Why Do I Have To Chase My Tenant For Rent And Listen To His Lame Excuses?
Written by The Landlord on 18 Nov 2010
Question:
Why Do I Have To Chase My Tenant For Rent And Listen To His Lame Excuses?
Answer:
Because he’s a douche-bag.
One of the most frustrating aspects about being a landlord is having to chase rent and listen to a bunch of lame excuses to justify why the rent hasn’t been paid.
For the last two consecutive months my tenant has been 8-14 days late paying rent. Granted, he actually paid rent, which I’ve been both pleased and relieved about, but the process of extracting the money from him has been tiresome and beyond irritating. I’ve had to endure excuses which he clearly clawed from the bottom of a barrel, and that hasn’t been a pleasant experience.
He KNOWS rent is due on the 10th of every month. He knows because he’s been paying it on time for the past 4 months. If he’s unsure, he can even refer to the Tenancy Agreement. So the motherfucker knows, and if he happened to bang his head and forget, he can refer to the terms and conditions of the tenancy!
Tenant’s excuse for not paying rent on time last month
Last month his excuse was that he was “working away”. Ok, so what? Transfer the money into my account as USUAL! The standing order is already setup, so what difference does it make?
Then he said his boss was paying him a week later than usual, so he didn’t have the money in his account for the standing order to go through.
Then he kept telling me he would drop off the money and then fail to do so. Shit like that pisses me off. It just makes the entire situation worse.
Anyways, eventually, after 14 days of waiting around and sending SMS “reminders”, he posted cash through my letterbox. I’m still not entirely sure why he never transferred the money electronically. It seemed a bit odd, but I couldn’t be arsed to question his methods because he did pay rent.
He then assured me there wouldn’t be a problem the following month. He said he was just having one of those months.
Hey, I’m not a complete insensitive prick. I know people go through those periods, so I wasn’t that flared up about the situation. I was just a little annoyed that he messed me about.
Tenant’s excuse for not paying rent on time this month
Rent was due on the 10th (AS USUAL), but it never arrived. Again, I had to send him a text message enquiring where the rent is. Once again, he said he would drop the cash through my letterbox in the coming days. I still failed to understand why. Why not just continue transferring the money electronically as previously? Why go through all this hassle of coming to my house with cash?
Anyways, I don’t know what the dude is up to, but he seems to be comfortable with the excuse, “I’m working away a lot, so I can’t drop it off until I’m back in town”
I don’t know if the guy got a new job or what because he NEVER used to “work away” a lot, and he never used to pay cash.
It all seems a bit dodgy. But whatever, he can suck cocks for a living for all I care, just as long as he pays rent and stops giving me weird excuses that don’t make sense.
I wasn’t at all surprised when the cash wasn’t deposited through my letterbox when he said it would be. Instead, I was greeted with a text message apologising, saying that the cash machine had swallowed his card, consequently was unable to withdraw cash. He assured me it will be done in the next few days *yawn*
The rent is £750 per month. Can you even withdrawal more than £300 from a cash machine in one go?
After a few more days of chasing and being ignored, I eventually saw the cash-envelope laying on my porch floor. He was 14 days late the last month, and 8 days late this month.
Bottom line…
I appreciate people go through rough times, which will cause delays in paying rent, and I can even sympathise. I can legitimately accept tenants making late payments as long as it’s not too frequent, and as long as it doesn’t come attached with dog-shit excuses.
Moreover, I shouldn’t have to “CHASE” for rent, that’s what gets to me the most. Cut the crap and tell me when I’ll get the money, so I don’t have to waste time chasing.
Anyways, I’m relieved he paid, but slightly agitated. I wonder how next month will pan out…
Rant over.
What’s the worst excuse you’ve received from a tenant?
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11 Comments - join the conversation...
It must drive you nuts knowing that you chose this as a lifestyle!? :)
Dan
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Cheers, Eleri
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Worst excuse so far from tenant "Oh it's not my fault because the estate agents gave my company account department the wrong bank details.." This may be true but he did nothing to resolve this issue for 3 payments and wasted a lot of my precious time chasing everyone (who incidentally can't do their jobs properly). This shouldn't effect how I/we behave as Landlords no point in wasting energy on getting even or 'one-up-man-ship' as then we're the ones with the ego problems, set the right example.
Thorough Research by you alone on the tenant is key for peace of mind. Look for professionals tied into contracted work that aren't likely to get the sack.. Easier said than done right?
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Tenant 'X' told me his best friends father had been killed in a drive by shooting in Chicago. Unfortunately, his best friend had been killed on 9/11 in the twin towers and was therefore not able to take care of funeral arrangements - so he was having to do it.
To cut a long stort short Tenant 'X' subsequently ended up in police custody and found guilty of deception against me. One of the many things the police questioned he about was the above - which he confirmed to be true. However, when asked for his friends name to verify the story he 'cracked', turned on the tears and admitted it was all made up. What a muppet!!!
Incidently...this same guy had about 10 relatives who all had terminal cancer - I think his mother died twice, lol
PS...love the blog, highly entertaining & reassuring I'm not the only one with 'issues'
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Thanks you all for your comments.
@TheAgent
haha "I fell asleep on the sofa and my friend came in to my house and nicked my rent off me" That's an amazing excuse. The most amusing one i've heard so far! Even if by some miracle that was true, I wouldn't even admit to it!
@eleri
I agree, you should always serve notice as soon as possible if you're at all concerned. However, you can only serve notice if the tenant is 8 weeks in arrears. Not sure if the judge was completely accurate with his advice (surprisingly)!
@Dudud
No doubt, comes with the job. Being a landlord requires a lot of patience and tolerance. If you're neither of those, being a landlord might be a real struggle, and consequently you may end up starting a ranting blog and be a right old moany git! Imagine that!
@lesley
Haaa! Your tenant really took comfort with the "someone died" excuse. I always think that's extremely bad karma! I don't know how people can pretend someone died and feel comfortable with it.
The problem is, as proved, once you start faking multiple deaths, it's easy to kill the same person multiple times lol!
Glad you like the blog. Many thanks!! :)
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The only landlord's worth dealing with are the over 55's, because you can bet your house (sic) they've paid off the mortgage, or close to it. The rest of you second homeowners are greedy and keeping up appearances. Pathetic. I laugh at the idiots who sneer, 'I'd never rent, I don't want to pay someone else's mortgage', but landlord's are the most desperate bunch, puffed up with self-interest but completely reliant on the money they screw out of their occupiers to keep the property. My last landlord was charging me 900 quid a month for a converted one bed (into two) which I subsequently found out was riddled with chronic damp and electrical problems- then had the breathtaking audacity to boast about a seafront property he owned which only cost 400 quid a month rent...'tut, tut, these house prices in London eh? It's amazing how the rent drops when you go outside the M25' (!!!!)
Makes you feel good does it? Superior? Successful in life? You're dealing with human beings, try acting like one yourselves.
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Surely that's like saying, "I'll wager at least 75% of you desperately need a job to pay your mortgage/rent"?
Renting property is a job for landlords. They rely on tenants to pay the rent. I don't understand the problem- why is that a bad thing? It's just like anyone that has a mortgage relies on their employer to keep them employed.
If that broken argument is the best you have to offer, you should probably just give up.
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Nonsense. Every landlord I've ever had was gainfully employed elsewhere, in certain cases with very well remunerated careers like Law and Medicine; they still didn't earn enough to maintain their second homes though, which is why they were so desperate to have somebody in there paying their mortgage for them. Being a landlord is not a job unless it's your sole source of income, and in 20 years I've not met a single person who qualified for that comment. It's a bad thing because these people are driven by greed and vanity, living well beyond their means and expecting those of us who can't get on the property ladder to prop up their fake lives paying extortionate rent, reducing our ability to accumulate the savings necessary for a deposit of our own. As for relying on your employer to pay your mortgage, I've never read anything so ridiculous in my life. Ever heard of Mortgage Protection Insurance? You can even get rent paid for up to a year with the right insurer, which always makes me chuckle because I know the fuss you people make about HB claimants, despite the fact that money can be paid directly to you without even greasing the palm of the tenant. Stop pretending you care where the money comes from, because one thing's for certain, it aint coming from your pocket. That people on this board have the sheer audacity to sneer at tenants for not paying their rent on time when they can't afford it themselves - we're talking bottom-rung low. Get over yourselves. Fast.
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I initially started this website because I wanted to document my every step from property idiot to property landlord,
in hope that people would find my site and help me along the way. I literally didn't have a clue about being a landlord
when I started this website.
Oh another was my benefit money hasn't been paid.... that's funny coz I'm sure I saw you in the bank yesterday exchanging your sterling rent money for forgein currency.
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