I guess its more of a very long rant. TL:DR Tried to be as nice as possible, instead got a lot of headache, down on money and now thinking what to change next time. Changed payment dates to accomodate, bought furniture that they asked for, installed AC that also needed new power socket and line from breaker with my own money, fixed broken stuff next day without asking how it broke and paid for urgent repairs, ignored subrenting room to an undisclosed family member, allowed to pay half of rent in january with promise to pay the rest till the end of the year when the contract is up for renewall (without late fees), and in summary there were 4 instances of late or partial payment where I didnt ask for any late fees. In the end they notified me that they just had a new baby, asked to lower the price that is already 15% below market, said they will probably renew even if I dont lower (I havent increased in 3 years at all), and surprised me with less than two weeks notice that they are not renewing and would like half the deposit back, and other half going towards last month. So essentially living last month at 50% discount, and refusing to take accountability for issues left by them. I dont know how to proceed, and not sure how to behave with future tenants (that I need to find on short notice).
I've been renting out a small appartment that I co-own with my brother that we inherited 3 years ago, while we live together and share expenses. We both would have preferred to live separately, but its not possible at the moment, so we've decided to rent it out and be as chill as possible to tenants and rent at a bit below market, because we thought its a bit overinflated for what it is.
Since its not a business for us, We've decided to get help from an agent, but she was very sketchy, tried talking me out of doing basic renovation to tide up the space, tried suggesting using play-doh to hide holes and use super glue to temporarily keep peeling parts of wallpaper in place and stuff like that. I ended up doing quick renovation on a bank loan, then she made god awful photos, sent me a "template" contract with previous clients and tenants info and ID not removed, made a listing that lied about how big flat is and about having AC unit and I've decided that I can to a better job myself, and potential tennents wont have to pay her 50% of asking price upfront for "services", so win-win.
First person that contacted me was in talks with this agent, and was happy to hear that we can just ditch her. So, its a married couple with a 3y.o kid, mom is a part time tutor, dad is technician doing lights and stuff on concert venues. Background check via goverment services show no previous bankruptcy or anything like that.
I like them, they seem nice, we sign a contract, they pay for a first month and safety deposit. Per contract they have to pay for the current month of lease no later than 10th of each month, and its for 11 months with possible renewal at the end. There is no furniture in one room at all, so we sign an agreement that they choose and buy what they need, and I lower the rent partially for the amount they spent, for 4 months until they make this money back. Full rent amount after that. After that they asked a couple of times to change some furniture they deemed old, I also paid for what they chose.
as TL:DR at the top said, they eventually started missing payments, asked to change date to 15 instead of 10 each month, and started paying on the last day possible or day-two late after me reminding them via text. I tried to accomodate since I didnt want to be "evil landlord" and I know first hand how shitty they can be. Eventually I found out that out of two rooms in the flat the couple and a kid lives in one, and another one they claimed will be "kid's room" is for sister of the husband. They tried to say she visits to babysit, but I noticed lot of personal items, work desk with a laptop and eventually they disclosed that she lives there and "helps with rent and expenses". I thought okay, its a family member, why not. Just added her with ID info on the contract when its up for renewall.
Then they started asking for AC unit because it gets hot in summer, despite me telling upfront during first showing that flat gets warm and it will be hard to provide power line for AC, and that I can buy them a fan. I thought it would be shitty thing to reject since it might be uncomfortable for the kid, so I instaleld AC at my expense, in the middle of it they asked for additional sockets in the kitchen, I spent more than a months rent on whole process. There also were moments when window closing mechanism broke "by itself", when washing machine "suddenly no longer uses spin cycle", and stuff like that, and every time I found and paid contractors for next day repairs, since I thought its my responsibility to provide working flat. They also asked to get rid of old kitchen cabinets and install new ones, with me paying for cabinets and they will install it themselves or with help of their friends. We havent gotten around to that, thankfully, but I agreed to do it after renewal.
To make long and boring story short, in june they said they expecting a baby in about two weeks. Wife will no longer work, sister is getting married and moving out, all increased expenses fall onto husband. They ask to live one extra month after contract is up, without renewing, just on gentleman's agreement while they figure out finances, and implied flat lost its value and market has cooled so I need to lower rent. I refused, asked to sign one month prolongation. They said no problem, there is 99.9% chance we'll renew since kid goes to kindergarten here and has friends.
CURRENT EVENTS That brings me to today. We have a clause in contract that there is one month notice for moving out/not renewing. On the last possible day for payment they said they wont be renewing, money is very tight due to newborn, they will move out in two weeks, and said I quote "we offer you two options for deposit". Either they dont pay in august and get half deposit back instead of full, or they pay me half and get full deposit back. Mind you I havent seen current state of the flat, but on previous visit I noticed coffee stains on wallpapers near tables, lots of vynil and paper stickers left by kid on furniture and appliances, and when I brought up that they scratched enamel on kitchen sink to the point of needing to replace whole sink, they said it was like that before, as well as saying that clearly scratched/peeled off layers on interior doors (done by their kid), destroyed carpets is usual wear and tear. They were first to live there after renovation, I filmed whole flat on the day they moved in, provided screenshots, and they reluctantly said they will clean the flat, but wont be reapplying spray-on enamel on sink, fixing doors and wallpaper or anything like that. Not in "hold it from deposit" kind of way, just "its wear and tear, get over it" way. That was it. The place I live in for last 15 years has hold up better, than the one they lived in for barely 3.
I am curretly awaiting couple days until they'll automatically removed from temporal residence registration (I registered them because they asked and I tried to do things as legal as possible, usually landlords flat out refuse or ask additional safety deposit as payment for lawyers, because registration means that you cant evict registered children if they dont have permanent residence, but they promised that they will register just themselves, adults), so to avoid them registering two underage kids out of spite, then I plan to ask how on earth they arrived at half the rent for august instead of full payment and then suggest paying august in full, then getting back deposit with utilities and small fixes susbtracted. But I'm afraid they will trash the flat further with the 11 or so days left on the lease, also conscience eating me that I will ask for full month payment on short notice (despite them doing short notice things during renting).
Extremely discouraged, afraid to be nice with future tenants, not sure how to find/screen new ones since I misjudged severly how "nice" of a people I'm signing contract with.
[link] [comments]
source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1vrkk09/looking_for_advice_thinking_what_i_did_wrong_as/
Comments
Post a Comment