Comments on: The Shit I Hate About Being A Landlord

By: jon

jon — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:54:26 +0000

ideal to charge the best market rent you can to cover for contingencies or tenant cleaning services as majority of tenants will never look after your property like their own. remember they have a generous amount of rights and privileges. Careful of those males who come from India they will be unlikely to clean as I’ve been told it is below their dignity, most still think it is the females job and it is possible they are used to a lower standard of cleanliness. Be tough in mind, if you don’t provide cleaning services, and they live with you, tell them to clean, if they don’t, tell them you are not a door mat and give them one month’s notice because you may face further distress having to clean behind their own mess. Providing cleaning products may help but won’t encourage them. The best solution is to enforce a high monthly charge for cleaning services which they will fail to agree to. This means better agree cleaning rotas in the contract as a non negotiable condition of stay.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 06:46:44 +0000

You know, George, you couldn’t be more right. There are good and bad landlords and tenants everywhere in our world. I consider myself a responsible landlord. I’ve owned and managed 13 apartments since 1997 located in Alton, Illinois, a small southern town in the heart of the United States. Looking back over the years, despite having had a lot of good tenants, I really wouldn’t recommend being a landlord to anyone because of some of the bad tenants I’ve had to deal with. When tenants stop paying their rent, it can be devistating, especially when a landlord owes bills, property taxes and a mortgage, and rent payments are the only income that a landlord might have. But there will always be landlords because there are a lot of folks in the world that have to rent or chose to rent instead. In America, anybody that owns property must pay yearly property taxes, which is also like paying rent. Property owners in America don’t really “own” there property, the government does. If anyone out there is thinking about becoming a landlord, take my advice and DON’T put yourself in the position to be in a hurry to rent your property by going in debt or quiting your day job. You WILL regret it! The first thing you need to do is obtain a few examples of other landlord’s rental applications and then sit down and write out your own rental application based on what those other landlords have come up. Second, make sure you get at least 3 references from anyone whom you might be thinking of renting to, CHECKING THEM OUT before you rent the place! Third, try to do some sort of background check on anyone you are considering renting to before you rent to them. A background check should eliminate those that try to deceive you into thinking they would make a great tenant. Finally, make sure you have a written lease, clearly listing all of your rules and terms on it for the tenant to sign, before you hand over the key. This is also the time when you get their deposit, first AND LAST (that’s right, I said the word “LAST”) month’s rent from them. Collecting that “last month’s rent payment” in advance along with a deposit and the first month’s rent will definitely help take out the sting should they ever stop paying you rent or skip out on you in the middle of their lease. Now, you may be thinking to yourself right now… “Yeah right, if I require that the last month’s rent be paid in advance, that will just turn them off and they would simply go rent from somebody else”. Well, if that happens then let them go and then you wait for somebody else to come along that IS willing to pay all of it to you up front. Trust me, you will be GLAD you waited, believe me. Remember, there are a lot of good people out there who have no choice but to rent. The key to being a successful landlord and actully enjoying being a landlord is having enough patience with very little debt so you can afford to wait for a better tenant to show up at your doorstep with money in hand. If you get in a hurry because you have bills to pay, a mortgage to maintain or because you are falling behind on those damn property taxes, then you have no business being a landlord because managing rental property with the pressure of hefty debts to pay means that you’ll constantly be treading on thin ice while trying to make a go of it. All it would take is for one or two bad tenants to make all your effort go down the drain. DEFINITELY DON’T TRY TO BE A LANDLORD IF IT MEANS YOU HAVE TO GO INTO DEBT TO DO SO!!! You will only make a lousy landlord in the process.

By: George

George — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:29:42 +0000

This is very simple.
There are good and bad landlords and tenants.

The fact is that tenant’s can just stop paying the rent and abandon the property. Whereas a landlord is left there having to pay the cost because the law has it that it would not be economically viable to trace and take the tenant to court.

We can all come up with bad experiences but the landlord is left more at risk than any tenant.

By: zumba 123

zumba 123 — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:18:26 +0000

my landlord is a prick he as promised to fix my gas fire (needs chimney lineing and a flue) this as been going on for 2 years he as promised and promised to sort it out but as now told me he not fixing it or getting something to replace it as him and his son have decided we are only tennents he as told us we can buy a electric fire with surround or fix the gas fire

He as no mortgage on the property it was his grandparents he works as a pension and inhereted £300,000 in the past few years i went to school with his children and have known him since i was a child i am not paying rent this month

HIS WORDS I AM NOT PAYING THAT MUCH YOUR ONLY A TENNENT

MOST LANDLORDS ARE NICE MINE IS A PRICK

By: kim

kim — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:58:58 +0000

my landlord is a total prick, every time it rains heavy for days a few days later i start to get big damp marks down my walls and ceiling, i ring my landlord and he says that because its not leaking there is nothing he can do about it.

This started in my living room about 3months ago i reported it and he apparently sorted out the problem however it has now started in the hall way and in the bedroom and im scared that the ceiling may come through.

what are my rights with this problem please help me !!

By: KGB

KGB — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:37:38 +0000

I understand what you mean, but the perks outweigh the downside – i.e. we get someone else to pay our mortgages for us and, luckily, because we’ve managed to buy up a lot of starter homes and contribute to the house price inflation that has killed the dream of millions of young couples to ever own their own home, our tenants have no choice but to do so.

And we landlords get called selfless shitbags? Why, I ask, why?

By: The Landlord

The Landlord — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:33:05 +0000

@Kiki,
What are you talking about? Did you even read the opening disclaimer?

“Over the past few years I’ve spent a large portion of time talking about the perks of being a landlord; consequently I’ve managed to neglect discussing the skid-marks of the profession”

I love being a landlord. I just wrote this article so novice or prospective landlords are fully aware of the issues that may arise when being a landlord. Perhaps they can then decide whether they want to deal with the potential problems that may occur.

If I only wrote about one side (the positives) of being a landlord, this blog would be useless.

I don’t understand how you managed to miss that.

By: kiki

kiki — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 07:36:43 +0000

I don’t really understand this artical, this is all really obvious stuff that you accept being a landlord. Just get on with it like we all have to. I can’t stand people complaining about what they do for a living, so far as to write an artical about it. If you hated it that much you wouldn’t be a landlord. Before you say ‘I can’t change my situation because of blah blah’ I don’t want to hear it, use your brain, change your life, make it better, do something that doesn’t turn you into a bitter person. I love being a landlord, I work hard, I over come difficulties, it’s challenging.

By: kim

kim — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:15:54 +0000

I love being a landlord- its my destiny in life- I’ve been doing it for almost 40 years.
Why? I am providing a great service. Most of my tenants have been well chosen, (extensive background checks) and when the occassional one gets out of line they are jumped on immediately.
If they need a new fridge ,they get one, no whinging from me, and if something needs fixing they know it will be done within 10 working days, emergencies like no heating within 24 hours.
My tenants may not love me but they respect me and I respect them as my customers.
And because I have the correct insurances in place, non payment of rent or having to evict is not a problem (there are less problems with these anyway as the tenants know I have the muscle to deal with their transgression) These things dont give me a headache because I regard them as part of running a business. Amateurs in any business rarely survive or only by knocking years off their lives. Its not how many properties you own that define a professional landlord but how he runs the business.
Most of you whinging landlords have only yourselves to blame.

By: kim

kim — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:02:55 +0000

Danielle: I am a landlord, I would never leave my tenants to suffer in the way you are. You should send your landlord an official complaint listing all the faults and how long you have been waiting for him to deal with them. Be polite. Finish the letter by stating that unless these issues are dealt with within 10 working days you will be sending a copy of the letter to your local council.
This should put the fear of god into him. He will probably know the government has a brand new initiative and is cracking down on inferior rentals. Its true the emphasis is on hmos but they cant ignore complaints on family rentals. If the council is unhelpful (and there are some irresponsible ones) then involve your local mp. Remember the pen is powerful, you’ve just got to pester the right people.
Better still-Youre landlord doesn’t deserve you, consider finding somewhere else to live. He wont get decent tenants with the house in this condition- make sure when he sends people round to view you tell them all the problems.