Tenants: How do you justify not paying rent? (lease, tenant, eviction)
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Recently, it's been hard times for several of our tenants. We understand and accomodate those who warn us the rent will be late, give us a date by which they plan to pay and pay the late fee without further prompting.
We have also accomodate those who need to pay a little at a time until they are caught up. We have one, a single mom with two kids, who pays weekly on a monthly rent. She is behind but always pays something, and catches up each year when she gets her tax returns. She's been our tenant for two years. She requires a lot of extra tracking and work, but eventually,she pays.
To us, a good tenant in the hand (even if a slow pay) is better than two in the bush. Better the devil you know and all that...
So how do some people justify not saying ANYTHING, waiting until the rent is late, requiring me to hunt them down and then get OFFENDED when we ask them where the money is? Do they think they can live rent free just because? Because why?
Don't these people realize that mortgage companies won't cut ME any slack? If I don't pay the mortgage, I lose the house (THEIR house).
Before everyone starts yelling, yes we keep our places maintained. We own them, we want to keep the, we want to profit on their sale someday - we are good landlords. Period. It's just been a tough time in the area where we own housing.
sometimes, strange things happen in the minds of folks that rent. one morning for no good reason at all, just wake up and say, i like it here but i dont wana pay rent anymore.
the french call this "le cliente, il veux pas payer"
this is just before the cafe manager called the cops and has his butt hauled off to jail.
a lil more complicated here but
i have seen people snap out of it when faced with actually packing and leaving.
this can happen with good tenants that have been there a long long time.
its a strange thing.
Last edited by Huckleberry3911948; 11-24-2007 at 02:36 PM..
Reason: typo
Recently, it's been hard times for several of our tenants. We understand and accomodate those who warn us the rent will be late, give us a date by which they plan to pay and pay the late fee without further prompting.
We have also accomodate those who need to pay a little at a time until they are caught up. We have one, a single mom with two kids, who pays weekly on a monthly rent. She is behind but always pays something, and catches up each year when she gets her tax returns. She's been our tenant for two years. She requires a lot of extra tracking and work, but eventually,she pays.
To us, a good tenant in the hand (even if a slow pay) is better than two in the bush. Better the devil you know and all that...
So how do some people justify not saying ANYTHING, waiting until the rent is late, requiring me to hunt them down and then get OFFENDED when we ask them where the money is? Do they think they can live rent free just because? Because why?
Don't these people realize that mortgage companies won't cut ME any slack? If I don't pay the mortgage, I lose the house (THEIR house).
Before everyone starts yelling, yes we keep our places maintained. We own them, we want to keep the, we want to profit on their sale someday - we are good landlords. Period. It's just been a tough time in the area where we own housing.
As a tenant I find the question insulting and offensive. I have never been late with my rent and when I was a homeowner in England, I was never late on my mortgage either.
The only...ONLY time I have refused to pay rent was when my landlord had consistently failed to fix a serious problem with my unit. A friend of my dad's is a lawyer and is an expert on tenant law in Texas, and he advised me to withhold rent until the problem was fixed. It was all perfectly legal; and I even showed them a bank statement to prove that I did have the money...I was just refusing to pay because the unit was in an unlivable condition. They fixed the problem, and I paid the rent. It's disgusting that I had to get to that point, though; and it was all their fault and completely avoidable. If they had understood that tenants have rights too, it never would have happened.
Well I agree it's insulting. It's still a valid question. I have children who are renters. They would never dream of NOT paying.
I totally understand tenants have rights. I was a tenant for much of my life. I never didn't pay. I was skeered not to.
As a landlord, I am skeered to not fix what a tenant says needs to be fixed - really - so overall we should all be happy, no?
If you were my landlord, maybe; but in my place the water pressure is crap and the tub is installed improperly. I had to put those splash guards on it so that the bathroom doesn't flood when I take a shower since water literally flows from the tub ledge right onto the floor. I'd love to see them try and charge me for putting those in at my own expense.
Every time I've brought up an issue with the unit...well, the two times I did...they didn't care a bit. Not one bit.
Also, due to a mistake the property managers made, I ended up with two washers and two dryers in this place; one set belonging to the property owner,the other belonging to me. It was their fault that that happened, but did they do anything to resolve the problem? Nope; they just told me that it was MY problem and I had to come up with a solution. Outrageous.
Once my lease is up, I'm going to tell those property managers to dine on my excrement. But not in such a nice way.
I don't find your question insulting at all... I think it is good that we have this forum for exchanging ideas. Sometimes, all it takes is looking at something from an other's point of view to gain a better understanding.
I tend to like the straight forward approach... or as I've heard in Texas... taking the Bull by the Horns. Don't make the manager track you down, but rather, be up front about it and offer a solution.
On the other hand, I know someone that was ducking his apt manager because he was behind on rent. He said that he would not answer the door when the manager knocked because he was sure he would be served notice.
Along comes the Loma prieta earth quake and the unit was red tagged. The property owner could not have been any nicer assisting everyone was able to gather their belongings... nothing was ever said about the back rent and he never had to pay it...
I wouldn't count on a earthquake to avoid paying rent.
As for the improper tub install mentioned above... A properly installed tub enclosure, i.e. glass shower doors, would eliminate the water problem.
When I fisrt started on my own, right after separating before my divorce, it was very hard to keep up on rent a couple of times but my landlord worked with me and I have to agree, as long as you make the effort, even if its only paying so much every paycheck till youre caught up, its better than not paying at all. Remember that your rental history goes with you everywhere you go so even if you decide to bail, you might be surprised how fast word gets around.
I have a friend back in Az who was evicted from her apt. Not even 5 days had gone by when she was served, it was already on her credit report and she had a tough time finding a place that would take someone with an eviction. She finally found one but it cost her a ton of money to get in...I know because I gae her a little financial boost, to help her to get in, so she wouldnt have to move in with me, lol.
As for the improper tub install mentioned above... A properly installed tub enclosure, i.e. glass shower doors, would eliminate the water problem.
Sure, that would take care of it; but I'm not going to put that in myself and if I asked them to, I'm sure they'd say no. The splash guards are working fine for now.
I also have problem renters- 3 different units, all decided no rent this month.
Units are like new....just ended up with redneck tenants. going through eviction process right now. Two of them actually lied every week that the rent wuld be paid on "wednesday". The minute I give anyone a break, I get burned. No money for Christmas for my family this year. All our saving are going into keeping up mortgage on this building. We have been landlords for 10 years. This particular group of people only care about themselves and seem to think we need to support them. Go figure. This has been so nerve wracking we are trying to get out of the rental business. Never again will I deal with anyone under these circumstances. you never win.
Yeah, it's like, "Sorry, we had a bad month." Hmm. Ours wasn't so lovely either. "Christmas is coming." For us too, bozo. Etc. etce tc.
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Reasonable Question...
