Have you ever had tenants from hell? We sure have had our share of them during the last decade of owning properties but none that compares with the one that we currently have. Thanks to the property-management company that handles our properties, we avoid having to deal with those tenants directly.
Part of me feels sorry for this tenant, a wife, whose husband stays out of the controversy. I cannot fathom being in her shoes and never being able to have peace of mind about life.
- She appears to have some sort of deep-rooted anger issues. For example, our trusted plumbing company’s scheduler now refuses to take calls from her because of abusive language and screaming over the phone that happened on multiple occasions.
- She lies. For example, she complained that water was leaking from plumbing in the hallway. The plumber, in turn, confirmed that there was no plumbing there. Coupled with the smell, he concluded that the moisture on the carpet was due to their dog having peed there.
- She is highly intelligent. She knows that most judges in the state of Michigan would give the benefit of the doubt to protect tenants over the property owners. These judges can be compassionate toward those who do not pay rent – i.e., those who are breaking the contractual agreement – because the cost of their compassion is borne by the property owners, not the judges themselves. It must be nice to be able to be the “good guy” at someone else’s expense.
My question to our property manager was, “How did we end up with this tenant from hell?” The answer was, “Sometimes, we receive applicants with no negative prior record.”
A few weeks later, at one of the monthly property-owner meetings, I asked the owner of another property-management company if this was truly an unavoidable situation. His answer was, “Rare but, yes, it does happen once in a great while.”
Keeping a very long story short, her one-year lease is about to expire, thank goodness!
Happy investing!
