Deadbeat Tennants Kill NSL Aspirations

[JAL3]

I'm venting a bit here.

When I got married in 2006, my wife wanted to keep her old house and use it as a rental property. Having managed lots of them, I was dubious about the profitability and knew full well what a hassle that can be but wanted her to learn for herself so I agreed.

It took until last march to find a pair of tennants.

There were always problematical about getting the rent in and even when they did, the checks bounced the first few times they were deposited. They usually cleared eventually though until last November. Then they stopped even pretending to pay.

They changed all the locks on the doors so I could not get in to do maintanance.

We finally had to haul them into court to try and get them evicted. We won in a slam dunk but could not take possession of the property until their timeline for apeal had expired. It finally expired on Monday and we went over to check the place out.

I had a bad feeling on the way over there that just got worse when we pulled up and I found a table and the garbage disposal sitting in the front lawn.

I was going to have to break in through a back door since I don't have a key but that wasn't necessary because the back door was no longer attached to the house.

The inside was a sty with broken furniture scattered about. I was kind of bemused because I realized it was not our furniture. Then I realized that our furniture was not broken because it was gone.

A trip to the kitchen revealed that the appliances were gone as well except for the garbage disposal (which was on the front lawn) and a nice new refrigerator. I wondered why they had not stolen a fairly new fridge for quite a while but then got distraced looking at the holes in the walls and wondering why there was soot and ash on everything.

Then I noticed two more things about the kitchen. The soot concentration was highest there and there were definite signs of a fire emanating from the sink of all places.

At this point I called the local PD to put in a report. The officer showed up and asked who we were. I told him we were the owners but he didn't believe us for a while because he had "met the owners last night" when he showed up "along with the fire truck".

Yep. The fire department had been called out to put out a fire there last night. It was apparently a fairly minor fire that started when the tenants got the wires crossed while trying to disconnect the garbage disposal and dishwasher, both of which had been directly wired into the box for some reason.

In any event, what made the PD and the FD take things seriously were all of the oxygen cylenders lying around the place. In fact, quite a few of them were still cluttering up the house.

They also didn't like the bare wires dangling from alll the ceilign boxes as a result of the tenants taking our light fixtures but I digress.

Apparently, the tenants were in the process of looting when they started the fire. The police and firemen made them nervouse and they went ahead and left before finishing cleaning us out.

They even dug up the hedges in the back and took them too.

Did i mention that the rooms are all painted in differing shades of all the most popular Dayglo colors? All except the living room that is. I'm not sure if that was painted or not since the sheetrock is missing. So is the copper coil from the AC unit.

That was Monday.

I had to wait for the adjsutor to take pics before starting to do anything and then could not find time to do anything until today.

I knew the water was cut off. That's why i wondered about the leak in the bathroom. They had run an ileagle tap to the main and poked it through the bricks. It only operated on the toilet. I wonder how they used the thing with a block of foam blocking the stub?

Then the day got really bad.

Most of the damage will not be covered by insurance. The appliances will and the holes in the sheetrock but nothing else.

I got to work tearing out the runined cabinets. I started to haul them out through the back door in the garage. Something caught my foot as I struggled across the threshold and I went down hard into the filthy and strange smelling mud. (Its been dry around here). I tripped because I had stepped on a 1x4 and my boot remained stuck to it. That would be because of the 8p nails driven through it: 4 rows the lenght of the 8 foot board spaced 3" apart. The hole thing was painted green to make it blend in. In falling I narrowly missed landing on a second trap of the same design. I'm lucky it didn't pierce my boot all the way.

The funny smell from the mud? I still don't know but lye soap has not been able to remove it.

I started at 8 this morning and got home at 10 tonight. I have the feeling this was just the first of many such days to come.

I had the worst realization when I got home.

I have been saving up to go to NSL. I won't be going now. That entire sum has been blown on ordering new cabinets.

My wife want's to know how soon I can have the place ready to show to other prospective tenants.

I hoep tomorrow is better.

 

[Pantherjon]

Man that is truly a bummer John..I ,too, have been on that scary road of a leased property owner, and my ride wasn't pretty, but sure wasn't QUITE as bad as yours is..I used to have 2 houses I owned rented out..So I don't write a book about it all, needless to say I am glad I was able to sell them last year..

It is a real shame what people will do to other peoples' property..I wish the best for you John..Suggestion: If you decide to rent it out again, go through a Property Management company. Insure that they do credit and background checks on perspective tenants and that you have 'periodic' inspection rights.

 

[powderburner]

Would it do any good to hire a private detective to locate them?
(They're probably not far away)

Then you could hire a lawyer to sue them, file a lein, or give the local police their location so they could be arrested. If the private detective could find out who their new landlord is, you could provide some warning information to them.

Sorry that this happened. I hated having a rental house, and I had fairly good tennants (most of the time).

 

[sylvie369]

Arrgh. My heart goes out to you.

Vent away. You've earned the right.

 

[AKPilot]

I simply can't believe it. I really can't!!!

Am so very sorry to hear about all of this. Your experience alone is one reason I don't think I could ever go into property management. I think if I'm going to move, we'll sell outright and be done with it.

Again, am so very sorry to hear about all of this.

 

[roadkill]

Sorry to hear that John,
and my heart really goes out to you;
been there, done that...

Years ago my tenants quit paying rent,
broke every single door, window, and light fixture.
They ripped kitchen cabinets off the walls and
prolly sold them for crack.
Commode and vanity plus sink were smashed
with a cinderblock after they were filled with feces.
Kitchen sink, appliances and ac unit were missing
and they chopped down all the trees on the three
acre property.

Since they had nothing on their names, it was no point
in filing a court case - it would only have cost me more
money in fees and the cops refused to prosecute...

And I was using a management company who also
weaseled out of responsibility....
I ended up selling the whole mess at a loss to an investor,
would have cost too much to fix it back up.

Sadly, some things never change and what I hear
things are getting worse, most of the houses get wrecked
every time tenants move out...

 

[troj]

Wow, John, that's really disgusting what they did to the house!

Unfortunately, there are people like that in the world.

-Kevin

 

[UMRS]

John as a landlord myself, I can honestly tell you weve never had anything close to that happen. Weve had a hole in the wall here and there a couple of broken windows and a bounced check or two on the three houses we rent. But your story WOW.

What kind of animals were living in there? If you can find them Im pretty sure you can press charges and sue, the problem is they may not be worth suing. However they certainly at the least could be held responsible for their actions.

 

[troj]

My guess? The tenants had a drug problem -- they were pawning your furniture and appliances to pay for their habit. That's also where the copper from your A/C went.

If they couldn't get a rent check to clear, filing a suit against them is likely tossing money down a hole -- you'll end up paying a lawyer, and get nothing back for it.

-Kevin

 

[bguffer]

You can probably take a deduction from your taxes.

Bob

 

[Bravo52]

I've rented houses off and on for the last 23 years. This is mainly due to being in the military and not being in a location long enough to break even on the cost of buying and selling. What has shocked me over and over is the comments by the landlord when we move out. The last place we moved out of the landlord was giving me a hard time because I cleaned the house from top to bottom once the house was empty.

I joined the millitary to serve my country (ie the people) and sometimes I wish it gave me the right to hunt down people like this and kick the living @!#$ of them..... JAL, you are in the right state. 2000 was a good year. 2010 is starting slow but I have hope! God Bless Texas.

"Hope and change"....yea right.

 

[DAllen]

This is where I thank my lucky stars that I do not own any rentals. Now I know there are quite a few land lords that make a good living off of rentals in the low-income neighborhoods of Benton Harbor. Those government funded section 8 housing checks are never late. You don't have to fix the houses up much to make the next set of section 8 housing leeches happy.

I've had to go in a few of those houses because of my job. It is astounding what smells people are willing to put up with.

Sorry about your loss and not being able to go to NSL. This is a fine example of how I think the system is broken because more often than not I think it is the landlord that gets the short end of the stick on these deals. I am not sure how to fix it.

-Dave

 

[MaxQ]

Very sorry to hear about all that...unbelievable...

I was lucky, when my career took me to another part of the state, I rented my townhouse to a nice couple, he from east germany, she was from soviet/mongolia.

They were wonderful...

Maybe the problem here is that so many people in this country feel entitled to something for nothing.

If there is any justice in this world, those "renters" died horribly in a flaming car wreck while escaping with your stuff.

I hope they had no children because they certainly were incapable of setting a decent example for them.....

 

[sylvie369]

I'd bet money that your tenants had drug issues, as Troj suggested. The drug dealers who were living next door to me were eventually evicted, and had money judgments against them from the landlord and the electric company. As someone pointed out, you don't actually get the money out of them, ever. They're still driving despite having been stopped 8-10 times each for driving with a suspended license. It doesn't stop anything at all.

My landlord (a great guy) had a similar problem: a "cat lady" made a house he owned uninhabitable. It was condemned and I believe razed, and he took almost a complete loss.

If it's any consolation, like AK, I'm reading this thread thinking "it's a great reminder: do not become a landlord". My landlord was surprised to find that I pay my rent on time. I'm apparently the only one.

 

[kelltym88]

I'm sorry to hear about that. I take alot of pride in the fact that being a renter myself, I do everything I can to try to keep the place as nice as possible. And if we move out, we would leave it as clean as possible ( for two reasons: First and foremost, as a Christian [Jehovah's Witness] I could not in good conscience leave a house dirty, and 2nd I want as much of my deposit back as possible).

My problem the place needs so much work I'm afraid to ask in fear of them raising the rent. I've offered to do as much of the work as possible myself...

Anyway, too bad you don't live closer, I could at least help you out with the kitchen.

And how can the insurance not cover this?

 

[shrox]

I'll bet they were mouthbreathers...

 

[RocketsNorth]

John, I'm really sorry to hear these kinds of stories, epically when it's from hard working folks trying to make a Lotte extra money and give someone an affordable place to live.
I don't think contracting a property management firm would do anything for you, because one it would eat up most of you rent in fees and two they generally leave the owner hanging when things go really wrong like in your case.
Maybe when your wife sees the bill to make the place habitable again she'll considering selling and if she does not maybe you can try a rent to own arrangement. My financial adviser got us hooked into this on reno properties. Basically, we front the money on a place (sadly like yours usually) and find some decent folks who can't get a down payment and charge them basic rent + cost of money + a small premium. The rent and cost of money covers the monthly costs we incur + profit and the premium is escrowed for the tenant until such time as they have accumulated a down payment. Once the agreed upon down is reached, we sign the properly over and assist in obtaining a mortgage for the remainder. We keep the interest accumulated on the escrow.
It actually provides a reasonable return, and help good people who otherwise could not afford a property a chance at ownership.
The rent to own ensures that the tenants moving in care about the property and if for some reason things don't work out we still make some money and can re-offer the property to someone else with little risk of having to bulldoze the place.
Just a thought......

 

[Zeus-cat]

I've always believed in tenant's rights. Things like the landlord shouldn't deny to rent to someone based on race, etc., that they need to fix important things and not throw people out for no good reason. However, I have always wondered why there is not some sort of state or national registry where you could list complaints against scumbags like this. If people were on this list you would not have to rent to them and they should be denied federal assistance like section 8. It should work both ways.

 

[JAL3]

My thanks to everyone for their words of support today. I do apprecite them.

I've managed lots of properties for my mom while she was still alive. They were usually a PITA but I've never seen anything that comes close to this before. I guess it had to happen eventually.

Now, I've sold all except one duplex. I promised my mom that I would allow my aunt and uncle live there as long as they are able and they do so rent free. I rented the other side to the nephew I helped to raise. He pays a modest rent and I knock $100/month off of that in exchange for being allowed to use the garage as my rocket shop. It works out OK. When Aunt Louise and Uncle Louie move on, though, I will gladly sell it.

The house where I had the problem described in the OP is the one my wife lived in when we met and married. It is her one tangible piece of real property of any type and she has a sentimental attachment to it. She want to feel as if she contributes something. She does more than she shows but that does not include that house.

We will be able to deduct the damages from taxes and insurance will pay some but not much for a variety of reasons. Stuff that was plainly theft or vadalism will be covered but a lot of the other repairs will not be because they are considered to be due to poor workmanship. The tenants made a lot of changes without permision. It lookes like they were re-tiling part of the floor but never finished; they took up the carpet in the living room but never got around to putting in the new carpet, etc. The policy doesn't cover that kind of thing.

I am feeling much better this afternoon because today was my club's montly launch. I actually didn't fly a single thing, mostly because I was to tired, but I enjoyed being out there. We hosted a CAP squadron who seemed to have a blast and held our first C class monocopter duration contest on the monocopter rack I've been working on. More on that later. Also, there is something about a 5 way monocopter drag race that just makes you feel good!

Mostly, I am disappointed about not being able to go the NSL or West Texas Thunder. Because of the church I have been building, I have not had a vacation for 3 years. I was looking forward to this one. Now its not going to happen and I'm disappointed. I'm going to be transferred in June and have 3 years of accrued vacation that will not transfer with me. I wanted to use it on something fun and now it looks like both the time and the mone will be used on proptery maintanance.

 

[DAllen]

John...You've been praying for patience haven't you?

This is the kind of thing that happens when you do that. God delivers opportunities to be patient by the wheel barrel full.

:bangpan:

 

[JAL3]

John...You've been praying for patience haven't you?

This is the kind of thing that happens when you do that. God delivers opportunities to be patient by the wheel barrel full.



:bangpan:

There is some truth to this. I actually learned more about patience and why I was called a "patient" back when dealing with the brain tumor some years back. That one really tired my patience and SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED says I have little enough as it is.

 

[harsas]

Wow, bad memories return.

I have a story that is so similar it would make your mouth drop. The only difference is, when I finally put the tenants out, they called a lawyer and sued us. Yup, that's what I said. They sued us, saying the mold (that they were growing in the house) was making them sick. It was bogus, we prevailed.

Sometimes the only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that He never gives us more than we can handle.

Peace,
Harold Sasloe

 

[JAL3]

Sometimes the only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that He never gives us more than we can handle.

Peace,
Harold Sasloe

True, but it sometimes inspires those odd situations where you wish the boss was LESS confident!

 

[WillMarchant]

Very sorry to hear about that, John! What a bunch of jerks...
Best wishes,
Will

 

[rocketsaway]

Try a rabid skunk, next time. That gets people moving in a hurry.

 

[Pat_B]

Very sorry to hear about your problems. I've been in the real estate business most of my life and it can be tough. I'm pretty picky with selecting tenants for my own properties and would rather have a property sitting vacant then put someone in who will trash it out.

I get at least $1K security deposit up front and am very quick to go after them for late rent. Otherwise, that security dep will get eaten up too quickly. My lease has the pretty typical terms including that as the property owner I get to inspect whenever I want. Doing inspections during the day when the tenants are gone is the best way to make sure nothing bad is happening. Just can't leave tenants in your house without knowing what is going oin.

I also get names & contact info on the rental app of all sorts of people they are related to for references. That helps chase them down if they abandon the house without paying rent. It's also very important to make sure you only get tenants who have some assets that you can go after. All of this is based upon owning properties in desirable enough areas so that you can be picky about who you choose.

The courts have tilted too far in the direction of 'tenants' rights and pretty much ewscray the landlords. I've learned over the years how to play hardball outside of the court system so that true justice prevails.

 

[shrox]

Did you do a walk through with a video camera? Mention the names of the tenants and post it on YouTube.

 

[Pem Tech]

Geeezzz....
What a horror story Brother John.....

 

[Bravo52]

Did you do a walk through with a video camera? Mention the names of the tenants and post it on YouTube.

You know, I was thinking the same thing but use one of the Lamar video billboards. You'd probably have to hack it or something because Lamar wouldn't take the business due to liability or some other issue.

I'd put that sucker right in the middle of downtown San Antonio.......bilingual of course so you could reach all the demographics! Isn't it fun to dream

 

[Trident]

John,

Sorry for not only the financial loss, but also the hassle and time involved to get your rental place fixed. up again. Cretins like your renters will eventually get what is due them.