We had to evict tenants that had been at one of our rentals for more than four years, and it has made me realize I may want to get out of the rental business altogether. We have never had to evict a tenant before and it is a very unpleasant experience even though I am not directly involved. It is especially distressing to me because the tenants had two young children and I feel very badly about the impact on the children.
In June we employed a property manager who is a "no nonsense" type of person. The tenants had been late paying their rent for the last year and a half, but they eventually paid. We even let them pay in two installments to help them but things only continued to deteriorate. Long story short, the tenants were three weeks late in June and did not pay in their July rent, so our manager gave them their three-day notice at the end of July and proceeded to evict them.
What is mind-boggling is that when the manager went to collect the rent, he found a person living there who was not on the lease (she said she was the sister of one of the tenants). This woman told the manager the tenants were on vacation on the Oregon coast. Beats me how you would go on vacation when you haven't even paid the rent. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, so we agreed to the eviction.
Well, the tenants are out and it looks as if we will need the entire month of August and possibly September to get the property rentable again. So far, the house needs new floors throughout, complete painting, major cleaning, and lots of minor repairs. The tenants left tons of garbage and unwanted items, not to mention they lived in filth.
Words cannot describe the stench and the dirt we encountered when we went to see for ourselves today. Their pets (unauthorized) soiled the carpets right down to the sub-floors. This environment is hazardous for children! The once-beautiful back yard is a weed patch and there are oil/grease stains in the garage and driveway.
Believe it or not, this backyard was once pristine and well-manicured with a lush lawn.
This is the sub-floor after the carpets were removed. The stains are from dog urine. The floors have to be treated and sealed before we can replace the carpets. All linoleum also has to be replaced due to gouges.
This is the space next to the refrigerator. The entire house is this dirty.
I am hoping we can get through this nightmare for under $10,000 including the two months of lost rent (assuming we get it rented by September 1). The security deposit will not even cover the cost of hauling the tenant's trash to the dump (broken washer, 12 tires, old CPU, broken desk, dog house, car parts, swing set, toys, etc.). Even if we decide to sell this house, we still have to clean and repair it. We DO NOT need the headache and expense!! To make matters worse, owning rentals gives us no tax advantage due to income limits, so why are we doing this?
Rental Nightmare
August 9th, 2009 at 08:26 pm
August 9th, 2009 at 08:33 pm 1249850013
How simple life would be without tenants!
August 9th, 2009 at 08:42 pm 1249850528
August 9th, 2009 at 08:42 pm 1249850579
August 9th, 2009 at 08:53 pm 1249851188
It's alarming to think children are being raised by parents this irresponsible. Even if they were having financial trouble due to the economy, they still could have kept their house clean.
August 9th, 2009 at 10:07 pm 1249855669
August 10th, 2009 at 03:05 am 1249873530
I am so sorry you have to deal with all this. Ugh!
August 10th, 2009 at 03:38 am 1249875504
August 10th, 2009 at 02:55 pm 1249916148
August 10th, 2009 at 03:25 pm 1249917907
August 10th, 2009 at 08:12 pm 1249935141
the real "funny " part was one renter was given a habitat for humanity house because the house we were renting to her was such a squaller those people can not see its the people not the house that is the problem LOL this squaller of a house wasthe nicest in the neighborhood when we lived in it one year earlier
I have a property manager and I do not ever meet my tenants i allow the manager to conduct business,I want my rent
August 11th, 2009 at 02:39 pm 1250001562
What you say about losing the tax benefit is not really correct. If your income makes it impossible to take excess losses (hopefully paper losses due to depreciation), the losses accrue and can be used to offset capital gains on sales of these or other rental properties. Ask your accountant how much you have in accrued losses, you will probably be very surprised at how much gain you can shelter.
September 18th, 2009 at 09:27 pm 1253309277
Jerry