · Answer

Why is the security deposit only $350? Is there some kind of local regulation limiting what you can collect or are you saying that that is the going rate your competition charges? I started with a $250 security deposit but bumped it up to $500 and no one has balked at that. At least that gives you a little more to work with. But I see hosts routinely asking for and getting an entire months' rent to hold as a security deposit. Hopefully you just had a bad tenant experience and it won't be the norm, but definitely bump up that deposit if you can. Crazy things happen for sure. Sorry this happened to you!

Gregory Schwartz · Answer

@Gretchen P. to help some of us out who also do medium term rentals.

Did you use a standard lease for the tenants?

What is your screening process?

Any lessons learned to avoid a similar situation in the future?

So sorry this happened to you but hopefully your situation can help others avoid the same fate.

Tenants trashed my nurse rental what can I do?

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