Why you should give no sympathy to tenants, for your own sake

This is more aimed at the younger or newer or softer investors out there (dont worry, I was young and new once, and am still too soft even at my age and experience),

After being a landlord for many years, and older as I get , and possibly more cynical

I have a piece of advice for fellow investors in teh above category,

do not give or be sympathetic to your tenants, remember nvestment properties is a business,

any losses you incur through tenants are YOUR losses, they come out of YOUR pocket.
sure insurance will cover parts of your loss, but it will NEVER make you whole,

in the past ive let arrears slide, ive let people out of leases after hearing a sob story and upon reflection the sympathy I have showed has bit me on the butt,

my latest one is a tenant who was fine for 12 months, and then due to job loss, got maybe $1000 behind,
they gave us a big sob story and they apparentyl tried to work with the agent to catch up on arrears,
they failed to make one payment on their payment plan, and refused to answer calls/msgs

we came down on them hard and they started paying offf their arrears in random lots,
they were then behind on rent by 1 week almost every second week but would remedy once it got too far,

we gave them sympathy and let it slide, and around this time they also became $1k arrears in water,

After deciding this was unacceptable we gave them notice to leave if not remedied the water bills,

they managed to catch up after more firm actions from us, and finally they caught up as they gave a sob story about their job loss and Bla bla bla.

so the latest after another arrears in rent is that they are trying to take us to tribunal over a small trivial maintenance issue,

so these guys were thousands behind in rent, we gave them some slack, and the moment they start falling behind again, they start threatening tribunal for something very trivial,

talk about biting the hand that feeds you!!

TLDR version, dont give your tenants any sympathy, do whats in your best interests and interests only. You have a mortgage to pay. The mortgage wont pay itself. just because the tenant doesnt pay, your mortgage paymetns wont stop!

 

Agree. While it's in our nature to feel empathy, and we should, but at some point you need to draw a line. This is where a good property manager can really help to delineate boundaries. Having self managed before I simply don't want to put myself in that situation again.

 

Yes, it is.

I have never looked at rent any different to how the lender looks at the mortgage payments.

You really do have to have your wits about you & almost need to be a PM yourself, as the PMs and staff will also erode things if not managed.

So easy getting rich being a LL..... if only property was the great cash machine many think it is, property is great, dealing with people, especially ones that think they can do you over somehow, is the painful part.

 

Even though lanlord is not sympathy, it is still so hard to evict bad tenant, because this stupid system is protecting them

 

There are many good Tennant's out there but I do have to agree with the general sentiment of treating your properties like a business.

I think I am a very reasonable landlord. I provide safe, well maintained homes, I comply with all legislation, I will fix anything broken immediately, I will consider adding little things to the houses to keep Tennant's happy, but I alway have a very simple request that I tell all Tennant's at every opportunity - pay your rent on time, and return the house to me in the same condition I gave it to you. Amazing how often these simple two rules are breached given the fact we are talking about the roof over people's heads.

I have no time for tenbant bulls#!t anymore with this kind of thing, there is always a sob story/reason, yet somehow they still find money for other non essential items. These days I will pursue all legal avenues to remedy breaches ASAP.

 

Fortunately I havent been on the receiving end of sob stories aimed at getting rental lenient. Hopefully Im a cynical enough ******* to keep business as business

 

I don't believe this! You must have not sent them movie tickets and/or a bottle of wine at Christmas for them to behave this way! I read in a property investment book that if you send them gifts they will behave.

 

I couldn’t have written this better myself.

 

Bahahaha!!

 

Gift them a trojan horse

Open your hand delivered mail.

On the other hand, most of them are fine, and you can't have a system that has people thrown out on a whim either, as some LL also are not reasonable.

 

Sometimes you just have to be compassionate.

On the day a family were moving into their new rented apartment in Brisbane recently, the young father backed his car, hit his baby daughter and sadly she died.

To his/her credit, the landlord said he/she understood they would never be able to live there, and immediately refunded the bond and advance rent paid.

It would be a sad world if this landlord had, and it would have been legally, enforced the lease.
Marg

 

totally agree,
but given the number of dying relatives, and having to go to hospital ofr emergencies, and hence rent was late or not paid, youd think there was a 5000 people queue at hte local hospital,

I reckon some people have killed off at least 6 grand parents

 

That sounds reasonable, not the tenants fault that the market rent dropped & they did not complain it seems when they were paying you high rent.

Also not point being a hard ass if you actually have plenty of income. So your own position would come into it too when considering some things.

 

I think being understanding to fellow humans makes all of us better. You might be a little worse off financially, but I genuinely believe it makes us feel better in long term. Part of what makes human so great is the fact that we tend to care for each other.

Yes, sometimes we are selfish, sometimes we are stupid and sometimes we are unreasonable. But in general we do care. And what you give tends to come back in one way or another. Not only it makes us feel better about ourselves, makes life’s of others better but also it is a “debt” that will be repaid.

We all had someone help us in our life, one way or another. Whoever said otherwise either grew up with wolves or doesn’t remember the help they got. Nothing is ever more worthy then trying to help.

 

I treat my tenants as they treat me. If they are good tenants then I treat them well. If they are ever late on anything without a good reason or complain about BS things, I wait till lease ends and get rid of them. It's not brain surgery to know how to treat each accordingly.

I've had very few issues with tenants over the years because the good ones stay and the annoying mongrels aren't tenants much longer .

 

I have found over the years, the least likely tenant will give you a kick in the teeth when the lease ends. Thank God those years are over ...

 

im a bit like that too, (to my detriment) but I find the nicer you are, the more you get taken for a ride, thats my experience over the years,

the only time I was extra nice was when a tenant who I was selling the house made extra effort to keep the house clean and even suggested ways to get a higher price, middle aged lady

I bought her two cases of wine and them delivered!

 

I've taken it an extra step at times and treat some of my consultants really well with small gifts. I feel it has yielded returns many times over the cost of the items.

But I agree with you, in business you can't afford to be perceived as soft. People will definitely take advantage of you. Usually to the degree of 'softness' they perceive you to be.