tenants and landlords

well there is often threads on here about how bad landlords are etc etc...and i am sick of landlords being given the bad rap....well our tenants have given us a treat this past week so here is a landlords perspective...they rent a unit from us in a lovely area and we live next door to them!!!

they are sth africans who are a nice young couple with a baby...no worries there...their parents convinced us to rent to them (we didnt know any of them) as they seemed so nice etc....BUT

-had to remind them twice to put rent on AP - it missed two weeks!
-had to ask them (and then in writing!) to mow lawns as done once in 12 weeks!!! and edges etc still not done
-they have given notice as they have had change of circs (thats ok) and they gave TWO weeks....had to tell them it was 21 days!
-showed someone thru and discovered brand new nets have holes in them where toddler has done stuff!
-at same showing discovered that the toddler has dropped milk or juice or ??? ALL (and I mean ALL!) over carpet (which was steam cleaned before they came in!) and there are spots everywhere!
-they havent paid any of the water rates!
-they told us they didnt smoke BUT she does and she sits outside which then has smoke rising up towards my bedroom (there are reasons we dont take smokers - asthma etc etc - so they blatantly lied to us!)

hmmm....so as landlords we are out of pocket when they dont pay, have to keep putting stuff in writing, and now have tenants moving out after 4 months cause they rented at a price they coudlnt afford! not to mention wondering why i was coughing until I saw her smoking outside one evening! luckily we have found new tenants (it is pretty sought after area luckily) but coming into xmas it may not have been so easy and we have mortgage to pay also....they are far from the worst we have had - far from it!!!! but even nice young couples with babies arent the ideal tenants for some of us!

it aint easy being a landlord!

You will be pleased to know we love our landlords!!! I think landlords do get a tough rap sometimes, ours are totally fantastic and because we've earned their trust, they in turn give us leeway with things like our pets etc.

I think some of it comes down to swings and roundabouts....you're good tenants and in turn (hopefully) the landlords will in turn be awesome!

Hope that all makes sense.

Yeah, my husband keeps suggesting we buy a rental property as an investment but I keep saying no as I don't want to chase rent and have the place trashed.

To be honest Bombshell, I think you got off pretty light. With a toddler, I'd expect a lot more damage than holes in the curtain netting and sippy cup stains on the carpet. At least he/she hasn't drawn all over the walls as well.

I always used to say I was a non smoker when I was renting. Like your tenant, I figured that there was no harm in smoking outside. I wouldn't take it too personally, she probably doesn't realise the smoke's drifting into your room. Perhaps ask her to go around the other side of the house till they move out.

I've heard of rental properties with holes in walls, a year's worth of garbage backed up in the garage, tenants smoking inside, DIY home "improvements", landlords out of pocket by 2 or 3 months... I sooo wouldn't want all that stress.

I hope you find the perfect tenants, Bombshell.

Treen wrote: I've heard of rental properties with holes in walls, a year's worth of garbage backed up in the garage, tenants smoking inside, DIY home "improvements", landlords out of pocket by 2 or 3 months... I sooo wouldn't want all that stress.

yup someone i know had tenants like this and that was only the half of it!!! there were sh*ty ADULT nappies EVERYWHERE! including in all the gutters!! and loads more disgusting things!!!

LOL believe me we have had a LOT worse....it just annoys me when people think they can do this when we were specific eg NO smokers! it is a bit different for us as we live on the same property as this one....so were very clear - they just lied to us! Im not going to do anything about that now as they move out soon....

Yes... we have put number of people in the property as a maximum writing too as a warning in other properties also - one was a land agent renting who sublet and moved her teenage sons partner in also! Ended up being a 2-3 person allowance on the agreement but with 6 people living there!

we have a few rentals and some tenants are awesome - others take advantage (as I feel these current ones are) and others are plain disgusting! one of last ones left a pot of butter chicken on stovetop for over a week (rental agent was showing and commented on it) to point we had to replace stove top - and she wondered why!!!

as for toddlers drawing on walls (and OMG I would be appalled if Ella did that anywhere!!) - we havent done inspection yet so who knows what we will find! ugh! and people wonder why they are made to pay a bond!!!

baaska, did you specify a maximum number of people on the lease?
it it's only 2 or 3 nights a week you probably can't say anything, they still have a right to have a life.. but if it's more often then i would consider it another person and it would depend on the lease agreement

Yeah, I'm not sure what the deal is with water rates, either. In some flats I've managed to dodge the water rates (especially when they arrive not addressed to you... return to sender!) but I know at least in our last flat DH and I paid them and I think I have in a couple of other flats, too.

oh k thanks for that Summerlamb, whew!

My last landlord was the bestest ever.

Total queen but lots of laughs.

He lived a few doors up and not only did he not mind the loud raucous parties we used to have but would actually come down and join in the festivities in his lava-lava.

We had a bit of fun with our tenants back in April when they moved out. The place was left pretty messy, oven was absolutely filthy, their kids had drawn on the walls, they left a whole lot of rubbish behind, the blinds where covered in dust, they hadn't vaccumed before they left so there was dust balls and hair etc everywhere and just general filth left.
Was pretty disppointing but unfortunately its the luck of the draw sometimes finding good tenants. Mind you they paid their rent on time, was more when they went to move out. I would never think of moving out and not giving the place a good clean. Have spent the past 4 weekends cleaning our rented place getting ready for when we move out next week.