The Successful Landlord Blog

So, the other night I got a call at around 9:45pm from one of my tenants complaining that one of the bathtubs was not draining and water was coming out of the toilet in another bathroom. (wonderful!)

Since he noted that none of the other drains were backed up, I advised him to try to get the water out of the bathtub so as to relieve the pressure and therefore stop the toilet from overflowing, at which point I would take care of it in the morning.
I ended up having to call an emergency plumbing service who came out at around 10:45pm and “snaked” the drain from the vent on the roof because there is no “clean out” access for the sewer line on the ground, thanks cheap-ass builder.
The plumber then called me back when the job was done and advised me that when he pulled out the snake, a bunch of tree roots came up as well. Now, I should mention that the lot that this house is on HAS NO TREES on it. Later on, I learned that the sewer line runs across a utility easement, through a neighbors property and then to the sewer. And guess what…the utility easement has a number of LARGE Ficus trees in it.

Ficus trees are great for privacy, bad for ANYTHING running underground near them. Ficus trees have even been known to crack the foundation of the house if they’re growing too close to it! My next task is to call the city and ask them what should be done because clearly, it is not within my rights to cut a tree down that I do not own.

Oh, the JOY!!

So, yesterday was a week since I last interacted with the tenants who pathologically lie. As expected, the letter that I sent for them to sign which would remove one of them from the lease because she moved out, was not returned. I happened to be heading to that part of town and so I thought I would stop by and ask why they had not returned the letter.

I drove into the driveway and the sight I was greeted with was trash piled up in one garbage can and another tipped over with evidence that the garbage bag was torn open by some kind of animal (there are raccoons in the area). I should mention that the garbage was in the same state the week before when I was there collecting the rent.

I got so angry that right then and there, I decided that these people have to go. I got back in my car and drove back to my office and wrote the following letter to be sent by certified mail fully intending to be read by the court:
Dear Tenant(s):

There are a number of outstanding issues which must be resolved immediately, that put you in violation of your lease. These items are included below:

1. On September 11^th, 2006 we mailed you an addendum to the lease which removes Dirtbag Tenant #1 from the lease (copy enclosed) as she is no longer living there. This must be signed by both of you and returned immediately.

2. The sum of $4.00 in late fees is still owed from last month and must be paid immediately.

3. You continue to park cars on the grass of your property after being notified multiple times that this is in violation of your lease. This is your final warning on this matter. If this is not corrected within seven (7) days you can be evicted with no further warning.

4. There is exposed trash in a tipped over trashcan at the front of your property which has been there for more than one (1) week. This issue must be resolved immediately.

5. I was notified by a neighbor that on Saturday September 16^th, 2006 the police were at the property around 7:30pm that night. Also, there were cars parked all over the yard. Please be advised that this violates the peace and quiet in the neighborhood and violates the “Quiet Enjoyment??? section of your lease.

6. On September 11^th, 2006 we were given a contact number for Dirtbag Tenant #2 which does not work. We must have a working contact telephone number immediately as we will not be coming out to this property in person in the future when we need to communicate with you as tenants.

7. Of the past six (6) full months of your tenancy, you have paid the rent late four (4) times. This is not acceptable to us. If you can not pay your rent on-time, please find somewhere else to live that you can better afford. We will negotiate an early termination of your lease which is acceptable to both parties.

Please be advised that the above problems, if not resolved immediately, create an environment that neither we, nor the neighbors, are willing to tolerate. In other words, if you can not remedy the above issues immediately, please find somewhere else to live. This is your final warning as you have already been given notice of many of the above in the past.

As always, if you have any questions about any of the preceding, please contact us at the above telephone number.

Sincerely,

Your Landlord

And you know that I will get no response to this letter until about the 12th of next month when they receive the 5-day summons from the court because they will not have paid the rent and I will have filed for eviction as soon as is legally possible.

I think that these are the kind of people who have drama “following” them everywhere they go and of course, they wonder why when in fact, if drama was money, they would be freaking BILL GATES!! Dumbasses!

So today I got a call from the older lady who lives across the street from one of our rental houses. She was calling to ask me to please do something with the yard at the rental because it’s getting very overgrown, etc. and it’s “breaking her heart and she has to look at it everyday.”

I should explain that this rental house used to be the home of some good friends of hers, who we bought the house from because they were getting too old to deal with it. Back in 2004, a hurricane had just blown through and took some roof shingles and siding off the house and they didn’t want to fix the damage.

I should also explain that these people bought these houses back in the 1970’s when they had just retired from their single company careers up north (railroad, IBM, etc.). I know that there is more pride-in-ownership when you own a home as opposed to rent it, but I think that these people were just anal-retentive about maintenance and appearance.

Apparently, back in the day, they used to rush out and do stuff like cut the grass when it got to 1.25 inches tall, trim shrubs when they started looking just a little bit scraggly and paint the house every year. Because that’s what you did when you were Beaver Cleaver’s parents.
Well, what I’ve been doing is trying to get the yard in line with the rest of our rentals in that, the ground covering of the entire yard is basically weeds. When we get torrential rains in the summertime, the yard gets really green and lush “looking.” When the weather gets really hot and we have near drought conditions, the yard turns brown. And then at the slightest hint of humidity, the yard turns back green again.

What was covering the ground at this house was what is called St. Augustine grass which is a strain of grass that thrives in saltier environments (like near the beach) and generally damp environments. It grows thick and green when a) there is plenty of water b) it is not stressed by drought or bugs and c) it is fertilized regularly. Now what happened in the past was that the people that owned the house would irrigate the lawn 3 times a week and hired a lawn treatment service to spray all kinds of chemicals to keep bugs away so as a result the lawn was perfect.

What happened when we put tenants in the house was that they parked cars on the grass and the wonderful lawn-maintenance people, who we pay, destroyed the irrigation system with their huge lawnmowers, so the grass died! Duh!

All it needs now is for a different lawn guy (because the regular ones don’t trim shrubs) to go in there and clean it up. In time, it will be in line and all will be fine. However, I had to listen to this neighbor whine to me on the phone this morning about how the yard is “breaking her heart” whenever she looks at it. But I need to listen to this because when the tenants start shooting off fireworks INSIDE THE HOUSE, I need her to call me, so we have to stay friendly.

Well, it’s the beginning of the month again and sure enough, certain tenants can’t get their act together to pay the rent on time. I don’t understand what it is about the fact that a tenant can get thrown out on their ear by the county sheriff within 20 days if they don’t pay the rent that they can’t seem to wrap their heads around.

Now don’t get me wrong, I can understand and am sympathetic to genuine problems that crop up from time to time. For example, job loss, kids in the hospital, tenant in the hospital, customer not paying a big bill, etc. It’s the tenants who are in month 8 of their tenancy and have paid late 5 out of 8 times that I have no sympathy for.

In fact, one year, when I was a tenant, I was in a pretty bad auto accident where some idiot caused me to hit a very sturdy concrete light pole head-on and I ended up with a fractured sternum. Basically what that injury means is that you’re in bed for about two months. Despite this mishap, I did not miss one rent payment. In fact, the landlord did not even know that this had happened.

The tenants in particular I’m talking about are the same one’s who, for $32 in late fees, forced me to file an eviction which then cost them $120 on top of the $32 because they wanted to stay in the house. These are people who call me up on a Sunday (the 4th when rent is due on the 5th) to tell me that a partial rent payment is in the mail and “I hope that’s OK”. Today, the 7th, I get the partial payment and the envelope is postmarked on the 6th.

Sometimes, I think that they think I can’t read and don’t know what date it is today. Well, their lease is up in January and there’s practically no way that they can recover from this behavior and so their lease will not be renewed for another year.

Such irresponsible behavior reminds me of a book I ran across recently (but have not actually read yet) called Care and Feeding of Tenants by Andy Kane.

The title sounds mean spirited, but it’s clear to me that these people should be still living at home with their parents where hopefully they would learn some discipline.