Wow have we had a busy few weeks. I am writing this from inside one of our rentals as we do the tenant turnaround dance (read: cleaning, repairing, listing, itemizing deductions from deposits).

Some of you keep up with my DIY renovations/building, but some of you join in on the real estate investment fun (or maybe both?). I’m going to pull it back to that side for a bit. We have spent the last few weeks juggling tenants and getting our houses presentable! With each new rental comes a unique set of lessons about tenants, so I figured I would share some we have experienced ourselves.

Ten Tricky Tenant Situations

Tenants not paying rent.

Yes – even if they pass all of your screenings, this can still happen. We had a nice couple who moved into one of our houses. Income, employment history, past rental history, credit checks, everything checked out! So what happened? They fell on hard times – health issues popped up suddenly and he lost his job. Suddenly, they went from perfectly comfortable to not being able to make ends meet.

It was a sad situation, but at the same time we are operating a business. We gave him one or two grace periods (outlined in our lease), but then a month came where the grace period came and went without word. We were coming up on 10 days past when the grace period was over and we started to prepare for an eviction.

I am so non-confrontational you guys.

It was really hard for me to make that decision, knowing the situation. However, it was their third strike with the rent. For me, it helps when I put rules like that out there for myself. I am pretty prone to anxiety when it comes to these things, so if I have it in my brain that after three strikes, that is when I take action, then it helps propel me to act. I had reached out to a lawyer and everything! I had the letter drafted and ready to send. At the very last minute, we received a call from them saying that they had basically abandoned the property since they couldn’t pay and to thank us for being so understanding of their situation.

The best thing you can to avoid this situation is to really do your due diligence in screening them. The second best thing you can do is prepare yourself legally and mentally for if this happens to come up. What will your plan be? Communication is key. For good tenants who have fallen on hard times, maybe you can work out a structured payment system with them to help with their cash flow issues (if it is a temporary problem). If it comes to it, the eviction process is pretty straightforward, but it helps to ease my anxiety if I know that we are within our rights as landlords with the help of a lawyer.

Neighbors Cause Problems

This one was our most recent issue – our first rehabbed property, is in a mostly quiet neighborhood. Except, apparently, for the next door neighbor! He has an issue with substances and somehow got crosswise with our tenants. He had it fixed in his mind that they were bad people (even shining lasers in his eyes at night!) and would regularly appear on their doorstep at all hours of the night., muttering nonsense and peering through their front door window. Very scary for them, but they reached out to us about it because we have a very good working relationship and they wanted to remain with us as landlords.

Luckily, we had a property that was coming available within the upcoming weeks and were able to move them away from the troubled neighbor within a pretty quick time period. This was a first for us, but really the communication and problem solving between all of us helped it go smoothly.

It is important to remember that domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or harassment is a viable reason to break a lease without repercussion. There are a few things the tenants need to have to back the claims up, but if a lease is broken due to these reasons, it is not considered a violation of the lease.

Tenant has a service animal.

Landlords can’t charge a pet deposit or pet rent for a service animal. Another thing you can’t do is ask why they have a service animal. However, you can ask for written verification from the proposed tenant’s healthcare provider.

If you end up housing a service animal, the tenant is still responsible for the actions and damage caused by their animal. Landlords can write warnings and even evict if the animal is causing significant damage to the property, disrupting the neighbors or posing a threat.

Major Repairs While Tenant Occupied

The two biggest repairs we’ve faced have been sewage related – gross. The tree roots grew through the pipes that led to the main city sewers and then, because the houses were built prior to a certain year, they did not have back-flow valves installed. So that means that if they get backed up, the sewage goes right back into your house!!

Those were the most fun calls. Ugh. One time we had to prematurely break a lease because it was no longer fit for the tenants to live. The second time that happened (different house), luckily everyone and everything was fine. Both times, the “Acts of God” from the tree roots were not covered by insurance, but the damage inside was 100%. Thanks insurance! Advice for this is to always have great insurance coverage and ensure that your tenants have renters insurance to protect themselves. Take care of anything you notice is causing problems sooner than later so you can hopefully avoid a larger problem down the road.

Disclosures

Each state is different with a lot of things, and disclosures are no exception. Some important disclosures are:

  • Tenants’ rights to move-in checklists that document damages.
  • Tenants’ rights to be present at a move-out inspection.
  • Details on installation and maintenance of smoke detectors and alarms.
  • Presence of other environmental and health hazards (the lead-based paint, mold, etc).
  • Smoking policy.
  • Recent flooding in the rental unit.
  • If your house was used as a meth lab previously prior to the tenant’s occupancy.
  • Legal contact information (typically it is on your lease).

Refusal to Make Repairs

We have never refused to make repairs, except when they are extremely minor such as a nick in the drywall. Each state has an implied warranty of habitability – as in you are promising the tenant that the property is suitable to live in. If a property is in a state of disrepair and the tenant has requested the repairs, then the tenant can choose to fix the problems and deduct the cost from rent, move out or even report you to a state building inspector. It can even result in a lawsuit against you!

Maintain the Tenant’s Right to Privacy

A tenant has a right to privacy – you should not enter the tenant’s rental unit without first giving a 24 hour written or verbal notice. If there is an emergency, however, the notice is not required. We had an emergency situation arise with the plumbing at one of our houses. The seal had busted on the exterior of the house and it was streaming gallons into the neighbor’s yard while the tenant was at work. We emailed the tenant to let her know we would be headed over immediately and fixed the issue within the same day.

Keeping Security Deposits

We have had to keep and deduct from several tenant security deposits. The main reason we opted to keep the entire deposit stemmed from abandonment or breaking the lease completely. While we had the right to pursue the entirety of the unpaid rent for the term of the lease, we just opted to keep the deposits and not pursue legal action due to the circumstances surrounding the abandonment.

We are legally required to send an itemized list of deductions and the remaining deposit monies within 30 days of a tenant’s move out. Our most recent turnovers left us with some damages that we needed to have repaired, so that’s what I am up to today! I am meeting a cleaning crew and handyman to determine estimated costs of repairing the damaged flooring, damaged door frames, and destroyed blinds. Further, it is stated that at move out the tenants should clean the property thoroughly. If we have to pay someone to clean it due to it being completely disgusting, guess what? We pass that cost along.

However, document, document document! That’s where the move in and move out inspection lists come in handy. We inspect it with them in the beginning and at move out and take pictures of the damages. We also capture their signature on the agreed upon damages. CYA people (cover your ___ 🙂 ).

Handling Abandoned Property

When a tenant leaves behind their stuff, you have to treat it as abandoned. As a landlord, you need to notify the tenant of how to claim the property, cost for storage, where to claim the property and how long they have to do so. If they remain unclaimed, you can sell the property, throw it away or keep it. In our most recent cases, the tenants verbally agreed for us to take some sweet C-clamps and saw horses!

Insurance

There is the no brainer of insuring your property against natural disasters and other damages, but you also need to make sure your tenants have renter’s insurance. It is a requirement of our lease and it protects their property in the event of a natural disaster, fire, flood, etc. Also, though, you need to consider insurance against litigation. Tenants could pursue legal action against you if you mess up, so you need to make sure your legal costs and damages are covered. We have an umbrella policy that covers the “excess liability” above the limits of our basic policies.

So, there you have it – just ten tricky tenant situations in a sea of them. As we continue increasing our investment portfolio, I’m sure we will come across even more! We hope that by strictly screening at the beginning of a tenant/landlord relationship and clearly outlining our rules we can avoid coming across any issues that might have taken us by surprise otherwise. I can honestly say that each tenant brings a whole new learning lesson, some more pleasant than others.