My parents had one of the worst tenants imaginable. A hoarder who smoked inside (she was told not to), who had dogs (she was told no pets), who didn't pay her rent for over a year, caused the septic tank to back up and flood the whole basement with waste (which was already filled with her hoard, so everything was soaked and ruined), then took my parents to court claiming my Dad was supposed to pay HER for mowing the lawn and shoveling the sidewalk, even though she owed us thousands of dollars in rent.
She hightailed it back to Alabama to live with her ex-husband, left her hoard in the rental house, didn't show up to the court date (even by phone, even though SHE requested the court hearing), and she STILL got away without paying my parents the rent she owed.
The house was TRASHED. She even smashed a vintage 1950s mirror that had been original to the house in one of the doors, just for good measure before she left. It took my Dad and my brothers 6 MONTHS to clean up the mess and repair everything! They filled up a 30 foot dumpster with her trash and hoard TWICE.
You may be wondering why my parents even took her on as a tenant, and it's because she had been suggested as a "good renter" by, guess what? A government agency that supposedly helps lowlifes get homes to rent. Can't remember the name of it, but once everything transpired we called back the lady at the agency who suggested the hoarder to us and she claimed it wasn't their fault it turned out the way it did, even though they KNEW she was unemployed and had a history of skipping rent and trashing places.
Lesson to be learned: if you're a landlord, vet, vet, vet ALL of your potential tenants 10 times over and check every reference they give, and even go searching deeper. Check local police records, anything at all to give you a better insight than what they say they are.
Good advice! There are rotten people out there that will take advantage. One time a minority woman took my parents to court for racial discrimination. Saying they didn’t rent to her because of her race. She wasn’t even a tenant of theirs. She only looked at the house and wanted to live there. She was Section 8, so the government would pay a portion of her rent. At the time her Uncle was a Dem blue city politician who is now in the US Congress. I don’t even think she was poor enough for Sec. 8. she just knew how to play the system. So, my dad goes to court with my mom (she never met my mom) who is a Latina from South America and a realtor who did the background checks. Proving the reason they didn’t rent to her was not because of race but because of bad credit. Charges were dropped but my mom and dad still had to rent to her per the court. I find women are the most difficult tenants.
My parents had one of the worst tenants imaginable. A hoarder who smoked inside (she was told not to), who had dogs (she was told no pets), who didn't pay her rent for over a year, caused the septic tank to back up and flood the whole basement with waste (which was already filled with her hoard, so everything was soaked and ruined), then took my parents to court claiming my Dad was supposed to pay HER for mowing the lawn and shoveling the sidewalk, even though she owed us thousands of dollars in rent.
She hightailed it back to Alabama to live with her ex-husband, left her hoard in the rental house, didn't show up to the court date (even by phone, even though SHE requested the court hearing), and she STILL got away without paying my parents the rent she owed.
The house was TRASHED. She even smashed a vintage 1950s mirror that had been original to the house in one of the doors, just for good measure before she left. It took my Dad and my brothers 6 MONTHS to clean up the mess and repair everything! They filled up a 30 foot dumpster with her trash and hoard TWICE.
You may be wondering why my parents even took her on as a tenant, and it's because she had been suggested as a "good renter" by, guess what? A government agency that supposedly helps lowlifes get homes to rent. Can't remember the name of it, but once everything transpired we called back the lady at the agency who suggested the hoarder to us and she claimed it wasn't their fault it turned out the way it did, even though they KNEW she was unemployed and had a history of skipping rent and trashing places.
Lesson to be learned: if you're a landlord, vet, vet, vet ALL of your potential tenants 10 times over and check every reference they give, and even go searching deeper. Check local police records, anything at all to give you a better insight than what they say they are.
Shame you can't remember the name of the agency.
I learned a long time ago, it was rough to be a landlord. I never did it and this story, is just one of many that, reaffirms my decision.
Good advice! There are rotten people out there that will take advantage. One time a minority woman took my parents to court for racial discrimination. Saying they didn’t rent to her because of her race. She wasn’t even a tenant of theirs. She only looked at the house and wanted to live there. She was Section 8, so the government would pay a portion of her rent. At the time her Uncle was a Dem blue city politician who is now in the US Congress. I don’t even think she was poor enough for Sec. 8. she just knew how to play the system. So, my dad goes to court with my mom (she never met my mom) who is a Latina from South America and a realtor who did the background checks. Proving the reason they didn’t rent to her was not because of race but because of bad credit. Charges were dropped but my mom and dad still had to rent to her per the court. I find women are the most difficult tenants.