Tenant horror stories

wildmanyeah said:
I have a friend who booted out their tennat gave them a few months notice and said he needed them out because he wanted to live in the space.

While the former tenant found out he wasent living in it took him to court and now he owns the tenant like 6 months rent for his new and old place. He's on the hook for thousands of dollars.
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Anyone in BC who is even thinking of getting, having or even wishing for tenants better become intimate with the BC Tenancy act. As wildmanyeah above states there is a list of reasons when you can evict a tenant. Not paying rent is not one of them. Moving back into your residence is one, but you MUST actually repossess and live in YOUR house and give them a months FREE rent. OR ELSE?? The act is designed for protection of BAD tenants and penalizes honest hard working owners. And its getting worse, NEVER again. There are lots less stressful ways to create cashflow.

HM
 
ab1752 said:
10% to the management company is the best money you'll ever spend in my experience.
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I was going to say the same thing. The only properties I manage on my own are the ones in town. Anything more than an hour away is professionally managed
 
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It is very frustrating to to be a landlord at times. Especially when the general public assumes we pay no mortgage or costs, have no risk and merely pocket all the cash they give us for rent each month. I think if people were informed it might be a bit different although that might require the government to stop making rules that make us seem like villains. whoo... touched a nerve lol
 
Almost everything in the tenancy act is to protect the tenant, not the landlord. Sure there are bad landlords, but there are easily 10 fold bad tenants. The act deserves more balance!
 
had a second house that i was trying to sell privately theu one of those For Sale By Owner websites. upload a ton of pics to the inter web yada yada.

then a guy i knew phoned me all desperate for a place to live because he sold his house and one of his subjects was he had to be out immediately. he was all upset saying he was gonna be homeless etc. The place was vacant and i was worried about that, so i relented and let him move in with the understanding that the house is currently up for sale and the deal was he might have to let people in for showings at times that may not be the most convenient for him.
” yep no problem. thank you thank you thank you.”

you guessed it: he wouldn’t let anybody in to view. he always had an excuse. he complained about everything and was capable of doing nothing himself. ( fridge light bulb went out, he would call me to fix ) then he moved his mom into the basement with out asking me.
Finally decided to stop being cheap and put it on MLS and the house sold its first day.

hit the road goof....
 
I had a few rentals over the years and got lucky for the most part . Had one tenant up in Ft St John pry one of my nice wind out windows open because he couldn’t find his keys. Broke the window and left it open all winter when I was the one paying hydro. Other morons would openly smoke weed in my basement while I was upstairs and then play dumb when I went down and talked to them. Just annoying for the most part. Now I rent serviced rv pads to people. The only thing I own in the whole deal is the gravel under the trailers . It’s great so far.
 
My buddy manages a bunch of apartments. The story he told me when I was thinking of buying a rental condo killed that idea.

One of his tenants straight up vanished. When they opened the apartment up to look for a body they find she had removed every square inch of drywall in the place and stacked it all in the middle of the rooms. He joked that he had to paint anyways.
 
grow ops are another issue and not covered by insurance your expected i beleive to do regular inspections.
 
I’ve been a home owner for almost 9 years. I’ve been super lucky as I’ve had the same one tenant for all but a few months of that time. ( I gutted and built the first suite). I give her a little lower rent then I could get, by a couple hundred a month, but when things are good you do what you can to keep them happy.

She even moved houses with us when we bought a new one 30 minutes away. I paid for her move as well. She even bought all new furniture to fit the place!
The key is to do your research; do a credit check, call references, have someone look at the condition and cleanliness of their car when they are viewing etc. It is a very important decision do decide who lives in your house!

My good friend didn’t do that research and was burned with a squatter who hoarded, then didn’t pay rent and when my buddy took them to court he was counter sued to drag out the process while they lived rent free. After quite a few months of this crap they finally moved out and went the the next house to do the same thing. There are some real pieces of **** out there!
 
Had rental homes in the early 90's both Burnaby and Vancouver with suites up and down in both. Wanted to sell the Van home as prices in the day skyrocketed. I was unaware that if a builder bought the home the tenant had the right to refuse to move for 1 year. Settled on 3 months closing and 3 months of free rent. They were pissed as they had just a installed a brand new hot tub without us knowing.
The Burnaby house the neighbours phoned constantly that the tenant had sublet the suites and permitted 5 cats which was not in her contract. The bigger issue the tenants were nocturnal and spent all their evenings playing dungeons and dragons in the street. Eventually the cops quashed that and every month I had to hand them an eviction notice for non payment of rent which they knew they had 5 days to pay. It was all over when the sundeck somehow collapsed and they didn't bother telling me. Painful.Sold them both to buy boats which when I look back was not a good business decision. LOL.
 
My wife had her basement tenant OD and was found dead a week later. Had to pay the coroner $3k to clean it up and then wait until the next of kin could find time to pick up all her stuff. They left half of it and she had to pay that cleanup bill as well. Cost her $4k and three months rent by the time it was said and done.
 
You know. We have had our share of bad tenants over the years. Been at this game for over 20 now. Honestly it can be a royal pain in the butt but it is a good way to get bills paid for sure. Good tenants are gold.....
 
30 years of good tenants and money are quickly forgotten and spent with one BAD tenant. I had one golden tenant for 10 years, then his replacement was another golden for 8 years but counterpart tenants in other door made me forget very quick the 18 years of goldens with stress, issues and more stress. I did get them out without major financial issues but sure did age during those restless months. I stand bye my statement, much better, easier and less stressful ways to generate cashflow. Also tax man takes way less if done right.

HM
 
halimark said:
30 years of good tenants and money are quickly forgotten and spent with one BAD tenant. I had one golden tenant for 10 years, then his replacement was another golden for 8 years but counterpart tenants in other door made me forget very quick the 18 years of goldens with stress, issues and more stress. I did get them out without major financial issues but sure did age during those restless months. I stand bye my statement, much better, easier and less stressful ways to generate cashflow. Also tax man takes way less if done right.

HM
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I agree that if you owned your home and can afford/qualify for the mortgage without the help then yah invest in stocks, buy a business. Make money any other way. But for me I don't quality to own this lot without the help and unless I want to live in a condo with ridiculous strata fees homeownership is out of the question for me in Vancouver. This is the only way possible for me to one day own this place outright. I live in the coach house I built and rent out the main house. I think everything has risk and stress involved and although at times it's tough I'm grateful that I'm not on the other side of this equation.
 
Rain City said:
I agree that if you owned your home and can afford/qualify for the mortgage without the help then yah invest in stocks, buy a business. Make money any other way. But for me I don't quality to own this lot without the help and unless I want to live in a condo with ridiculous strata fees homeownership is out of the question for me in Vancouver. This is the only way possible for me to one day own this place outright. I live in the coach house I built and rent out the main house. I think everything has risk and stress involved and although at times it's tough I'm grateful that I'm not on the other side of this equation.
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Every individual and situation is different I agree, some are financially smart, educated and others not so much. Living in same house or on property keeps you "in the know" of what exactly tenants are like, having a mortgage helper is a great way to get cash flow, as long as the person is paying down Bad dept, if using funds to increase bad dept not financially smart. Real estate is a volatile way of creating cashflow. It worked for me for many years, then I re-educated myself and found better ways. Lots of people make it work, and in some real estate markets as you say its hard or mandatory to play the tenant game. The BC tenancy act is all in support of BAD tenants and stress I want no more. That's just me.

HM
 
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