Landlords: How many tenants have lied to you? (apartment, evictions, deposit)

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I'd guess that 2/3 of the potential applicants tell outright lies, but I don't run their application, so I don't verify that.

Easily 1/3 of the applicants lie about who their current landlord is, hoping to get me to accept a "landlord reference" from a friend of theirs. Some of the people who put in applications lie about how much salary they earn.

Probably 100% of the tenants I've rented to have lied about something, and my tenants are generally very good tenants.

I don't think that the majority of tenants are any more dishonest than the general population, but I think that the pool of applicants who have trouble finding a place to rent are some serious human scum. I hate having a vacancy because I know I will have to interact and be polite to some really yucky people while I am doing showings.

[Squirl]

All but one of my present tenants smokes. Everyone answered NO to the question on the app "do you smoke"

[Galaxie Girl]

We've had some applicants leave parts of the application blank, so we had to ask about the item. Things like leaving "Pets" blank instead of saying none, so we ask if they have any pets, and they say "Oh, we have a dog." Well, we don't allow dogs, just like lots of landlords, so why don't they ask before they waste their time filling out an application???

We've probably had quite a few prospective tenants lie, but I suspect we had already decided they were a "no" based on their unkempt vehicle, tardiness to the appointment for the showing, etc., so we didn't pay them much attention anyway.

We did have one tenant who would say "I'll have the rent on XXX day" only to flake out. She would always end up getting us the rent, though, until she lost her job. Ended up having to evict her at that point. Don't know why she wouldn't just move out if she knew she wouldn't be able to pay the rent, now she's got an eviction on her record.

[Sherifftruman]

Reminds me of the house next door to me. In 2006 when the subdivision was new, some crazy guy went in with a friend from work and bought a house that was priced at 130% of the median price in an area with a pretty high median, using a 100% loan, and decided to rent it out, even though neither is a native English speaker.

They went through tenant after tenant that "didn't smoke" because it was banned in the lease. At first they would stand on the deck and smoke (which meant I had to smell it in my yard) then as it got colder or rained they would stand with the door open and blow it out and eventually just gave up and smoke in the house.

After 5 years and two tenants that skipped out owning them over $5k in back rent and left damages over $1000, they sold at a loss and had to bring $20k each to the table to get out.

Thought it was funny he would tell me so many details of his finances.

[bentlebee]

Originally Posted by mommabear2

Did they lie to you on an application, to your face, or have most of your tenants been straight forward?

Has being a landlord changed your overall outlook of people? Do you think most tenants are honest/dishonest?

They lied in our face, over the phone, by email, in letters, in court and on applications..usually they can't even keep their story straight within one conversation!

[Electrician4you]

Had one guy meet with me and say I only need the place for a few months I'm looking for a job. I thought he was joking but he was dead serious

Had a guy tell me he has no pets. Too bad his black pants were. Covered in dog and cat hair.

One guy who swore that he didn't smoke reeked like a ashtray outside the smokers area at a bar.

One guy got mad because he didn't have a ocean view on one if my rentals in Newport. He also thought I was overcharging. I was 250 below going rate.

Had propel give me their land lord number. When I xpcalled and said I was interested in your recently vacated rental I got a you got the wrong number. At that point I know I just reached their best friends number.

My one long term renter was a liar to the 10th degree. She just flat out lied and my wife bought it. I don't even know where to start on that one.

[tworent]

The only tenant that has not lied to you are the ones that you did not find out about yet.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Wow. I guess I've been really lucky, as far as the applicants I've rented to. I've had a few tenants do things like smoke inside, one snuck in a bunny rabbit (no pets). But, for the most part the people I rent to are honest people. Perhaps I have a bigger tenant pool to choose from.

Applicants, on the other hand......most do lie, which makes it really easy to turn them down without worrying about discrimination. Sorry, you didn't give me a complete application. Sorry, I don't rent to people who only have relatives for references. Sorry, when I Googled your work number, it belongs to somebody's cell phone.

I also don't rent to people who are really late to an appointment without apology, or if credit is bad, or if there's an eviction. Or if they are rude or argumentative. These are not protected classes :-)

The trick is to screen out the liars, and not rent to them. But, like I said, maybe I have a bigger pool to choose from. Some will get through my screening process - like the student who snuck in her rabbit, or the ones who smoke. But, overall, I'd say my tenants are honest by a good percentage.

Oh, and I've learned that people who smoke pot don't consider it "smoking," lol! I've had to put out notices that smoking "any substance" isn't allowed in the building. Take it outside.

[spankys bbq]

Oh, dear. I think the internet would run out of room if I posted all of the lies I've heard from applicants and tenants. They've lied about jobs, amount of people staying with them, income, current landlord info, blah, blah, blah. You name it, it has been lied about here.

It seems like lately I am getting more and more people claiming to rent from an individual. I'll look up the property address and its a company-owned property. I've had some very amusing conversations with landlords who were very surprised to hear their tenant was moving out. Or I'll XYZ Rental and ask for John, and of course no one works there by that name. Nice try buddy. DECLINED

Oh, I'm just baby-sitting the dog for my cousin. Dog eats all of the door bottoms and the guy beats the walls with a hammer when we evict him. Tried to warn you.

I swear I am going to write a book one of these days.

[CptnRn]

I have one rental property that I have leased out for 11 years, have had 3 tenants so far. To date, every tenant has lied to me at one time or another. In spite of that, most of them have been pretty decent tenants, paid regularly and did very little damage to the place. Only one skipped out on the last months rent.