Does anyone have rental property?

[gary350]

I have 2 rental houses. I have a lot of trouble with the Dead Beat Professional Renters. They manage to pass the credit check save up enough money to pay first months rent and the deposit then you can not get another dime out of them. The law in this State Sucks. Tennessee requires the home owner has to pay $117.50 to have renters served with a notice to appear in court. Professional Renters know from experience when the sheriff car pulls up and the guy knocks on the door they refuse to answer the door. If the Sheriff cannot hand deliver the papers on the 3rd try they stop trying. Then the home owner has to pay a professional to sneek around and catch the renters at work, store, or someplace, run up and shove the papers in their pocket and yell you have been served. Professional Renters usually move so they can not be found the State refuses to look for them it is totally up to the home owner to find them again and pay another $117.50 to have them served. If you do manage to get Professional Renters in court the court will often make them pay only $10 a week. If they own $3000 it will take them 300 weeks to pay or almost 6 years. Professional Renters move to a different house and change jobs the court order is NOT inforced. Again it is up to the home owner to find them and take them to court but this is all a total waste of time they move and change jobs again and State does not cares it is not against the law to move and change jobs. Philip Smith owes me about $4000 in rent and damage and theft of a Washer and Dryer and several other landlords lots of money. One home owner Dave took Philip to court the judge ask Philip why he was not paying rent. Philip said he though rent was free. Judge ordered him to pay $20 a month but Philip said he was already paying rent for 2 other houses and child support too and he could only afford $10 so the Judge ordered him to pay $10. Within a few weeks Philip had changed jobs and moved 40 miles away to another town. You can never make these people pay they move and change jobs every time you take them to court and the law does nothing. Catch 22. My best renters are the Mexicans they are nice people and they never try to cheat anyone. Next best are college students except for SPORT freaks. If they play foot ball or Basket ball I refuse to rent to them because they have wild drunk parties the turn into throwing and sticking beer bottles and chairs in the walls and ripping doors off the hinges. Deposit never comes close to fixing all the damage. The worse renters are the Whities. White people are the type of people you NEVER want in your rental house. Now days I do things different if the renters do not pay I turn ALL their utilities OFF it says I can do that in the lease agreement and my attorney said, they signed the lease agreement so that means I can turn off all utilities until a court of law says different. Lease also says all appliances are loaned so I load up the Kitchen Stove and Refrigerator in a truck and leave with it. Now the table is turned it is up to the Renter to take me to court, they never do they always move out within 2 to 3 days. Some renters get MAD and destroy the house so I call the insurance company and file a claim. I have to give the insurance company a copy of the lease agreement and a statment and they do the rest. The insurance company always get their money and repairs my house better than before they have good attornies. The insurance company told me one of my vandel renters was sentenced to 11/29 in the county jail plus damages of over $8000 plus $3000 the insurance company paid me in lost rent plus court cost plus probation. If anyone here is having Dead Beat renter problems I hope this information helps you out.

[Evan]

Paragraphs are everyone's friend.

My father used to own and rent around 200 units in Berkeley, CA. The first thing to do is always ask for references from a previous landlord and then check them out. Make sure the landlord actually owns rental property too. Do a criminal records check on them. If they own a vehicle check their driving record. Let them know you will do this and if they don't consent don't rent to them. It's a responsibility check.

The next thing to do is to get to know your renters. Before you rent to them explain that there are some repairs that need to be done (there always are). Then show up now and then to do the repair jobs, especially shortly after they move in. Get to know your renters. Be friendly. Renters are people too and if they like you they are much less likely to stiff you.

[Black_Moons]

Paragraphs are everyone's friend.


Renter stole his return key.

That, or its that funny unix/windows linefeed thing. How on earth did we figure out how to make text files incompatable beween OS'es?

[PixMan]

I only have one rental unit in the house I also live in. During the course of 24 years I've owned this house, I've had only one tenant of 9 different ones who tried to not pay me for ONE months rent. This couple with a young child was served legal notice from ME, by ME, that they were being evicted. They moved out just before the given date, and I still got all my money.

I've been careful about who I rent to. The one "bum" tenant was one who was a friend of my wife. I try to be a good judge of character, and I REALLY don't care if you are black, Hispanic, white, or pink with purple polka dots. I have learned that by informing (in writing) that by my requiring and them giving their social security number, copies of their current utility bill and two forms of photo I.D., I am going to be doing a rather thorough investigation of who will be living in my house.

There have been two occasions of a the applicant declining to give me the required documents, and the application ended there. One applicant called to say they'd given me bad info, that their credit sucked and they were withdrawing. One had poor credit, but that is all. I rented to them and had no problems. The woman who rent the 4-room, 2 bedroom unit now has been there 7 years, Not one late payment, and in appreciation I've lowered the rent for her.

Perhaps I've just been lucky.

[Mcgyver]

....and the machining content here is????

[Black_Moons]

....and the machining content here is????

Its a touching longwinded story about how gary went on dispite his diffacultys and machined a new return key.

[DFMiller]

At least change the title to OT.......
Dave

[beanbag]

Then the home owner has to pay a professional to sneek around and catch the renters at work, store, or someplace, run up and shove the papers in their pocket and yell you have been served. .

Maybe you can deflate their tires or tow their car away and now they are trapped, hahahahaha.

[goose]

Landlords...cheep bastids.

When I did contracting/handyman services for a while, I'd always get bizarre calls at around September/October time. Along the lines of......

"there's no heat the tenant is complaining."

"the back patio door needs a little adjusting and the tenant keeps complaining." Go there, turns out it's a complete tear out and replace disaster of rotted wood. "I can't afford that...!"

This one is priceless: "There's this wall about 10 feet long I didn't get to finish covering with sheathing and the tenant is complaining it's cold now and the plastic tarp keeps letting air get in."

[John Stevenson]

....and the machining content here is????

No machining - just road testing Airsmith new spell chucker. :rolleyes:

[Thruthefence]

We have a couple of rental units near the Air Force base. We do everything we can, to rent to GI's.

1) they get a housing allowance. That means they have SOME money.

2) they have a c.o. (or his underling) that we can rat them out to.

3) No smoking, no pets.

4) Subscribe to a tenant verification service, and ask the potential renter to pay the cost, I think it's $25.00, to run the check. If they balk, don't rent to them. Put it in your lease that everyone ( and I mean EVERYONE ) has to use the service. It checks credit AND past rental history. Make it known that if they (the renter) doesn't fulfill the lease, THEY WILL BE REPORTED TO THE SERVICE.

https://www.tenantverification.com/login.php

Never had a GI not keep their part of the bargain, or tear up the houses.

[randyjaco]

Gary,
I am not familiar with the laws in Tennessee, but the laws in Texas are very good for land lords. Basically 27 days late and they are out of the house. It usually takes a little longer, but it is good. There is no defense for not paying rent here. The judge just asks the tenant ,if he/she has paid the rent. If the answer is no, the judge rules for the landlord. But there are steps the Land lord must take to at specific times to make the system work.

We have 11 single family properties and this has been our retirement plan for the past 6 years. It isn't trouble free, but it sure beats working for a paycheck.

I would suggest you find a local real estate investment club. The ones here have been very helpful. We have a multi- tier deposit system based on their credit rating. We charge up to 3 months' rent as deposit on folks with terrible credit or a history of eviction, foreclosure, skipping etc. It is amazing how much leverage you have on some deadbeat with that much deposit. There are also some good books on land lording. You just have to make it clear that you will not accept ANY deviations form the lease. No matter what their current bad luck situation is or however many times their Mother has died. You have to look at land lording as a business and treat it that way. If you do, you will find it very rewarding.

Good luck
Randy

[Black_Moons]

We have a couple of rental units near the Air Force base. We do everything we can, to rent to GI's.

4) Subscribe to a tenant verification service, and ask the potential renter to pay the cost, I think it's $25.00, to run the check. If they balk, don't rent to them. Put it in your lease that everyone ( and I mean EVERYONE ) has to use the service. It checks credit AND past rental history. Make it known that if they (the renter) doesn't fulfill the lease, THEY WILL BE REPORTED TO THE SERVICE.


Blah. Id never pay $25 just to APPLY to rent a house. I applyed for about 6 diffrent houses before being accepted. I think there is even laws against charging application fees here in BC.

[Bob Fisher]

Put me in the same column with Mcgyver.If I were interested in rental properties, I know where to look .Keep it to machining, or at the very least, SOME pertinent content. Bob Fisher.

[macona]

File criminal charges.

[SVS]

File criminal charges.

Somewhat drastic for neglecting to put OT in the title isn't it?

I could go either way, but maybe just a warning THIS time?

[KiddZimaHater]

If renting is that much of a pain in the arse, why not sell them?

[jkilroy]

Been there, still doing that.

Two words sum this situation right up...

PEOPLE SUCK

I only rent my units with utilities provided now, they don't pay rent, I cut off the utilities, all of them. Says I'll do it in the lease in nice bold letters. I've taken the front and back doors off of a house I was renting to a scum bag, I have taken the toilet "for repairs". I've had to do it all. Most of it probably illegal, but take note, lawyers don't work for dead beats.

I was up to close to 20 houses, now I am down to one four plex, and once its gone THERE IS NO WAY I will subject myself to scum bags again.

[beanbag]

I like these threads because people share their life experiences and I learn about human nature.

[Evan]

It's also the middle of summer. I haven't done any project machining in weeks. The only machining I do this time of year is repairs to the equipment I am using to do all the outside work I can't do in winter. About the only thing I have worth posting at all is metal fabrication, not machining. I've posted similar before and I am just making more railings and gates and steps, so nothing new.

If you can't figure out that this thread is off topic from the title then perhaps a a remedial reading comprehension course would be of benefit....

[Boostinjdm]

My first thought is that you are renting to the wrong people. My second thought is that you need to change your lease to give you some recourse. I am not familiar with rental laws, much less, rental laws in your state. Maybe adding something allowing you to enter the property at any time. Sheriff shows up with papers and you let him in.

I'm always a little suspicious of anybody that rents anything for long periods of time.

[wierdscience]

In a few states if the house has a mail slot in the door they can be served that way.Mail slots are cheap.

If they don't have a checking account,don't rent to them,chances are they are deadbeats.Make sure your WRITTEN rent agreement includes a service charge for returned checks EQUAL to the amount your bank charges you for a returned check.Always get a picture of they're DL or Picture ID to keep on file.

Get your first months payment when they move in ALONG with a post dated check for the following months rent.Have them give you a post dated check for the following month's rent every month,deposit them when the date comes due.Always keep a month ahead of them.
If a check bounces follow the collection procedures for your state.Here it's a registered letter,then 30 days,then if still no joy it goes to the DA's office.They will collect and you will get your money or they will go to jail.The possibility of a felony arrest warrant usually keeps them paying or moving out.

[Black_Moons]

No wonder you guys never get any good renters, Id never rent from some crazy landlord like you guys. Easy as hell to see what kinda landlord it is from the condition of the house/property too, a good landlord actualy REPAIRS stuff and often repaints before new people move in, a scumlord leaves all the defects, dents, broken windows, damaged doors/locks as is. Never fixes **** untill you SUE them for it or refuse to pay rent (As is your legal right if the house is not in livable condition and isent fixed in most places)

Scumlords put all kinds of crazy **** into the rental agreement too.

And wtf cheques? I paid my first month and last months rent CASH, And security deposit. And im collecting intrest on it untill its returned, as per the law. Last scumlord of a landlord riped me off for more then $1000 after evicting me so his crackhead son could move in. (Refused to return security deposit after he said he would, Refused to pay intrest on last months rent/security deposit, Refused to pay 1 months rent in cash as required by LAW when evicting someone because the family wants to retake possession of the house)

I deposit my rent directly into my landlords bank account every month before the last of the month. Why would I wanna inconviance them for something as trivial as paying the rent? If they want to inspect, they can do so at any time with the mandatory 24 hours notice (usally gives us much more), And when they do I point out everything broken I want fixed! Sometimes, even gets fixed. When they fix things, I put extra effort into yardwork, Or fixing something else simple around the house outta my own pocket.

Treat your renters and property like scum, And all you'll ever have is scum renters. Enjoy your own treatment reflected back apon you, Justice will be served.

Btw: While I applyed to 6 places to find one that would rent to me, I looked at and rejected THOUSANDS of rental ads (NO JOKE, 2+ months of looking at EVERY single ad posted, Called *HUNDREDS* of people, And drove to about 30 places to look at them first hand, Many up to an hours drive away. I won't live in a *plex, I won't live in a yard too small to spit in, and I won't live without my garage and basement (And/or attic). I also pay the lowest rent of any non shared property in this part of BC. Google maps was great for rejecting 99% of the ads I saw.

[gary350]

Gary,
I am not familiar with the laws in Tennessee, but the laws in Texas are very good for land lords. Basically 27 days late and they are out of the house. It usually takes a little longer, but it is good. There is no defense for not paying rent here. The judge just asks the tenant ,if he/she has paid the rent. If the answer is no, the judge rules for the landlord. But there are steps the Land lord must take to at specific times to make the system work.

We have 11 single family properties and this has been our retirement plan for the past 6 years. It isn't trouble free, but it sure beats working for a paycheck.

I would suggest you find a local real estate investment club. The ones here have been very helpful. We have a multi- tier deposit system based on their credit rating. We charge up to 3 months' rent as deposit on folks with terrible credit or a history of eviction, foreclosure, skipping etc. It is amazing how much leverage you have on some deadbeat with that much deposit. There are also some good books on land lording. You just have to make it clear that you will not accept ANY deviations form the lease. No matter what their current bad luck situation is or however many times their Mother has died. You have to look at land lording as a business and treat it that way. If you do, you will find it very rewarding.

Good luck
Randy


I know exactly what you mean about how many times their Mother died. LOL. All the deadbeat professional rental all have the exact same excuses why they can not pay rent. I make them pay an application fee and check them out and the Deadbeats pass with flying colors. The laws in TN are not in favor of the landlord so I had to find ways to boot their ass out without dealing with the legal system. I can loose 6 months rent dealing with the legal system. If the house has a loan the bank does not care that I can not collect rent from deadbeat renters the bank wants their money. I keeo my houses clean and nice and I expect renters to keep it that way the houses are easy to rent. I have no sympathy of anyone, I can't like you said this is a business. The professional renters have an attitude, the landlord owns a house therefor he is rich, "YOU OWE ME".

Some of the deadbeats file bankruptcy very 7 years just because they can. I had one couple with children they left for the airport every Friday even after work and did not return until midnight Sunday night. They traveled the world on the weekends paid for every thing with their 200 credit cards. They would pay off one credit card with another and balance the bill back and forth and never pay a dime of the money. They told me they were filing bankruptcy on $500,000. it finally catch up with them after 5 years and they had to file bankruptcy again. So they have 2 years of no traveling then they get 200 more credit cards and do it again. The thing that got me was when they went to court the Judge gave them a year to reorganize and try to pay off the bill that is when they went crazy and bought every thing they ever wanted because they know they could enjoy it all for 1 year and not have to pay. They had 2 new vehicles, big screen TV, a house full of all brand new furniture, a garage full of new snap on tools, and more. They were not allowed to use the credit cards to travel anymore but it was OK to yard sale $15,000. worth of snap on tools for $3000 and use the money to fly to Hawaii. Some people are proud of theirself for knowing how to cheat the system and love to brag. Credit card companies are screwing everyone with 30% interest so I don't feel too bad the deadbeats are cheating the credit card companies. They need to use some of that money to me me RENT.

I don't have any credit cards and I don't want any.

[Thruthefence]

"Blah. Id never pay $25 just to APPLY to rent a house."

I neglected to mention that the charge is deducted from the deposit if they take the lease (and pass muster).

This culls deadbeats out who KNOW UP FRONT that they have a poor rental history, and don't want to throw money away.

All perfectly legal.

[gary350]

If renting is that much of a pain in the arse, why not sell them?

I already tried that. If I sell the houses the government gets 60% of the money. I can sign the houses over to my Sons and pay the government nothing. I can pay my Sons a fee for working for me and that is a Tax Deduction for me. My TAX person says, if I manage the paper work right I will never have to pay the government a dime for earned income. So I am working on that at the moment.

[Thruthefence]

"No wonder you guys never get any good renters, Id never rent from some crazy landlord like you guys. Easy as hell to see what kinda landlord it is from the condition of the house/property too, a good landlord actualy REPAIRS stuff and often repaints before new people move in, a scumlord leaves all the defects, dents, broken windows, damaged doors/locks as is. Never fixes **** untill you SUE them for it or refuse to pay rent (As is your legal right if the house is not in livable condition and isent fixed in most places)"

Spoken by a guy who never owned a piece of property in his life, and never will; not to rent out, and not even to live in, IMHO.

If Black moons came to look at my rental, and came off like this, I would thank him for his time, and ask him politely to leave, and recommend he seek domicile elsewhere.

And when we do rent to Airmen, the base housing officer has the right & duty to inspect the property for standards. This keeps EVERYBODY honest.

[aboard_epsilon]

lets have some Brits experiences on this thread ..

there is a possibility that i may end up getting into the rental business .

i would like to know the ins and outs

like can you ask for social security number here
can you legally turn off the utilities here

can you take the front and back door off

all the best.markj

[aostling]

If I sell the houses the government gets 60% of the money.

The rate on capital gains is 25%. Where does your figure of 60% tax come from?

[KiddZimaHater]

If I sell the houses the government gets 60% of the money
I agree with Aostling, Where do you get that figure??
Even gambling winnings are only taxed at 25%

[macona]

Some of the deadbeats file bankruptcy very 7 years just because they can.


And this is why they changed the laws. Filing bankruptcy is no longer a get out of jail card for these guys.

[tmc_31]

....and the machining content here is????

You didn't see in the OP's first post about the stolen washing machine?:D

Tim

[bborr01]

Gary350,

I feel your pain. I am evicting tenants right now. Second time in 19 years as a landlord.

I think there is a book that deadbeat tenants have to scam the landlords. This eviction is just like the last one. Same stories. Same lies.

I have one rental property. Lakefront. Sandy beach. Modern. Nobody gave it to me. I have thousands of hours of work into it and lots of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ of my hard earned bucks into it.

I tell them "if you don't pay, you can't stay". The judge's seem to agree. Next.

I also read a couple of books on being a landlord. I bought the house first, decided to become a landlord next.

One thing I picked up from the books that was very helpful.

"It's OK to be friendly with the tenants, but don't become friends with the tenants.

Professional deadbeats are usually very likeable people. It is a lot harder emotionally to evict friends.

Sorry, just venting over this eviction. I hate this part.

Brian