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For me, I can't think of any really crazy ones right off the bat. Most of them follow the same themes:
Either I'm heartless because I won't take rent 30 days late with no penalty every single month, or because I won't let a tenant have 3 pit bull puppies, or something equally ludicrous.
Or else I'm illegally discriminating because I decline an applicant who has been evicted twice, owes money to 3 landlords, has a felony, a 400 credit score and no job. Oh, but I discriminated because they have 3 kids, or because they are black, or because they are gay, or whatever protected class they fit into, as if that makes them invulnerable to ever being declined.
The only other thing I can think of right now is being blamed for health issues due to mold. In every single circumstance, after investigating, no toxic mold was found, and in most cases, no mold of any kind (note: "no mold" is defined in this context as being less than 10x the quantity of mold found outside. There is mold everywhere). We have never had an instance where a tenant complained about health problems due to mold and then we found there actually was a problem.
i am thinking about becoming a landlord. so i am curious as to what are some of the craziest things that a tenant has blamed you for
I'm a landlord and the craziest thing I've seen is your thinking about becoming a landlord. Take my advice: don't.
And if you must, get just one unit, then do it for a couple years. If you're still happy, expand.
My problem: I got 4 SFRs my first year. Got good tenants. Second year one tenant went south (figuratively) in middle of lease. Now a few years later I'm extricating myself from the business entirely.
You can't just wake up one day and pull the plug. Once you are a landlord it will take a few years to get out. I've already dumped my first SFR.
A friend rented a couple of rooms and they shared a kitchen. A guy presented himself well, paid regularly, kept his place clean. He liked to eat cooked root vegetables now and then. But he didn't cut them up. Something about knives and nature. He just filled his little pot with water and put the vegetable in top down.
When my friend saw carrots with tips in the tenant's small pot of boiling water and the rest sticking straight up , not a big deal. The tips get cooked, he figured, and you can always eat the raw parts of the carrots easily.
But when my friend passed that tiny pot with some big root in the pot and the rest sticking up nearly two feet, he thought he'd better talk to the tenant. The root was never going to cook all the way up and was too hard to nibble uncooked.
The tenant thanked my friend for the information, stayed several more days and one day was gone. Every single possession including id was left behind at the house.
We had a really nice guy tenant ourselves who had to pay his rent through a check from his friend. He was completely reliable, careful, best tenant. His parents had stolen his SSN and used it illicitly for years...since he was little. So he cut off from them, worked for cash, gave it to his reliable friend who kept it in an account in the bank and wrote the checks for his bills.
Eventually, the friend moved for work. The guy made rent payments in cash then for a while and then moved after a few years. Really nice, responsible guy who stayed in that town. Hope he got that all straightened out.
We had husband and wife tenants at one point. They moved in and a few days later power went out in their house. It happens. The wife called the police. The police asked their address. The wife didn't have it. She started to describe what the house looked like. Didn't work.
Meanwhile, the husband went to his car, opened the trunk and stood by it. Just stood with his arms by his side. That was told to us by a neighbor who saw him. At the time we thought that was really odd. Maybe he had a weapon in the trunk but didn't want to touch it yet but wanted it available?
after watching some youtube videos i ran like hell after seeing how some people leave a place
That's a great choice. I've met a lot of landlords, none of them are happy to be landlords. For some it would have been more profitable to leave the home empty and wait for appreciation. It seems landlords feel the tenant is lucky to have a roof over their head and tenants feel the home rental should be no different than any other transaction where "the customer is always right". Renting a home is the only business transaction I routinely deal with that has such opinions.
I'm a serial renter because we've moved every year or two for my wife's career advancement. My advice to any landlord would be to take care of their property and not see maintenance as an unneeded expense. My current rental is having air conditioning problems and the management company is reluctant to fix them. The problems could have been avoided by simply having an annual service and cleaning. We noted on the move in report that the compressor is well off level from the soil under it settling. Now it's showing the issues that come from a homeowner who isn't concerned with preventative maintenance.
I would urge homeowners that want to rent the place out to hire a property manager that has an outstanding reputation. The landlord tenant relationship is riddled with emotion on both sides, a third party to act as a mediator is necessary. One misstep from a landlord that violates the state's landlord tenant act could become very costly.
My other advice from renting 4 houses would be to have inspections of the property every 6 months. Only one landlord of mine went through this process.
Lease clauses that force the tenant to take financial responsibility for a portion of a repair leads to tenants ignoring issues that can cause a lot of stress later. I've been unfortunate enough to find some of these ignored repairs after taking possession of a home.
Installing flat panel TV mounts will avoid the potential of a tenant installing theirs and taking it with them. The $30 or so that they cost these days is cheaper than drywall repair and lost time on the market.
Do not re-install carpet in a rental. Carpet is disgusting and leads to the most moveout debates between tenants and landlords. Tile is a worthwhile investment to keep the property in good shape and it's difficult to damage.
And most importantly, know your landlord tenant laws! including the local codes! Read them from your bias then re-read them as if you were the renter. Know exactly what is your responsibility and what the results are if you break the law.
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