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I am very lucky in that some very undesirable neighbors were evicted after several homeowners on the block wrote a letter to the landlord with pics of the house and yard and a copy of several police reports of drug dealing activity at the property. Our next step was to write to the Housing Authority, but no one wanted to do that first as there were kids involved and we were concerned about them becoming homeless. Luckily the pics, letter and reports did the trick and they were out in short order. Its such a shame the damage they did to the house. People can really trash a place pretty darn fast. I mean, these tenants tore architectural features like gingerbread trim and fancy windowsills OFF THE HOUSE. I don't even know how you do that.
For the last several weeks, there has been a flurry of activity with the house being painted, the junk and hoarder style backyard getting cleaned up and hauled away, pest control called, interior carpet replaced, new appliances and doors, even a new house number and mailbox. There is work going on every day.
But I am concerned, as are my neighbors, that the same variety of tenants will move in. This landlord is absentee but does not live that far away. No one has ever actually seen her at the house, though occasionally she has some guy come and yell at the tenants about the rent being late. Everyone on the block would prefer that she sold the house. One neighbor even suggested that we all pitch in to buy it, while another said he would take down any "for rent" signs.
I probably know the answer to this question, but I just wondered if there was anything we could do to prevent a repeat of terrible neighbors? As a landlord myself, I would be mortified if I got notice that one of my tenants was acting the way these people did, and literally probably pee myself if my property was so trashed by a tenant.
Sadly I have seen many renters go down this route. They start off with good intentions then the excuses start, the rent is late and the house starts getting trashed. When I worked in property management it was like a broken record.
It is hard to tell who will be a good tenant and who will be a nightmare. It is also illegal to discriminate against anyone.
If your state is like mine the legal rights for the landlord is a small book whereas the book for the tenants is 4 times as thick. This was to prevent slumlords taking advantage of people. As a result it is very difficult and expensive to evict someone when they don't behave.
Section 8 houses can be tough for the neighborhood they are in but there isn't much you can do but if the next people start acting up don't hesitate to call landlord, the police and if trash starts piling up get the town involved and they will put pressure on the homeowner.
Look at this website....it gives insight on how to deal with section 8 landlords. It gives helpful advice...but its mostly for people who already have a problem with section 8 renters in the neighborhood.
Just remember, you and your neighbors do not own the property....you can NOT dictate who gets to move into the neighborhood. Here is one more good article to read.... http://www.abcactionnews.com/marketp...-rental-prices
Here is a copy/paste part from that article that states it pretty bluntly...
"Homeowners who see their property values decline due in part to Section 8 housing rentals are helpless for the most part. It is illegal to discriminate against Section 8. Neighborhoods can avoid government-subsidized rentals in their community by banning all rentals
I guess the whole neighborhood could walk around and do yard work in white robes with hoods and you can see what happens.....j/k.....
We had a Section 8 rental in our old neighborhood and the owners were also selling drugs out of it. The neighbors rallied and the police finally sent in SWAT, but it was a long process. The owner lived on the other side of the subdivision and didn't care what was going on because he was getting his rent. It wasn't till after SWAT broke down the door that he "saw the light". This was also in a very upscale neighborhood.
Section 8 housing can literally be anywhere. Not all tenants are bad of course, but when you start to get many it will eventually bring down the home values. When our neighborhood became 40% rentals, we moved!
Here is a copy/paste part from that article that states it pretty bluntly...
"Homeowners who see their property values decline due in part to Section 8 housing rentals are helpless for the most part. It is illegal to discriminate against Section 8. Neighborhoods can avoid government-subsidized rentals in their community by banning all rentals
We had a Section 8 rental in our old neighborhood and the owners were also selling drugs out of it. The neighbors rallied and the police finally sent in SWAT, but it was a long process. The owner lived on the other side of the subdivision and didn't care what was going on because he was getting his rent. It wasn't till after SWAT broke down the door that he "saw the light". This was also in a very upscale neighborhood.
Section 8 housing can literally be anywhere. Not all tenants are bad of course, but when you start to get many it will eventually bring down the home values. When our neighborhood became 40% rentals, we moved!
Section 8 housing CAN literally be anywhere, but Section 8 subsidizes rents ONLY up to the metro MEDIAN rent. MOST recipients cannot afford to cover the extra rent in upscale neighborhoods - unfortunately, the ones who CAN are also more likely to be potential problem tenants.
I am very lucky in that some very undesirable neighbors were evicted after several homeowners on the block wrote a letter to the landlord with pics of the house and yard and a copy of several police reports of drug dealing activity at the property. Our next step was to write to the Housing Authority, but no one wanted to do that first as there were kids involved and we were concerned about them becoming homeless. Luckily the pics, letter and reports did the trick and they were out in short order. Its such a shame the damage they did to the house. People can really trash a place pretty darn fast. I mean, these tenants tore architectural features like gingerbread trim and fancy windowsills OFF THE HOUSE. I don't even know how you do that.
For the last several weeks, there has been a flurry of activity with the house being painted, the junk and hoarder style backyard getting cleaned up and hauled away, pest control called, interior carpet replaced, new appliances and doors, even a new house number and mailbox. There is work going on every day.
But I am concerned, as are my neighbors, that the same variety of tenants will move in. This landlord is absentee but does not live that far away. No one has ever actually seen her at the house, though occasionally she has some guy come and yell at the tenants about the rent being late. Everyone on the block would prefer that she sold the house. One neighbor even suggested that we all pitch in to buy it, while another said he would take down any "for rent" signs.
I probably know the answer to this question, but I just wondered if there was anything we could do to prevent a repeat of terrible neighbors? As a landlord myself, I would be mortified if I got notice that one of my tenants was acting the way these people did, and literally probably pee myself if my property was so trashed by a tenant.
Unfortunately, there's really nothing you can do to prevent a repeat of terrible neighbors. We have a similar problem in the neighborhood, because the slumlord who owns the 2 properties behind me rents to lousy tenants as they are the only ones he can get since he will NOT fix up the houses. Fortunately I have an enormous hedge that obscures the home directly behind me, but I and other neighbors had to call the police several times on the last tenant due to screaming fights. He got evicted over the weekend after that. If another tenant like that moves in, we'll just do the same thing. Everybody else around here likes peace and quiet, and we intend to legally maintain it. YMMV.
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