Lamest excuse for not paying rent

[BayView]

Rob - you sound like a good landlord. I have known quite a few 'bad' landlords (used to work for the tenants advocacy service - and yes there are some pathetic excuses for tenants out there too), It is nice to come across a good one.

It's a people business, and sometimes you have to make a judgement call.

We have done this a few times, two times were to our disadvantage, once to our advantage.

What we do now with someone who seems like they may be dodgy is offer them a 3 month lease to being with. If they accept, and then behave themselves until 3 months is up, then we offer them a 12 month.

 

[Alabex]

We have one tenant who we think may have a curse on them... she has had so many family memebers die where she has had to cover the funeral expenses instead of pay rent and most of them have been overseas somewhere where her mobile doesn't work so we can't contact her....

but funny how when we turned up on her doorstep she had just got back that morning.....

i reckon this senario goes on probably at least once each quarter.

 

[auror]

^^ that's terrible! I suppose they're careful not to get too far into arrears so that you can kick them out?

 

[Dazz]

could I lend him $200 to keep him afloat.
So, he's paid his rent. Can't argue with that logic.
Did I lend him the money?
<pausing while Dazz rolls his eyes and mutters "tell me you didn't">
Yep. Sure did. I'm a big softie.
This guy is going to be renting from me for a long time to come.

Yep - rolling my eyes Rob.


Been down that track. It was messy and muddy, the V8 motor is no good when the wheels kept slippin', so I turned back.


I had a tenant ask me the same question back in June '07. I thought he was fantastic, a really good guy, cos he was spending money on my place and trying to do the right thing....but always just a bit late with payments, or he'd drop off the GST component from both the rent and the outgoings. Anything but pay the full amount due.


I felt sorry for him, but desparately wanted to hang onto him, as I had been getting $ 500 p.w. rent for the place before he arrived, and he was paying me $ 1,580 p.w., so I really wanted to keep him. It didn't get better than him apparently - or so we assumed.


He sensed that, and hit me up for a 100K loan to 'stay afloat'. Little did I know, the ATO was breathing down his neck for over 200K and had been trying to close him up for the past 12 months.


Thankfully, I said no, can't help you....and where's my rent. The next week we get a terse letter from his appointed liquidator notifying us that he is closing up shop. Ended up being about $ 11,000 out of pocket....and got 18c in the dollar back once the chartered accountants, bless their little cotton sox, had gouged their massive fees out of him. Would have been 68c in the dollar without their fees.


Anyway, he got turfed out and we installed new tenants who pay us $ 3,000 p.w. for the same place. Moral of the story for me was that trying to keep someone afloat in your IP may cost you money big time, both if you lend money to them and they don't pay it back, but more importantly you sustaining a 2nd rate tenant in there, at the expense of another tenant who may pay you far more.


Probably not relevant to your situation Rob, but thought I'd have a moan anyways. Nothing like a good moan to clear the conscience. You may be a big softie at the mo', but you only need to be kicked in the teeth a few times to harden up fairly quickly - or simply go broke.

 

[Alabex]

^^ that's terrible! I suppose they're careful not to get too far into arrears so that you can kick them out?

sometimes they do, but the landlord always wants to 'give them a chance'. If it was up to me they would have been gone at least 3 years ago when i dealth with it on a daily basis. i know the current property manager also wants to boot them... but unfortunately we have to act under LL instructions.

there is also a part of you that thinks perhaps they are telling the truth... it is very unlikely but somewhere deep within something says maybe....

 

[skater]

I got short changed on the direct deposit of the rent by a long term (8 year) tenant one day. I called to query the odd amount that got paid intp the account. She said she was short of money and "I knew you wouldn't mind".
What do you say to that? I was expecting a real excuse. That was the best she could do

I would love a tenant like that. I have had many who have had various excuses (real or imagined) to not pay rent. But the thing is, if they are a little short, none of them pay what they can afford that week. To at least make the effort of paying what they can afford instead of nothing, shows that they do have the intent to pay.

 

[hwd007]

Well my tenant claims via my property manager to have lost their job. The tenant now claims via my property manager, that they have a new job, but the property manager does not seem to be able to verify to me, they have a new job via the alleged new employer when asked. I'm becoming less impressed with this property manager by the week.

 

[Thann]

took me too long to see the light.. despite seeing others doing better than me, I figured, I dont know.. "it was different"... I figured all you could do is save if you ere good at it, and THEN... if you saved heaps you coudl do ome stuff liek others were doing, but had no idea that it was not THAT hard to get started doing something (investment wise) and that it could lead somewhere... So I looked at others who saved & bought stuff, or even did so with small loans and paid them off as succesful...... No one talked about investing, or what they did with their money, any such talk was limited to how they scrimped and saved and sacrificed, usually when pointing their finger at the rest of us who were spending money on going out.. buying your house was the onlly important thing, but no one, no one ever talked about what the results could be, jsut a dire picture of poverty if I didn't do it...the pictures painted were painted so totally bleak, bullet proof young me never beleive them . Tell you the truth, Kioysaki's Rich DadPoor Dad was such an eye opener for me, even then it took me a while to get my act togethr but it strecthed my mind and opened my eyes at least... A lot of people dont know any better to start with & are sceptical of investing "working".. My first manager at work told me when I borrowed to buy my first car (princely sum of $4.5k loan), that this is when most young blokes start to go down hill, I wondered.. what else do I do ? Can't borrw heaps for a better car, by the time I saved for one it would be ages... Not that it was his "job" to do so, but he never gave me advice as to an alternative, so in the end I shrugged it off... and later on, 10 years or so, found out what he meant.....

Similar story.

OT: I've not yet had any late rent... *knock on wood*

 

[Rob Williams]

To at least make the effort of paying what they can afford instead of nothing, shows that they do have the intent to pay.

True. And of course when I was short on my monthly interest payment to the bank I just told them I knew they wouldn't mind. They were happy I had the intent to pay.
Then the alarm went off and I woke up. It was a nice dream, though.
I select my tenants very carefuly. This one is a real keeper.