Any other landlords here?

[Jim in Anchorage]

I know this thread will have little interest to most, but will to some. Give me your worst/best tenant stories. Thought it it would give you a chance to vent. God knows I need one.

 

And let's hear it from the other side. Renters give your worst/best landlord stories.

[Shamrock]

Old couple always complaining.

There's an "electrical"noise in the cupboard? Get an electrician to tell them it's their freakin clock in the cupboard.

The paint in the bedroom is peeling. What, the pain above the bed that's browning from you too smoking in there?

There's a water leak. What, from where your husbands connected a tube from the tap in the sink to run out to the tomatoes on the patio?

Serious, pain in the a$$.

[mrags]

The only tenant I've ever had is crazy cat lady. Except she's got a dog. She's on meds, on SS Disabity. And is just messed up beyond belief.

She's fallen down the stairs and broken open the wall at the bottom of the stairs, she's fallen in the shower and yanked the faucet right out of the wall, she's fallen outside on the driveway.

 

Honestly, if she wasnt so stupid, she would have sued me a long time ago and since its on my property shed win for sure. On that note, I will allow her to stay as long as she doesn't sue me and the rent keeps coming in.

[Jauronimo]

I was living in this dump that I rented from a total prick. Place was falling apart. Hot water heater melted down, caused a small fire and knocked the heat out. Smelled like smoke for weeks. The douchebag landlord drops off these pitiful space heaters like thats going to help. I only had one window staring out at his crappy pickup truck which was parked on street for months, never moved. Total nightmare.

Edited February 6, 2013 by Jauronimo

[The Poojer]

hahahahahahaha.....

 

 

I was living in this dump that I rented from a total prick. Place was falling apart. Hot water heater melted down, caused a small fire and knocked the heat out. Smelled like smoke for weeks. The douchebag landlord drops off these pitiful space heaters like thats going to help. I only had one window staring out at his crappy pickup truck which was parked on street for months, never moved. Total nightmare.

[Wooderson]

My two buddies and I rent from a nice couple. We really haven't had any horror stories besides them slacking on mowing the lawn and picking up the leaves. They barely ever come around unless we need something which is nice to 3 - 25 year olds. Our pipes froze a few weeks ago when temperatures plummeted. They were over within a couple hours and fixed everything up but told us a few stories about a few tenants they have. They mentioned a couple that let their pipes freeze over for days and didn't let them know in which the pipes burst and caused a ton of damage. They also told us about another tenant that let their basement flood to the point where they couldn't even take a step down the stairs into the basement. Unreal.

[Just Jack]

And let's hear it from the other side. Renters give your worst/best landlord stories.

 

Okay....

 

One complex I lived at, lots of Section 8, I only moved there because I needed someplace quick, and they had an efficiency cheap. More like a basement storage unit they converted into an apartment. Unknown to me, the drain for the roof went through my ceiling. One day, on a cold January afternoon, I'm walking down the hallway and notice the rug outside my apartment is soaked. Open the door, and it was bad. The drain had froze, plugging up and all the water in the pipe and it released/burst in my apt. They had already been over and cleaned as much as they wanted to, but never bothered to call me and let me know. Next morning, I go to take a shower, pull back the curtain and discovered they dumped their shop vac in my tub. It was filled with plaster and debris. Spent 3-4 days with dehumidifiers and fans trying to dry out the carpet and pad, but to no avail. They promised to replace it, but when I moved out in August (breaking my lease early) it still had not been done. There were lots of other things that allowed me to break my lease, like abandoned vehicles, repairs not in a timely manner, etc. They used a standard lease agreement, and never bothered to read it themselves apparently.

 

Last place I lived, also a complex, it was easy to see not a good place either. The fridge would not get cold enough. Their maintance looked and said it was cold enough for them, but if I wanted it replaced they would. Three months later, still no fridge, after asking/reminding them several times. So when rent was due, I went over to the office, showed the manager my rent check, said I would hand it over when I get a fridge. 2 hours later I had a fridge.

 

Same complex, when I first moved in, there was one bedroom plug by the bed that didn't work. I reported it, they came over to look, and couldn't figure it out. Tried replacing the plug, checked all the breakers, etc. (this was the plug I was going to use for my alarm clock) Their solution was to run an extension cord across the floor. One day I borrowed a toner from work, hooked it up and started tracing the wires. I found about where it was showing a break, broke open the wall, and discovered someone cut the wires. No wire nuts, no tape, just some live wires in the wall. Also discovered some evidence of previous fire damage. Fixed it myself, since it was easy to tell they didn't know how, or didn't care, to fix it themselves.

 

Best, was actually where I first lived. The office/maintance dept was on top of any request, they'd leave a note in the apt anytime they came in if I wasn't there. Nice quiet neighborhood.

[Captain Hindsight]

I just left a complex and been waiting for my security deposit for 65 days now. Every time I call they tell me a few more days. Thinking about sending a letter from my "lawyer"

[Fan in San Diego]

My worst rental was the last rental that I didn't use professional property managers. I rented a house to a nice young couple who then proceeded to not pay the rent and trash the place. It took almost 9 months to get them out. I sold the house and had to write a check to close escrow. Meaning no money flowing back to me from escrow. Always use a professional property manager who background checks renters and knows how to evict deadbeats fast.

[The Poojer]

i had just read this story last week...what an absolute nightmare

 

http://www.citypaper.net/news/Space_Invader.html

[BillsWatch]

Bought a new house and did a lot of work on old house to make it 'move in' condition - new paint, carpet. etc. Got an inquiry to rent from couple from Texas before went on market but in contract it stated that carpeting was brand new which customer signed and acknowledged. Lots of complaints by neighbor so I told him I would not renew lease despite his request. During walkout I found mildew in rug all along back patio door (he loved cooler weather and being able to keep patio door and large tomato stain on rug which 'was there before'.

 

Lots more horror stories another time. Not renting anymore.

[mead107]

When we had a 10 unit building in Schenectady i could tell you 20 stories.

Had a young girl rent a 1 bedroom unit on the 2nd floor.paid the rent the first 3 months on time. then did not pay the fourth month. for 15 days went to her door 2 or 3 times each day. called her every day never got back to me. Then found out her ex boyfriend got out of prison. Tenant down stairs calls and says someone smashed the window up stairs and has seen some guy going up an down the fire escape to her apt. I go down and knock on the door no answer. The 2 kids that were working for me that summer come in the front oor and tell me someone just came out the window and own the fire escape. The 3 of us enter the apartment and can not believe what a mess the place was. Someone had taken a knife and cut and slashed every piece of furniture, bedding, clothing curtains, towels and cut every electric cord to her electronic stuff. They had taken and pulled out every dresser drawer and smashed the bottoms out. Fix the broken window with ply wood and called my lawyer to find out what to do.lock up the door and start eviction process. They can not find this girl to serve her the paper work. For 2 weeks. People next to her call and say bad smell coming from apt. Went back in to find power off and maggots all over the kitchen. Get on the phone to the lawyer . He says empty the place and put everything on the curb for trash because she abandon the apt. And he would do the paper work.

Well the i bring the 5 kids that I had working for me down the morning before trash day and put every thing out for the trash.let me tell you, it was like Christmas in the summer as every low life around came an went through the garbage.

As we are getting ready to go a women says I know this girl and I am going to call her and tell her that every thing she owns is on the street. 2 hours later I get a call from her calling me every name in the book because I put her crap on the street. I told her that I had put a few things in the shed that I thought was paper work that she may want. She never came and got it.

 

I did get a $100 fine from the city for putting the garbage out to early.

[DrDawkinstein]

My father owns a few houses he rents out located in Hamburg. This meant that while I was growing up, I was his clean-out crew whenever someone left. This is where my hatred of hippies and alcoholics was born.

 

The alcoholics were the worst though. The hippies would just leave, even with most of their personal belongings left behind. So I could at least get some things of value there. Maybe a TV or radio. Best ever was a fairly new Foosball table. It was a pain having to take all their stuff to the dumpster, and patch up whatever minor damage they did, but it wasnt that bad.

 

The alcoholics though... what a mess. Rarely did they even own anything worthwhile, let alone leave it behind. Typically all they left behind was filth and cans/bottles.

 

One woman I will never forget. She was an absolutely disgusting land-monster. She had filled the entire basement, stairwell, side hallway, kitchen, and dining room with empties. All 12-packs of Natty Ice. Neatly placed back in their 12-pack boxes and stacked. But not rinsed, so full of mold and goo and stank. It took me an entire week of doing nothing but loading the truck with empties and taking them back to Tops before I could even start cleaning and re-painting. 5 days, 8-12 hours a day, 3-4 runs a day. I got to keep the refund money, but it was barely worth it. Having to pull all of those dirty, dripping cans out of the boxes and load them into the machine one by one. Had I not been 16, it definitely would not have been worth it.

[mead107]

Another one.

Out in Buffalo for the opener in 2006 or 7 . Get a call right after we get to hammers that the drains all plugged up. Call my nephew to run down and check out the basement apt. That we had just finished re doing. Sewage all over the new carpet. . Had Apex sewer and drain go down and snake the line out to the city sewer. Good thing I had them programmed in to the phone. Had to have first response come and pull the carpet and wood floors . Ran a huge de humidifier for 3 days. Had to have the floors re done.

 

 

 

Was in Vermont with the wife for a weekend get away when at 7 am get a call that the hot water heater burst.

 

Got a call from one of my good tenants at 5 in the morning that the guy next to her was screaming in pain. Told her to call 911. When they got to his place it was quiet. They banged on the door for 10 minutes then called me to come let them in. Before I got there ( took 8 min.) they brok the door down an found him dead in in the tub.

[section122]

Yikes I feel good about mine...

 

Bought a duplex and live downstairs while renting out the upstairs. Had the perfect setup as I rented to friends. As life goes eventually my friends moved out and I had to rent to a stranger. Waded through a bunch of terrible prospects before a guy in his mid 20's came to look at the place. He liked it and he wasn't a scumbag so I offered it to him. He had just broken up with his gf whom he had a >1 year old with.

 

1.5 months into the lease he tells me she got evicted and needed a place to stay until the end of the month when her new apt. would be ready. I reluctantly agreed. Then I found out she had 3 other kids. This is a 2 bedroom apt. with 5/6 rooms total and they had 4 kids and 2 adults living there. Living downstairs from that was pure torture. The girl was incredibly lazy and never took the kids out even though I have 2 parks within a 1/4 mile of my house. The month was up and she didn't move out. I mentioned something to him and he told me there was a hold up. End of next month she's still there. It continued for 3 months until I told him she had to leave or they had to leave. He said she would leave. After another month there lease is over and I inform them I won't be extending the lease.

 

They asked for a few extra days and I gave it to them which turned out to be 2 weeks. He called me and asked me to come upstairs to do final walk through where I got ambushed by 2 of the kids "why are you making us move out and splitting up mommy and daddy?"

 

Got letters from the welfare department for a few months after. She had been claiming that she was paying the rent and it was much more than I had been charging her. She was using it to get extra benefits. I knew the girl who worked at the welfare office, made a sworn statement, and the girl got busted a few months later for welfare fraud. The guy called me and thanked me, as he would now get custody of his kid, and he was free from her. Not sure if that stayed permanent but my hands were clean.

 

I still think he was an incredibly nice guy and felt bad evicting him - her? Not so much.

[Just Jack]

I just left a complex and been waiting for my security deposit for 65 days now. Every time I call they tell me a few more days. Thinking about sending a letter from my "lawyer"

 

Last place I lived took 2.5 months. They kept telling me the owners were "out of the country". Once I started threatening legal action the owners mysteriously were back from their vacation. One day the manager called me to tell me the check was on it's way. Well, a week later I finally recieved it. Here's where it gets fun. The check wasn't even dated until 2 days after she told me it was on it's way. Then the postmark was 2 or 3 days after that.

 

http://www.nolo.com/...sits-36183.html

What about when a tenant moves out? What is the deadline in New York for returning a security deposit?

 

Under New York law, a landlord must return the tenant's security deposit within a reasonable time after the tenant has surrendered the rental property to the landlord--that is, returned the keys and vacated the property. What's "reasonable" would ultimately be up to a small claims court judge (should a deposit dispute end up in court), but it typically means a window of 21 to 45 days.

[Fan in San Diego]

i had just read this story last week...what an absolute nightmare

 

http://www.citypaper...ce_Invader.html

 

That is horrible, it pays to have a few friends named Vinnie and Guido to tune up some sense in that stupid young man.

[Captain Hindsight]

Last place I lived took 2.5 months. They kept telling me the owners were "out of the country". Once I started threatening legal action the owners mysteriously were back from their vacation. One day the manager called me to tell me the check was on it's way. Well, a week later I finally recieved it. Here's where it gets fun. The check wasn't even dated until 2 days after she told me it was on it's way. Then the postmark was 2 or 3 days after that.

 

http://www.nolo.com/...sits-36183.html

Yup gonna draft a letter up tonight and send it tomorrow. Its getting old having to call everyday

[Jim in Anchorage]

I'm a new landlord--been renting out my old condo for about 1.5 years, with a property manager (friend of mine) handling it. I would be scared out of my mind if I had to deal with tenants and all these hassles.

I had to learn in a hurry. First apt I bought was a 4 unit owned by Fannie Mae[as is] that had been sitting empty for a year. First I had to repair the damage[substantial, including water damage from burst pipes] then get renters. Learned a lot that year about buildings and tenets

Edited February 7, 2013 by Jim in Anchorage

[Chef Jim]

I was living in this dump that I rented from a total prick. Place was falling apart. Hot water heater melted down, caused a small fire and knocked the heat out. Smelled like smoke for weeks. The douchebag landlord drops off these pitiful space heaters like thats going to help. I only had one window staring out at his crappy pickup truck which was parked on street for months, never moved. Total nightmare.