Tenants constantly amuse me

[kathryn d]

This is just an annoyance..nothing more.
I keep saying that being a landlord is never boring.

Ex A- Tenant moves in.Within the first month, her first rent cheque goes NSF and the 3 subsequent replacement cheques do also.The electrity was still connected from the previous tenant when she moved in...and was quickly disconnected by our one and only power company, when she wouldn't pay off her provious balance. She had the nerve to ask us to include electricty for a higher rent. Mind you, she hadn't paid any rent. We said no..and gave her an eviction notice. Yesterday, they moved out.

Ex B-An out of province couple reserved this above property, paid bond, and then told us they can't move in. They told us to keep a $100 'for our troubles' We keep all of the bond ....we had another person pay a bond for it yesterday.

Ex C- Another tenant didn't want to leave when her lease expired. We helped her along when we removed all the exterior and interior doors. She moved and left most everything behind. We then rented a uhaul trailer and took the soft furnishings, that smelled, to the tip, and placed clothing and toys in storage. We have Director's approval for this.The place is disgustingly dirty.

Ex D- New tenant wanted us to allow them to install a wired security system, and when we said we would only permit wireless, he wanted to leave. No problem, but it has to be within 30 days. We went to show property yesterday and all the bedroom doors have padlocks on them. Applicant and us were not amused. We went over to speak with tenant that late afternoon, and soon after police were called by the tenant. They wanted the police to charge us with Break and Enter and assaulting their children, when we 'shoved past them' (we didn't). Police backed up our legal rights. Children told police we were very nice to them.Next time we attend, we will have bolt cutters with us.He wants to get out of lease and is doing everything in his power so we cannot show it !
I think the tenant is more angry that his 'attack dogs' allowed Rob in, without the tenant's presence, and wagged their tail.

Ex E- Tenant needs to leave, because he is failing his course.He asks us to find a new tenant.No problem. Tell him to pack up everything, clean unit, and hand back keys. I found a new tenant. Excpet now, tenant went on vacation and will return 3 days after new tenant wants to move in. We offer to clean and pack his belongings..he says yes, thank you. Former tenant picks up his belongings this morning, and then asks about getting his bond back. He looked perplexed, when I said there isn't any left. After packing and cleaning, finding a new tenant, changing locks,and needing to clean after his sublessee leaves, it is used up.

Ex F (this was a fun one) Tenants left owing $760. They had a history of bouncing cheques. We deposited a $700 rent cheque and it cleared.
That left a balance of $60. We deposited another cheque and it cleared
Former tenant called irate, of course, wanting to know what was going on. We took the money that is court ordered, owing to us. He want the $640 back...sure, we will write you a cheque. It is post dated for another 2 weeks...just in case. He was threatening Rob, and I had to restrain him from getting out of the car....not worth it.

Ex G...hasn't happened yet, but it is only 11:30 am....the day is young.

Rob loves it when tenants threaten him. He gets to puff up his chest and get back in their face.

 

[DaveM]

I now have a mental image of Rob looking and acting like that huge body builder type guy off operation repo

 

[BayView]

If these tenants are all from the one building/IP, it sounds as though it is in a less than desirable area?

May be time to offload a broken wheel?

Or; the rent return is so fabulous you can put up with it, hopefully?

 

[pinkboy]

Sounds nearly like a J.O.B.

pinkboy

 

[kathryn d]

These are all at different places.

You need to remember that it is cheaper to own a property than rent here.We get people who have messed up their credit so bad, they cannot qualify. You'd probably call them bogans.

....and the rent return is really pretty good.
Rent income at one property (5 homes on one piece of land) is $3750 per month, and our mortage is $966 month.
We make more profit on this property, than I ever made working.


Rob is ex-military...with all the attitude that goes along with it.


For the 4.5 months we are in Canada, it is our J.O.B.
We enjoy being hands on while we are here.
This way our property supers can have the summer off with their family.

For the most part, we do keep our sense of humor when dealing with these issues.
Rob is the happiest when he is changing the locks on tenants we are evicting, and they are screaming at him. I stand guard to make sure they don't try to do a sneak attack.

 

[topcropper]

Ex C- Another tenant didn't want to leave when her lease expired. We helped her along when we removed all the exterior and interior doors. She moved and left most everything behind. We then rented a uhaul trailer and took the soft furnishings, that smelled, to the tip, and placed clothing and toys in storage. We have Director's approval for this.The place is disgustingly dirty.

.

You removed all the doors! What a crack up!!!

Hope it was winter?


See ya's.

 

[AlmostBob]

Or; the rent return is so fabulous you can put up with it, hopefully?

nett 61% every year (fabulous ++)

other properties nett 24.8%

nothing negative,
40 properties, vacancies less than 2%

on P&I loans, it is so easy to get further mortgagtesw when you borrow P&I, the banks think that the properties are cash cows too

ridiculously cf+, CG+,

bank reval +169K for 28K reno
buy crap, reno, lease,
negative gearing = not for me
the best, was one of Kathryn's, she found it I determined we couldnt, she said why not try ..., redid the numbers and
return 450% in 23 weeks, ( a flip )

I see people rent out the house they want to live in, and make losses.

many of our tenants come back, after eviction, to ask if another try would be ok
one sent her daughter over today while we were reno-ing the house she used to rent, ~7 years ago, to test the waters, mum is coming to chat tomorrow.

Hope it was winter?

nope dammit, I love doing that,
one of the ongoing myths known by all tenants, is "you cant be evicted in winter", winter is damawfulcold
the look on their faces when the key does not open the door, priceless,
when the sherrif seizes bank account car and paychecks, equally priceless

 

[wylie]

When I read of your 40 properties and the trouble you have with tenants, I wonder whether you could sell them all and buy in better areas with better tenants?

I realise you enjoy what you do, and as a self-manager of (much less) number of properties, I also enjoy what I do, but I do wonder what you plan on doing as you get older and maybe get sick of the constant drip, drip, drip of clearing out, changing locks, dealing with nasty tenants etc?

Or is the return on these so much higher than the alternative - say buy 10 properties instead of 40 - what would the return be like compared to the return on 40?

Having raised that, Mum was still handling her properties at 72 with moral support and with us doing a lot of the hands-on work, but had she wanted to, she could have handed the management to an agent. It sounds like you couldn't easily hand over 40 if you ever get sick of it, but perhaps your managers would take it on full-time if you ever decide not to do your three month stint each year.

I'm just curious as to whether you will continue doing this and whether you ever plan on selling these if it becomes too much for you? Would these be easy things to sell?

 

[kathryn d]

Wylie,
We have the same problems all the other landlords in this town have.Don't get me wrong, most of our tenants are fine.That is until they decide they want to break their lease illegally or they run into financial problems. Others 'play the tenant game' and try to see how long they can live rent free.
With us..it isn't very long.

We have no intention on selling any of our properties.Everything we do, we can hire people to do..which we do on occassion.In 20 years time, we may think different and sell, but I can't see that happening.

We have PMs in our town now, and if we didn't really want to make a profit, we could hand over our properties to them. Our employees/supers are good, but they still only follow our instructions. We like to be in control..I guess.

Before changing the locks on the tenant,(and subsequently removing all the doors) we stopped into the RCMP and spoke to the head guy. He said he didn't have a problem with what we were going to do. He did say we were a rare breed of landlord, and we are very proactive, where many other landlords let their tenant dictate the course of vacating a property.
The tenant's 2 older sons (approx 18-22 yrs) were sitting in the loungeroom when we entered. Rob told them they had a choice. Leave now, or in a police car.They left. Hopefully they will not follow the pattern of their mum, and instead follow the rules when renting.

Changing locks only takes about 30 seconds.Rob has it down to an art.

There is a different mentality with tenants here...maybe. Landlords in Australia have insurance to fall back on, so you may be less likely to press the issue. We don't have that option. It isn't available.In our province we are only permitted to ask for a 2 week bond. In some provinces, they are not permitted to ask for any.

 

[goonandtell]

i dont think its insurance that makes me think i can fall back on, its the very tight laws, I have evicted before and its a slow and painful process. For us straight resi rent out especially in the space we play in is a short to mid term not an end state game.

 

[kathryn d]

i dont think its insurance that makes me think i can fall back on, its the very tight laws, I have evicted before and its a slow and painful process. For us straight resi rent out especially in the space we play in is a short to mid term not an end state game.

Yes, the laws are very biased in favor of the tenant.
We use Fixed term Leases for this very reason. Our FTL are a bit different than Australia, in that when the lease expires, tenant MUST vacate. They may only stay with our written permission. We are not required to any notice they must leave, but we always do.

When we need to issue an eviction notice, there is the possibility of a longer process.They can appeal, and we must wait thru the appeals, if they decide not to leave.

We don't rely on anyone telling us what the rules are. We know (especially Rob) the RTA inside out. We keep booklets in the car to show the police/RCMP, other tenants, other landlords. We will help anyone in need.

We are tired of storing tenant belongings after they vacate.
Our new leases now include permission from the tenant to dispose of everything they leave behind after the lease expires.

 

[D.T.]

Our new leases now include permission from the tenant to dispose of everything they leave behind after the lease expires.

Where and at what cost?

 

[kathryn d]

Where and at what cost?

We dump the rubbish, and will donate anything of value.
The tenant will still be respnsible for any labor charges we apply, or tipping fees.

We will just bypass the requirement of storing anything for 60 days.

 

[Scott No Mates]

Try 6 months for financial documents - bank statement, rent receipts, pay slips etc.

 

[kathryn d]

Try 6 months for financial documents - bank statement, rent receipts, pay slips etc.

Most of our tenants have jobs.
That isn't the problem.
It is the tenant mentaility.