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Posts like this make me happy because if I was to live next to one of their rentals, the risk of living next to deadbeats is about zero.
There is nothing worse than a deadbeat landlord..they only attract deadbeat tenants.
Yep, I have a deadbeat slumlord, the manager is a pervert, and some of the tenants are lowlife. All the owner is interested in is his rent money, forget making any repairs to the units.
I have a really hard time getting current or previous landlord referrals. Here, it's the norm to just give dates of tenancy. When you ask "would you rent to them again" sometimes I get the "if he qualified in the future, we would rent to him again." What does that mean?
The good news is that your landlord isn't in a hurry to get rid of you. You could mention that. If he was, he'd be all over that phone praising you to high heaven to get rid of you.
I try to get landlord references, but I don't expect to get them. I run credit and eviction reports, I verify employment or student loan info, and I google the tenant and any addresses and landlords and phone numbers they give me. The last tenant I googled even had all of his tweets online that i could read! Fortunately the only thing that worried me about those was that he was a staunch young Republican LOL!
And I very rarely get a phone call from a prospective landlord, and they should call me because I'll tell them everything that's the truth LOL! But, it must be a California thing. We just don't expect to get any kind of answer so we quit even trying, seems like.
I’m currently experiencing the same problem!!! Just wasted $80 for the app fee only to be blocked by our unresponsive LL. I told hubby that it looks like we’re stuck here!
I’m currently experiencing the same problem!!! Just wasted $80 for the app fee only to be blocked by our unresponsive LL. I told hubby that it looks like we’re stuck here!
You are going to have to shop. I probably wouldn't take you without a landlord reference, but someone will. Be prepared to show your cancelled checks or rent receipts to show you pay rent on time and invite prospective landlords to inspect the place you live now.
Landlords want tenants who pay rent on time and don't damage the property. You just need to find a landlord who will put in the extra effort to verify that.
Don't ASK if they'll take rent receipts. Include in your application copies of a year's worth of cancelled checks that were hopefully written before or on the first of the month, to prove that you do pay on time, in addition to paystubs to prove income, and the previous LL's contact info, going back as far as you can. You can't be the only people who have a LL who won't bother.
I can tell you from personal experience, that what the current LL says is worthless. If I have a horrible tenant, and a prospective LL calls me, I tell them the truthful answers to their questions, which usually are only about payment. I got rid of a mentally ill woman who should have been arrested for what she did to us, and who was arrested for domestic violence after she moved out. The one thing she DID do was pay on time, by certified return receipt USPS, because she knew that if she was a minute beyond the state-mandated grace period, we'd evict her for non-payment of rent. Her new LL called, and I immediately steered the conversation to the fact that she had always paid on time (except, of course, she stiffed me for her last month's rent, and then was evicted just as she was moving out, but that all was right AFTER the new LL had called.) She didn't ask if the woman had taken over the shared basement of the multifamily, locked the LL out of the basement and her apartment, called the Health Inspector - who said it was the best kept property he'd ever seen - impeded the LL's access to the basement mechanicals so that an upgrade to gas and electrical could not be done, then, when LL gained access from her resident partner and removed LL's inside lock to basement hatch and replaced with an exterior one, she attacked LL in LL's car on the street. The woman was probably bipolar in manic phase, got fired multiple times, finally was arrested for domestic violence. The cops would only go and talk to her for the time she came raging at me in my car on the street, but she entered the car screaming and threatening, so they should have arrested her. But the new LL was satisfied to know she'd paid her rent. The woman had just gotten Sec 8, and I told the new LL that I was sorry, I couldn't accept Sec 8 (yeah, not for THAT tenant I couldn't - for anyone else I could have) so that was why she was moving. I told the truth - but I steered the conversation to the positives, that she was very clean (had OCD), and that she had paid the rent on time (on the advice of Legal Aid, since they warned her that LL would surely evict her the second she was late, and they were right about that). And the new LL never asked if we'd had trouble from her, but an experienced LL or property mgr would have known that something was up with her.
When you ask "would you rent to them again" sometimes I get the "if he qualified in the future, we would rent to him again." What does that mean?
That's how my lawyer advised I answer. No arguments to be had with vague nonsense.
I don't return voicemails so if someone is calling for a reference they have to get me to pick up. It's nothing personal it just isn't worth my time to return a call, I used to play phone tag but it's just a waste of time.
Our PMC requires written reference request. Tenets are advised of this in their rental package when they signed the lease. Likewise, we only request prior/current landlord references in writing.
My current landlord has consistently been unresponsive. Calls/emails for issues, minor or major, routinely get ignored. I've learned not to expect a response when I alert him that the carpet is coming up in the corner - just trying to notify him of potential issues, but I DO expect some type of response when I notice water dripping from a pipe. Called and emailed about water dripping from a pipe one morning and when I came back from work it was 10 times worse. Called again and mentioned that I would have a plumber come and remedy the issue and deduct the exspense from my rent, since I pay for water, and the leaking was quickly getting worse and THEN he responds and says he's on his way to fix it.
I notified him about loose steps and after receiving no feedback or promise to fix it, I decided to send a certified letter letting him know that I will not be renewing my lease. I have another place lined up, but now the new landlord cannot get in touch with my current landlord to verify my rental history (which, by the way is stellar: never a late payment and even though the house is slowly falling apart, I just notify to cover myself and keep him abreast; I don't complain).
The prospective landlord asked me to get in touch with my landlord since they have left several messages and recieved no reply. I offered my new landlord to show them cancelled checks as proof of my rental history - haven't heard back from them yet to see if that's acceptable, however, in the mean time, do I have any recourse to get my current landlord to respond? Does he have an obligation to return the prosepective landlord's calls? I'm in a real tough rental market so I know if my landlord takes too long to respond or doesn't respond at all, the new landlord can easily find another tenant.
What can I do to get my landlord to return calls?
A LL has no obligation to return a call or give a reference. I actually take anything said by LLs with a grain of salt, because even if you were a crappy tenant a LL may say you’re the best just to get rid of you. (Same with personal references)
I go by what I get in the background check and the whole interview process. If we get to that stage
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81
^Posts like this make me happy I'm not a renter, and pray I never will be again.
Some people like to protect their investments. I know that I am pretty stringent on acceptance. You can’t meet my requirements we don’t do business.
That's how my lawyer advised I answer. No arguments to be had with vague nonsense.
I don't return voicemails so if someone is calling for a reference they have to get me to pick up. It's nothing personal it just isn't worth my time to return a call, I used to play phone tag but it's just a waste of time.
Do you require prospective tenants to have a landlord reference?
I don’t know what your policy is, but it seems highly hypocritical in any sense for a landlord to require a landlord reference, but be unwilling to give them out. Essentially “ I need this when you move in, but I won’t be giving a reference when you move out”.
I personally think a landlord reference is the most overrated aspect of renting anyway. You can barely say anything over fear or being accused of slander, and a landlord is going to give an awesome reference to a bad tenant they want gone. So I’m not sure anything of value can be gained.
Do you require prospective tenants to have a landlord reference?
I don’t know what your policy is, but it seems highly hypocritical in any sense for a landlord to require a landlord reference, but be unwilling to give them out. Essentially “ I need this when you move in, but I won’t be giving a reference when you move out”.
I personally think a landlord reference is the most overrated aspect of renting anyway. You can barely say anything over fear or being accused of slander, and a landlord is going to give an awesome reference to a bad tenant they want gone. So I’m not sure anything of value can be gained.
I said I don't return calls, I still answer them.
I find very limited value in references of any kind, I'll never even contact a current landlord for the reason you mentioned. If a landlord has a problem with a tenant that means anything then there is a court record. Otherwise, there isn't much a landlord can say to sway me one way or the other.
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