tenant is trying to leverage for lower rent - Landlord Forum thread 335309

tenant is trying to leverage for lower rent by Peppsie (Louisiana) on May 21, 2015 @15:19

Six weeks ago, I rented my house to a coast guard family. 12 month lease, $1000/mo. They are slated to stay for two years, so we bought a brand new refrigerator for them and decided to cut them a deal on the pet deposit - $50 for one cat, instead of the usual $250.

The guy called me out of the blue -- we have NOT heard a peep from them since the day we signed the lease. He is asking me to lower the rent to $800.
1. He found a town house that is $800
2. There is a two way light switch that is tricky to work and they say it is an "electrical problem"
3. the 40 year old shed has 'junk' left in it and might have mice/snakes (it doesn't - it's just old) and they will have to clean it out themselves (HELLO you live in a SWAMP!)
4. the house has no washer/dryer (which they knew weeks before they moved) and they have to use the laundromat on the next block
5. the kicker -- they claim can't get internet, that service isn't available at the house (?) but haven't actually called any of the local providers. (Previous two occupants had DSL, I personally called to check availability and YES - all said they could have it connected in 3-5 days.)

Yes, I am serious... this happened. I have no clue what they are trying to accomplish. I can't even bring myself to call him back because my response will not be very nice.

Obviously, the light switch can be changed. The shed cleaned out. The rest is on them....

Isn't this crazy??

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Re: tenant is trying to leverage for lower rent by Anonymous on May 21, 2015 @15:58	[ Reply ]

"I can't even bring myself to call him back because my response will not be very nice." As is my usual advice here, remove emotion from the equation. This is a business relationship, and your client is trying to get his rent lowered. Don't get excited or upset, and any response to your tenant should remain diplomatic and professional. Respectfully let him know that you will take care of the light switch and the shed (should have been cleaned out before they moved in) and that the rent is specified in the lease and is not negotiable at this point. Drop it and do not engage in further discussion regarding the laundry situation and internet. This is their responsibility.

Re: tenant is trying to leverage for lower rent

Re: tenant is trying to leverage for lower rent by Anonymous on May 22, 2015 @11:33	[ Reply ]

Do you use the LPA lease? If so do you have the Happy Clause in your lease? This lets them out of the lease by paying extra months rent. I just signed an Air Force family and gave them a break on the already discounted military rate rent because they are staying for 2 years. I also made some other concessions (thank you Eric from Minnesota!). The only problem with this scenario is it is hard to tell if such tenants are PITAs, like you have. This says a lot for a MTM lease instead. IMO I don't like MTM but some say it works well.

Re: tenant is trying to leverage for lower rent

Re: tenant is trying to leverage for lower rent by Stephen (WA - Washington) on May 22, 2015 @16:48	[ Reply ]

I'm sorry to hear that a member of my branch of service is behaving this way. I'd like to think that we were better than the other services but in actuality we probably have just as many jerky members as any other service. Sorry to hear you got one of them.

Re: tenant is trying to leverage for lower rent