On another post there was mention of sharing LL experiences and I thought that this could be a good way to learn.

What are your worst LL experiences?

How did you resolve them?

Are they happening now due to the current situations?

What changes did you make to keep it from happening again?

As most of you know, I only have limited experience in this. My worst experience is probably girl that I rented to with 2 kids. She moved her boyfriend in without permission, her kids wrote on the walls, her bed gauged my new flooring in that room, she ripped my window screen out and climbed through the window( I don't know how) when she got locked out instead of calling me to let her in and sh lied about everything. She prepaid for 6 months lease with a grant so no money to get. Luckily she moved out on her own as I became a bigger pain to her then she was to me.

The reality is that it was all my fault for not screening well. I am still learning but have done a much better screening job on my last tenants and will not plan on doing anything less then a 1 year lease to start.

The key is not repeating the same mistakes. Because no matter how long someone has been at this, there will be new things thrown at them all the time.

A worst experience so far may be nothing compared to what's coming. For example, how many of us have navigated a CDC moratorium stat to finish? None of us. Therefore we have no experience to draw from, either our own or from others.

I had a few learning experiences when I was first starting. The big lesson, do not rent to friends of friends. None of it was too bad, considering how bad it can actually get.

I also learned to double and triple check everything an applicant tells me. As far as I can tell, almost all lie about something.

My really bad one was a married couple of good tenants who had a divorce. He left and the wife went off the rails. About $15,000 of theft and damage, plus several months of unpaid rent. I still don't know any way to screen that sort of disaster out.

Another one that could have been bad but wasn't (pure luck) was a good tenant who had been with me for a year and then fell in with a new girlfriend who convinced him to grow marijuana in the basement. They both got arrested and went to jail. But, they got in there and cleaned up the place spotless while they were out on bail for trial. I had a bit of water damage from all the irrigation, but not too bad.

Before buying a apartment complex I visited each of my City/County Agencies to make sure the property I was buying had no issues.. I got a clean bill of health.

They day after my escrow closed I went down to Housing and registered myself and the new owner, paying all of the required Housing Fee's.

Then the City made an issue and informed the previous owner he had 10 days, from date of mailing, to resolve an issue. Since I was never told, I was held accountable and the City did not allow any appeal process since I did not answer the Notice I never got. This went to court and I proved 100% it was the city's mistake.

But since the violation was listed as super serious, a life and death matter, I was held account able and had to do around $10,000 worth of unnecessary work.

The violation was an outside motion sensor light was installed as per code by a licensed electrician, but with out a permit. The nature of my violation had to be two serious matters like tenants with rats, no heating or a roof leak...No over a piece of paper.

I had to sue the City. In retaliation they city sent inspectors to other properties of mine to write me up and be punitive going after me. How dare I stand up for myself!

Really...Robt J (CA) That is the worst!

We got cited for graffiti and was ordered to remove it or face fine within XXX at a property we own behind us. Try as we might, we couldn't find graffiti anywhere on the property.

We saw it on a fence to a public park across the street from our property.

Who hires the loonies that writes this stuff up?

A govt fail at another property, we were taxed for something at an address we didn't own. The bill was addressed to us, but the property address we were taxed for was the church next door to our property.

Not much I can do to prevent the above; my heart skips a beat, not in a good way, when I have to deal with the govt.

When a Section 8 Tenant let her boyfriend

and his 5 brothers move in.

There was more coming and going than a Bar

handing out free drinks.

SWAT surrounded the joint, and took down the front door.

The group was rounded up and taken downtown.

When ya see all of this happen to one of your

places on the evening news, ya know your playing in

the Big Leagues.

Screen x3 (time and effort) was born.

"Evil Lurks".

About a year ago, I had a female PITA tenant who demanded that I put her and her family in a motel room (at my expense of course) until repairs could be made to her Central Air conditioner. She had known about the AC problem for 4 days but waited until 4:45p.m. on Friday before calling me about it.

My worst LL mistake ever involved my one and only decision to rent to a Section 8 prospect. She was a single mother of two kids. She lied about everything. Everything!

Within a few weeks, I noticed boyfriend was staying over night A LOT; like every night. And his delinquent smoking teenage son was there too. Then she illegally brought in two kittens. I gave her notice of lease violations for all of the above. She claimed kittens were now gone. The neighbor next door said cats were still there.

By the time I could get her out, there was a couple thousand dollars in damages, she stole items that were affixed to the unit, her kittens had caused a horrible flea infestation throughout the unit, cigarette butts were everywhere, and Section 8 promptly found her a new sucker down the street and paid for all her costs and double rent for the first month (her new place and my place) even though I informed them of all she had done.

Would I take Sec-8 again? Not while I'm still breathing!

2 years ago I rented to a single mom with 2 boys. One was 17 and the other 24, but he had a mental disability. I couldn't ask what it was (by law). Nice guy, but mom insisted he couldn't sign any paperwork despite being an adult. I believed her.

Mom had just gotten $50,000. (that's 50k!) from a huge relocation company who paid her to move out of a rental so they could tear down an entire block and build a low-income apartment building. She was the last hold out. I verified the payout and the company paid me directly the first and last month. No problem AND since she had all that money, we were set for many months of easy pay.

SO after the first month, I never got another penny from her! Spent 7 months without rent and she always had great excuses, which left me doing my first and only eviction. I easily won the eviction, a date was set for lock out in less than a month, but it took me 6 months total till the Sheriff kicked them out, and although I got a judgement for the first 3 months when I filed, I still will never recover a penny. She's out there somewhere. AND the major mistake which extended a 2 month eviction to 6, was that because I believed her and didn't have the adult son (with the mental problem) sign the Rental Agreement, the Sheriff's first attempt to move them out was met with the son (with mom's help) signing documents that said HE was a paying Tenant and claimed rights to stay since I had not listed him on the Unlawful Detainer filing paperwork.

MY mistake, rookie first time eviction without a lawyer, (had no money due to no rent). Missed the section about ALL adults must be sued and I didn't list the son who 'couldn't sign paperwork'. Never again. Learned my lesson and IF I ever have to do another eviction, I'm ready.

It's weird, but my worst mistakes were not tenants who destroyed my places (although there were several and I do have stories) but those who destroyed ME. My self-confidence, my self-control. Tenants who made me cry in despair. Tenants whom I actually allowed to YELL at me.

In thinking back on THOSE guys - and they were almost all men, and all "in your face" kinds of guys who beat their wives, as it turned out - I realized that when Jeffrey teaches COOPERATION as a #1 Tenant Trait, he is absolutely right and I adopted the idea whole-heartedly.

Not long after I started LLing, I had an applicant that looked good on paper. I called past landlord and employment both good. He needed it sooner than later so I upped the deposit and took last months rent.

I was duped. The landlord and employer were friends and I didn't know enough to look up numbers on my own (use the tax appraisal web site to see who owns where they lived instead of using the number provided). Turns out they were white supremacists, drug dealers, and who knows what else. I found this out after a SWAT raid where the front door and a couple of windows were destroyed on entry. Flash bangs that ruined the carpet, cabinet fronts taken off looking for stashes, and a strong smell of tear gas. Fortunately, I had almost enough deposit and pre-paid rent that I didn't fare too bad.

I’ve been fortunate...my worst pales in comparison.

I had a professional accountant move in. 12 years on her job, $75k/year salary, divorced with a 12 year old son, no criminal record, no evictions, in house visit showed no issues. First 10 months all was fine, then she started paying late and would not respond to calls or emails.

I filed eviction and she contacted me 3 days before court and asked if we could “fix the situation”. I said yes if she paid all late rent and late fees and pay an “increased payment risk retainer” of 1.5 months, pay a “fee” of $200 for all the time and money I’d spent on filing, let me do an inspection and pay for any damages, and signed an agreement that any future late payments would result in eviction. She cashed out her 401k and gave me a certified check for a large amount...I think it was about $3,600.

All was good for 4 more months, then late payment...so I filed. She would not communicate and would not leave voluntarily. At the hearing (which was 21 days after rent was due), the judge asked her why she had not paid. She said “I did pay”. Judge looked at me...I said I did not receive it...judge asked her for proof...she said she took it to PO Box this morning. LMAO

Judge asked me if we were willing to accept that payment and let her stay....I said no...we want the house back. She was given two weeks to move. I went to change locks on the final date...she was moving out the last few things. She said she left it clean and ready, and asked me if I’d brought my checkbook so I could give her all her double deposit back. LOL

I told her we’d send her whatever was due after inspection of the house. I changed locks. The house was not horribly dirty, but leftover food I. Fridge with maggots and dirty toilets, a few other things. After adding it all up and adding in past due rent and late fees, we owed her money. My attorney laughed and said he rarely sees landlords have to refund the tenant in an eviction case.

It turned out ok, but the entire experience was a lot of frustration and time I had to spend...which it is why it’s been my worst.

Hoosier,

6man,

Re-read WMH's post. I think it hits the most important aspect - our attitude and confidence. LLs who refuse education become old, bent over, cranky LLs.

The internet does not have enough space to include all the bad things that have happened as LLs.

But they made me stronger whcih led to more wealth.

Scott...

Scott,

Not sure why she went bad...but here are some more details now that I'm on the PC where I can type faster.

About a month after she moved in, she called me and asked if she could rent a water softener and have them install it. Without me asking, she said that her hair is very important to her and it looks better when she washes with soft water. I said yes as long as a licensed plumber did the install...but I told her to let me look into buying one and purchasing it and then increasing her rent for two years...she agreed. The rental place was going to charge her $38/mo. I had one purchased and had a plumber install it and charged her $35/mo and she was happy. The recovery period was 2 years based on my calculation....so it was a good deal for me. I told her she'd be responsible for keeping salt in the unit, but I told her if she bought the salt in bulk I'd carry it down to the basement for her when I was there for maintenance and fill it since they are heavy...she agreed. I ended up recovering a portion of the money since she ended up living there a bit over a year, and I then raised the base rent on future tenants about $15/mo due to the water softener so I still think I came out ok on that but one of the charges I took out of her deposit was the $35/mo for the remaining months she did not live there (up to the 2 years), as we had a written agreement to that affect...and the judge allowed it since we had it in writing.

Every time I saw her, she was wearing new clothes, had her nails done, was tanned (in winter too), and so on. It was obvious she was spending a lot on her appearance. I suspect she was spending a lot on her shoes, jewelry, handbags, etc. She also drove a 2 year old car....a Honda Accord. She appeared to be into image at least as far as her clothes went.

Then, a side story...her mom was a parking attendant in our downtown area...she was employed by the city and her job was to go around and find people who were parked too long and ticket them. During the final move-out, when I was waiting in the driveway so I could change the locks when she left, I turned my voice recorder on and left it in my pocket in case she threatened to do any damage or whatever. Her mom was there and said "If I ever see your car parked downtown, I'm giving you a ticket even if you're not parked illegally". I pulled out my recorder and showed her that I had that on tape...and she immediately shut up. LOL

She later emailed me her forwarding address to get her deposit back, and I looked it up. I could not tell if it was a rental or whether she was living with family or something, but it was an even nicer house than ours.

In the end, this one left me puzzled...and I'm not sure what I could have done to screen her better. I think she just overspent on "image" items and was one of those people that just wanted everyone to THINK she had money or status or whatever.

I also had offered her something that I offered all our tenants at the time..."if you take the Dave Ramsey class and pay for it yourself, and show us a completion certificate, we will reduce your rent by $10 until the class is paid for...so essentially you get it for free". Not a single tenant ever took us up on that...so we stopped doing it.

I'm with Dee Ann. My worst experience is not with a tenant, but with local government. Many years ago, I paid $200 for a vacant lot next to one of my shacks. No other costs. Didn't even bother with a Title Company, though I did go to the County Recorders office to verify that no liens existed against the property.

6x, there could be several worst categories, pet damage, tenant damage, was the fire the worst? Highest unpaid rent /tenant extraction situation. The worst for me is personal danger. Rented to tenant who turned out to have a mental health issue and was sometimes confrontational about communications. Like I'd knock on the door when he didn't respond to other contact and he'd blow w up sometimes and say I was pounding away. In the end he was not cooperate w showing to re rent, and I let it go. He wanted a walk through to turn in the keys. The guy had issues and he was anal about cleanliness. He wanted the deposit back on the spot. I said no we mail it. He started to loose control so I exited the building. Outside he got more amped up and went to his car for a bat or something after threatening me. I drove away and caught a break when his car didn't start. I drove to the precinct. The police were useless, refusing to press charges. Cop did call the guy and tell him I had the right to wait to return his deposit and that he should cool it. Later we went through a song n dance because he didn't want to give me his address. When I finally agreed to send it to a relative, he called and changed his mind. I said too late check is in the mail, but not before getting his new address. I was relieved that he moved out of the community.

I have more experience w mental health issues and training from Nami, but some situations are hard to de-escalate. Some here will say I should of had a firearm, but you see how that works for law enforcement sometimes.

Worst out of many?

Similar to WMH experience, the emotional side of being involved is somehow worse than damages to the building.

What happened to the girlfriend of the nightmare tenant that had anger management issues, among other problems. She was on the lease as a roommate.

One day I received a handwritten letter from her parents stating she was the victim of some heavy domestic violence. They offered to take financial responsibility for any issues arising from her immediate move out and breaking the lease.

I took that stepping in of her parents as a measure of the seriousness of her condition and was quite shaken that something like this had happened in my "sphere." Hope she is doing better now and thriving in whatever new situation she is in.