BristolUK

This is a counter to the "kindness of strangers" thread.

In January, mindful of the high vacancy rates for rentals and taking into account the time of year, I pessimistically expected to have a couple of months vacant after one of the tenants moved out.

But I was able to get someone in for February after all. A mother and one kid.

I agreed to take the deposit by installments, working on the basis that in the worst case scenario of her trashing the place the compensation of two months rent that I hadn't expected was worth more than a month's deposit.

I'm trying to cut a long story short, except to say that when she didn't have money at the end of the month for Draino for a clogged bath, I emailed $25 knowing it was more than needed - but it saved me going out in bad weather and was cheaper than a plumber. She was happy with that.

In the end it was really beyond her means and she asked if she could leave without the full notice. I agreed given that having it empty - as I was planning to do at some point - might aid me being able to sell.

But even that move-out got delayed and she was grateful for the extra time and my patience.

Finally she moved out to wherever and I went to check the place.

Place was a mess. Medicine cabinet ripped off wall; a big TV unit that wasn't hers (it got left by a previous tenant so wasn't mine either) was taken but she'd very kindly left a ton of rubbish behind in its place, including a beat-up old chair. Dirty cooker, dirty, smelly fridge (power disconnected as she'd not paid her lecky), window frame broken where she'd installed a shelf for an AC window unit. Screen door broken. Blinds missing. Half the lightbulbs taken Attic (available for storage) full of kitchen cupboard doors - but no cupboards wtf? - child drawings on walls, adult writing on walls etc etc.

It's a job for my handyman to fix things up. In the meantime he moved the garbage from the apartment - to allow cleaners to get in - to the baby barn....only to discover she'd put more garbage in there and probably gone off with the push lawn mower that I'd left there a couple of years ago for grass cutting - redundant since as I now pay someone to do it every 2 weeks.

So much junk to haul away and so much cleaning needed that so far it's cost me over $500 with the necessary repairs/repaint over and above what I otherwise expected still to come.

If she'd been a normal tenant and kept the place like most do I might even have had the place sold by now, so that's delayed as well as the financial loss and more hassle.

The bloke who left the other apartment - a normal tenant - left it spotless, as good as when he moved in.

not2old

Bristol @ post #1, the joy of being in your own boss & such a nice generous person you are giving a tenant such a break, including emailing them money.

$500 for a clean up + more, that must be close to one months rent?

Lesson to be learned from that for those thinking of renting out for extra income

I'm guessing once you are rid of the duplex that you'll sleep better?

The freelance 'house cleaner' would have less hassles

SchnookoLoly

Yeesh, that sounds awful. Stories like that are why my husband and I decided not to invest in a rental unit, lol. Madness.

beckiwoo

That's awful.

Its tenants like her that give those of us who keep our places clean and don't default on the rent a bad name.

BristolUK

I sleep well anyway
But there will be huge peace of mind.

Not in Ontario anyway.
I touched on this on another thread recently. If you have reasonable DIY abilities or at least know a few technical terms, have easy transport - not just to be able to go to the rental but to take stuff to it - and spare time (that's the only one I have) then it's quite easy money and it has mostly been that way and overall it's been brilliant.
Most have been good but the odd bad one really sours things.

magnumpi

My friend x from our house has 4 houses he rents out. He has had no big issues. I had one house in Blackpool I rented out to a female with kids and it was trashed. Doors ripped off, kids writing on walls, kitchen trashed and garbage everywhere!!

Lesson is don't rent to lone females with kids I guess.

Souvy

On the other hand, if you get get cold calls from double-glazing, lawn contractors, alarm companies etc, tell them you rent.

They sod off immediately.

BristolUK

Nor did I for 8 years.
It would be nice if there were some reliable rules like that.

Couples, single women and single men have all been very good but all three had one exception.

The two most costly ones - one had no pets, the other had a menagerie.

caretaker

Did you ever register it as a rental available for refugees? I can't remember. I don't think you'd have to compromise on fair market value at all.

Freshwhyte

Sorry to hear that, people who do stuff like this make it more difficult for others to find access to affordable housing, as many times it scares a landlord off from wanting to let their house to anyone else.

Are you going to sue ?

BEVS

When I first got together with Mr BEVS we rented out my cottage.

2nd tenant + kid + BF was a whiny nightmare . She did a flit and left the place much as per your description BristokUK. Filthy, damaged and full of junk.

I had her traced and took her to the small claims course and won my day. That night we dumped her junk outside her new abolde. Oh. Yes. We. Did.

BristolUK

The agency taking care of such things had a registering process on their website but there were so many media reports of them needing housing for families with three or more kids.

At the time I was thinking about it I only had the vacancy for the two bedroom apartment, so I made an email enquiry and never got an answer...then the surprise tenant landed, so I didn't follow up.

In the event it doesn't sell quickly, I'll put it off until next year and rent it again before winter comes. To reduce potential for hassle, I might just rent one unit to pay the bills, but maybe two units could work for one family.

Hopefully I won't have to think about it.

scrubbedexpat091

Considering how people trash hotel rooms, I am not surprised how some treat their rental units.

BristolUK

There's a 'small claims' procedure which I looked into the previous time.

Assuming you can win a case, it's not enforceable.

You need to start separate proceedings to do that. Fees involved for the processes, likely fees for MagnumPI to find where they've gone and, ultimately, if they don't have anything to pay there's nothing to get.

Whatever an attachment to earnings is called here I doubt it can be done for Social Assistance.

If you have a property company with a lawyer retained, it might be worth it then.

SchnookoLoly

Unless your case gets selected for Judge Judy!