Re: Have never seen tenants - Landlord Forum thread

Re: Have never seen tenants by Katiekate (New York) on January 31, 2012 @07:29

I have a story to tell you...

Long ago (mid 80s) I had a friend who was acting as property manager for an absent landlord. The new tenant that moved into the house was great. Never complained, rent always on time. Landlord told him to leave the tenant alone.

7 months went by..then, no rent money. He went to check it out..The locks were changed. He posted a notice for access, and after 2 more days had to break in...The entire interior of the house was gone. Wood paneling, fixtures, tub, toilet, cabinets, flooring, even the copper plumbing. It must have taken a long time to disassemble it all and remove it.

The moral? Do inspections. Have someone be around the property, know what is going on.

I am an absent landlord too...but..my guy makes it a point to be around. I always have some little thing he has to go fix, before he leaves there is always some other little thing he points out and says "I'll be back to fix that". You don't have to be intrusive, but be around enough to know how the house is being treated.

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Re: Have never seen tenants by Anonymous on January 31, 2012 @08:26	[ Reply ]

Thanks, I'll schedule smoke alarm inspection this week!

Re: Have never seen tenants by LL (CA) on January 31, 2012 @12:34	[ Reply ]

Sounds like our absentee LLs three doors down from our residence. These LLs actually lived in town though. They had "ideal" tenants, paid on time, never complained about anything. The LLs got a call from the Sheriff's Department. They came over to their rental to find that everything in the house had been ripped out and the tenants had set up a growhouse inside. Amazing to watch the deputies bringing out growlights, troughs, tables, plants. Needless to say, it cost the LLs thousands of dollars to put things right. They moved into the house themselves after that and then sold it. Looks like a beautiful house from the outside, no-one ever knew what was going on inside. Although we live in a different town to our rentals, we schedule regular visits during the year and as soon as the communication stops with the tenants, the red flag is raised and we get there pronto!