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I have been a landlord for a while, and often have great referrals from former tenants. But recently I had a bit of an odd encounter.
Referral was a guy in his 40s, former law enforcement, which is usually great as they keep an eye on things well. Met him, showed him the place, which is pretty small (1100 square foot house with small fenced yard-- not vacant until mid-July.) He started asking for 3 parking spaces for his car, truck and boat-- there is only one dedicated space, but he could purchase others in a paid lot across the street. The neighbor is African American-- honestly the best neighbor I have for any of my properties-- and he said "Is THAT guy OKAY?" a few times in a very pointed way. It made me uncomfortable. I finally said "What do you mean by that? I told you that he's a great neighbor." and he stopped asking.
He then proceeded to tell me that he's downsizing from 5000 sq ft and will have his son stay with him now and again because he has been through a bad divorce. Son is in his 20s. I said fine, but the layout of the place is not conducive for a lot of privacy as they would share a bath. In short, I didn't think he was all that interested and was being polite.
A few weeks later he started calling me and asking when he could move in, saying he needed to July 1. I said the place isn't ready until the end of July at the soonest. He then said "Okay. August 1st. Give me a lease." I have not even really posted that its available yet but I get a bad feeling about this guy. I have not taken any applications or run credit as he was a referral and I just showed him out of courtesy.
I don't want to rent to him. Any advice on how to put that nicely?
I am not accepting applications yet since it will not be ready until late July. Would you like to be notified once it I am accepting applications? Then just find someone else if he is still interested when the time comes.
Trust your gut. I agree with you that something seems wrong. He is being a bit pushy and he's not even in yet.
You must tell him that he has not been approved to rent from you yet and that you will get back to him when you are ready to take applications.
If you don't make it clear that he has not been accepted, in his squirrely little mind, he appears to believe that the place is his and it could get ugly in the future if you don't get that idea out of his head right now.
Then, I suggest that you conveniently lose his phone number. If he does get back to you later, let him and his son apply and pay the application fee and then find a legal reason to reject his application.
I've got a bit in my written criteria about rejecting anyone who sexually harasses, or racially harasses, or bullies, or abuses, anyone in their own party, the landlord or landlord's employees, or the neighbors. So if he applied with me I'd simply reject him for bullying me and his apparent problem with the minority neighbor. I don't give reasons, though, just say that they didn't meet my written criteria.(unless it is the credit report).
Seriously, OP, you need a very extensive written rental criteria that you apply evenly and fairly to everyone who applies. Have all sorts of odd things in the criteria and every time you get an applicant who is weird, figure out what it is that you don't want and add that thing to your written criteria. As long as nothing in your criteria is illegal discrimination, you can reject for all sorts of things that you prefer to not deal with.
When you reject an applicant, keep a record of the reason you rejected. Just in case. As long as you are not practicing illegal discrimination, it is pretty rare to have a housing complaint filed against you, but if it happens, you will need your documentation.
You must tell him that he has not been approved to rent from you yet and that you will get back to him when you are ready to take applications.
If you don't make it clear that he has not been accepted, in his squirrely little mind, he appears to believe that the place is his and it could get ugly in the future if you don't get that idea out of his head right now.
Then, I suggest that you conveniently lose his phone number. If he does get back to you later, let him and his son apply and pay the application fee and then find a legal reason to reject his application.
I've got a bit in my written criteria about rejecting anyone who sexually harasses, or racially harasses, or bullies, or abuses, anyone in their own party, the landlord or landlord's employees, or the neighbors. So if he applied with me I'd simply reject him for bullying me and his apparent problem with the minority neighbor. I don't give reasons, though, just say that they didn't meet my written criteria.(unless it is the credit report).
Seriously, OP, you need a very extensive written rental criteria that you apply evenly and fairly to everyone who applies. Have all sorts of odd things in the criteria and every time you get an applicant who is weird, figure out what it is that you don't want and add that thing to your written criteria. As long as nothing in your criteria is illegal discrimination, you can reject for all sorts of things that you prefer to not deal with.
When you reject an applicant, keep a record of the reason you rejected. Just in case. As long as you are not practicing illegal discrimination, it is pretty rare to have a housing complaint filed against you, but if it happens, you will need your documentation.
I do have such criteria and its worked well in the past. But this is a bit tricky as I never gave him an application, nor did he ask me for one. He didn't seem interested until a few weeks after I showed the place-- during the tour, he definitely gave off the vibe that it was not a big enough space.
This is how I would go about it: "look, I'm not taking applications til the work is done or near done. I don't want to enter into a lease with you and be forced to back out of it because xyz contractor is behind or there was more work to be done."
I've had similar situations come up before. I've even had ones where people haven't applied OR seen the house, and called me up to say that they are ready to move in today, when can they pick up the keys and sign the lease.
I just flat out tell them that we don't rent properties without an approved application, credit check, background check, employment verification (or proof of funds for retirees) and a showing of the property.
In your case, you have only done 1 of those things, plus if you really aren't even accepting applications yet, you tell him that.
I agree that he thinks you have agreed to rent it to him. He probably isn't even looking for anything else, so if you don't tell him, very clearly, with no confusion or room for misunderstanding, that he isn't approved at this time, he may find himself homeless and you will have to keep fighting with him. In my opinion, what JONOV said leaves room for him to continue to assume you will rent it to him later, but just don't want to sign the lease yet.
I do have such criteria and its worked well in the past. But this is a bit tricky as I never gave him an application, nor did he ask me for one. He didn't seem interested until a few weeks after I showed the place-- during the tour, he definitely gave off the vibe that it was not a big enough space.
What have you been saying to him? How long ago did he say he wanted a lease starting Aug 1st?
Assuming you haven't replied yet:
"Sorry, just saw your email. I assumed you weren't interested because the property wasn't large enough and there wasn't enough parking.
I'm not even taking applications yet because the property may not be ready until fall. Best of luck on finding a place."
I've had similar situations come up before. I've even had ones where people haven't applied OR seen the house, and called me up to say that they are ready to move in today, when can they pick up the keys and sign the lease.
I just flat out tell them that we don't rent properties without an approved application, credit check, background check, employment verification (or proof of funds for retirees) and a showing of the property.
In your case, you have only done 1 of those things, plus if you really aren't even accepting applications yet, you tell him that.
I agree that he thinks you have agreed to rent it to him. He probably isn't even looking for anything else, so if you don't tell him, very clearly, with no confusion or room for misunderstanding, that he isn't approved at this time, he may find himself homeless and you will have to keep fighting with him. In my opinion, what JONOV said leaves room for him to continue to assume you will rent it to him later, but just don't want to sign the lease yet.
I did tell him in writing after his last communication that I could not commit to renting to him and that he should look for another place. I said that this property is not available at this time and I had not decided hen it would be available as we need to do work after the current tenant leaves. He responded that he wanted me to "recommend something else in the area" which is really odd, as he said he lived in the area and can easily become familiar with the rental market. I am wondering if this is how he ended up being sent my way.
I responded that I can't recommend anything for him as I am not familiar with any rentals other than those that I own, but there are lots of apartment websites that should show him what he needs.
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