The Successful Landlord Blog

So, I just read this article and it reminded me of a situation where I had to deal with the same thing.

The gist of the article is that a landlord signed a lease with an adult tenant who was over 18 years-old and of sound mind. A month later, the tenant’s father decided that he did not like the space his daughter (the tenant) leased and called the landlord to “rescind the lease.”

One of my ex-tenants decided that she could not deal with the big, bad landlord (I’m not bad or that big) and had her mother call me to complain about something or other that was an issue at the time.

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Yesterday I showed one of the vacant rental houses to an older lady (65-ish) and her Mom (85-ish). When I arrived at the property, both of them were in the back yard looking at one of the fruit trees. A good sign.

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OK, so this kind of sucks. One of our best tenants called the other day to say that he’s sorry the rent is late and that he needs to find a smaller place because things are not going so well for him.

His tenancy started when he moved to Brevard County from the county just south so that he could expand his construction contracting business. Things seemed to be going pretty well then the big real estate slowdown happened.

The rent checks got later and later every month because his business was dropping off. He always paid but sometimes his rent checks were written to us from other people. A sure sign of borrowing from friends and family to pay the rent.

The thing that pushed his situation over the edge was that he was recently charged with DUI and is dealing with that. Apparently getting caught up in that situation is a HUGE pain-in-the-ass and very expensive. The costs in not just money but time seem to me to be quite burdensome. But then again, I guess that’s what the government wants as many people have been senselessly killed by drunk drivers.

Thankfully, he said that he intends to honor the terms of the lease where he will pay the penalty and give up the security deposit.

Anyway, I feel for this guy and wish him luck with this situation. What really sucks is that we already have one vacant house for rent in Brevard County and now is not really the time to have another one.

Stay tuned for more on this situation.

So, today I got a call from my real estate agent letting me know that there was an inquiry on the house for rent. She let me know that the woman inquiring says that she has 3 dogs which she “won’t part with” whatever that means. We’re not trying to take your dogs away lady.

Anyway, at the end of the conversation, the lady inquiring mentions that two of the dogs are 60 pound “American Staff Terriers” as she called them. Being unfamiliar with this breed, I did a quick Google search.

Ya, these things are basically Pit Bull Terriers. And the correct name is American Staffordshire Terrier. Even if I don’t know what I’m talking about and these dogs are NOT Pit Bulls, they totally look like Pit Bulls and that’s what the dog bite victim, police, animal control, personal injury attorney, judge and insurance adjuster are going to see as well.

Thank goodness for Google + Broadband internet access. NO WAY, are those dogs living in one of my properties. I bet that potential tenant is having to go through the entire list of properties for rent looking for a gullible landlord or property manager. It’s almost like you have to try to NOT rent the place.

Ya, thanks for playing! NEXT !

So, yesterday I received the Writ of Possession from the court….finally! It came in roughly 20 days from the date I filed the eviction papers. In the mean time, the tenants, having found out that I filed eviction, vandalized the house.

They broke all the external doors and kicked a hole in a very strong plaster wall in one of the bedrooms. And, of course, left the place a TOTAL mess. They even left a locked vehicle in the garage registered to someone else in another town. The police ran the tag and it did not come back stolen thankfully. They advised me that it was on private property and I could have it removed at will. So I waited for the Writ of Possession to come and I had it towed. I think it was registered to the grandmother of one of the tenants. Whatever…

So, I had the doors repaired/replaced and there is a cleaning crew in there today working on it. I think that there is only one working light bulb in the whole house because they were too lazy to change the ones that burned out.

On a positive note, I got to really sit down and talk with the neighbors to find out exactly what was going on at the house when these dirtbags lived there.

It turns out that someone was selling drugs out of the house. The neighbors reported that there was a huge amount of vehicular traffic in and out of the house from about 5pm to 4am every day of the week. Nice huh? And not to mention that one of the tenants had recently been granted custody of her two VERY young kids (which I knew before they moved in.) The interesting thing is that this kind of activity is very foreign to this neighborhood. I advised all the neighbors I spoke with that in the future, if there is any activity that even looks suspect, call the police. And if they even so much as leave their garbage cans out for 24 hours after garbage pickup, call Code Enforcement.
Judging from all the kids toys left behind at the house, my guess is that the kids were taken back from her. Quite sad. In fact, this situation is further proof that you should have to get a license before you bear children.

Anyway, enough pulpit pounding, the house will be back to normal soon, the tenant deposit I retained will be about half way depleted, the trash will be gone and the White Trash is finally gone. Good riddance!