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If you’re a landlord, and you’ve been in the situation whereby your tenant either flat-out ignores you or takes forever and a day to respond (particularly to important issues), I know you’ll understand my current frustrations.
*Deep breathes*
From a landlord’s perspective, there’s very little else that can elevate frustrations to these dizzy heights. It’s one of those situations where if you’re not in it, you probably won’t ever understand. So while the rest of the world may think we’re overreacting money-grabbing bastards, we bloody know our anger and frustrations are justified. Oh, WE KNOW!
Generally, tenant’s miraculously turn mute when they’re late on rent or refusing to vacate after being served notice. FRUSTRATING, FRUSTRATING, FRUSTRATING!
But then, on those extraordinarily rare and mind-boggling occasions, you’ll be haunted with one of those absolute nut-job tenants, the ones that ignore for no apparent reason other than pleasure. Now, they’re the dangerous pricks you really want to be careful of, because they’re unpredictable, and clearly act belligerent for no rhyme or reason. It’s frightfully confusing. Alas, I’ve bagged myself one of those assholes.
Although, it doesn’t really matter why they’re ignoring you, the fact it is they are, and it’s frustrating beyond belief. Whatever the reason.
My tenant continually tests my patience
My tenant is slowly starting to grind away at my patience, and it’s anyone’s guess what will happen when there’s nothing left to grind away at. But it will be ugly.
I’m not entirely sure if he enjoys fucking with me, or whether he has a legitimate disability preventing him from responding to any of my attempts of communication in a reasonable time frame. Either way, his lack of common courtesy is getting right on my tits.
My idea of a reasonable response period is 48 hours. For example, if I send a text message to my tenant, I expect a response within 48 hours. Anything beyond that is deemed as inappropriate, rude and extremely irritating. Of course, the usual exceptions apply, like a life-threatening illness.
It shouldn’t take more than 48 hours for a regular human with a regular functioning brain and regular functioning fingers to respond to a text message, right? Last I checked, my tenant ticked those boxes, although I didn’t initially realise he also ticked the “I can be a frustrating little cu*t” box.
Responding to a text message or phone call takes literally seconds, right? Either of those actions can even be accomplished while multitasking. For example, while taking a dump. So it’s not like any precious time even has to be lost (if that’s a concern of his).
Even if I’m busy beyond belief, I still manage to respond to people pretty quickly (because it doesn’t take long). Am I exceptionally nice? No, I’m just bloody normal.
Granted, sometimes I may genuinely forget to respond, others may too, and that’s perfectly fine. However, this particular tenant ALWAYS ignores my initial attempts of communication, and that’s no coincidence. I literally ALWAYS have to send him multiple text messages and phone calls before he responds. And it literally takes him a minimum of 7 days to respond. It’s beyond boring and irritating.
When the slimy cockroach does eventually surface and respond, I’m greeted with a lame excuse that I could have done without hearing (e.g. I left my phone up my dad’s arse over the weekend), because my urge for wanting to hack his penis off with a rusty blade is only heightened by his pitiful excuses. Spare him!
I swear he just gets a kick out of the chase. It’s almost as if he wants me to “earn” his attention. JUST REPLY LIKE A NORMAL PERSON! Know what I mean?
Don’t get me wrong, he’s generally a good tenant; he pays his rent every month, even though it’s consistently late. But that’s actually why I have to contact him EVERY month, to remind him to pay.
The reason I’m ranting about this now is because I text my tenant 2 days ago and he hasn’t responded yet. I’m now about to embark on what he has made into a routine journey, which consists of me chasing his dumb arse with more text messages and missed phone calls (he never picks up). I have no doubt that he’ll eventually respond with his routinely shitty excuse, which appears to be more and more creative each time, followed by his plans to pay the due rent.
I’m grateful he pays rent; I understand the situation could be a lot worse because he could just ignore me altogether. I also appreciate that in the grand scheme of things, the situation isn’t all that bad. Nonetheless, it’s still fucking irritating. If anything, his attitude is just plain rude and unnecessary.
Have you been in a similar situation?
I’m pretty sure this is a pretty common issue for both landlord and tenant, because I hear about it all the time. Obviously it’s not just tenants that like to play the silence game; landlords are also known for being dip-shit mutes, especially when something needs repairing and money needs to be spent.
What’s your story? Please share…
What should you do if your tenant doesn’t respond to your attempts of communication?
These are my rough guidelines and tips…
- Firstly, try to contact your tenant with phone calls and/or text messages. Try to be a little patient, and don’t go overboard with the texts/phone calls. Apparently there’s a fine line between trying to get someone’s attention and harassment.
- If the above fails, write a letter, sent by recorded delivery so there’s proof of receipt. Always keep copies of the letters for your own records.
- If there is no response within 14 days, try writing another letter. Again, keep copies and send it recorded delivery.
- DO NOT attempt to enter the property on your own will unless it is an emergency e.g. health and safety issue (it is best to seek professional advice on what constitutes as an “emergency”).
- If you’re still not getting any response, seek professional advice. The best place to start is contacting a professional tenant eviction company like Legal4Landlords, who are currently offering free legal advice to landlords with problematic tenants.
- From what I’m told, the court will look for evidence that demonstrates that the landlord tried his/her best to contact the tenant. So it’s important to keep logs of all communication attempts e.g. letters, phone calls, text messages.
Disclaimer: I'm just a landlord blogger; I'm 100% not qualified to give legal or financial advice. I'm a doofus. Any information I share is my unqualified opinion, and should never be construed as professional legal or financial advice. You should definitely get advice from a qualified professional for any legal or financial matters. For more information, please read my full disclaimer.
Why are you bothering to text to remind the tenant to pay? A firm letter telling them that the are breaking their contract and that if it continues then you will have no option to seek increased rent payments to cover the interest lost by their actions. Be polite then kick em out and get someone else in your property