Bad tenants are thieves. They steal from landlords, their neighborhood and good tenants.
They steal our money, because they don’t pay the rent.
They steal our investment because they are bad neighbors and bring down property values in the neighborhood where they hold out, driving out our good tenants.
They steal our property, because they use our rental property without paying for it and damage it with filth, smashed windows and walls, destroyed carpets and even, in the worst cases, destroyed buildings due to methamphetamine poisoning.
They steal our time, because we have to deal with their misbehavior and their criminality, at the expense of time we could spend establishing and keeping good relations with our good tenants; and time we could spend with our families.
Bad tenants are malicious. They deliberately do things that are designed to annoy us, to cause us concern, and to damage our investment.
Bad tenants are inconsiderate. They have no respect for the rights of others or the property of others. As long as they are getting what they think they want, they are satisfied. And the rest of the world be damned.
Bad tenants try to see how much they can get away with. They keep pushing the landlord envelope to see just how much we’ll put up with before we take action. When we finally put our foot down, they either promise to be good or snarl that they’ll do anything they please and “there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Bad tenants are sleazy. You can’t trust a word they say or agreement they sign. Rental agreements, leases and contracts mean nothing to them, if the agreements are inconvenient for what they want. The truth changes to fit their needs at the moment. You’ll hear ten different versions of the “truth” when you question them about no rent, property damage, complaints and everything else. They try to bluff us into thinking they “know the law” and will do whatever they want in our rental properties.
Bad tenants are criminals. Even if the legal system calls it a “civil matter,” using our property without paying for it is criminal. Doing damage to our property is criminal. Harassing neighbors is criminal. And many times they do engage in felonious behavior that results in the police taking them away. Then they really need to “know the law.”
Bad tenants combine and permutate these “qualities” all different ways. They employ an arsenal of ways to attack landlords, and behavior that demands they be unceremoniously booted out of our rental property.
To overcome bad tenants we need to do four things. First, know the law better than they claim to. Second, carefully select tenants so the bad ones have to live under the bridges and freeway overpasses where they belong. Third, pay attention to our rental properties with regular inspections and insistence on timely rent payments. Fourth, if you somehow end up with a bad tenant in your property, report him or her to the credit agencies and make sure any judgment you obtain appears on his or her credit report so other landlords can be forewarned.
Bad tenants don’t and won’t change. We will always have bad tenants living around us, but if they are not living in our rental properties they are far less annoying.
