Landlord Question and Answer Forum

New Renters...a pain!

I got a new set of renters in my duplex as of August 1st. This month they have called me 14+ times on 6 different issues. My last renters never had one repair in the time they lived there, now all of a sudden my house is falling apart. I have been very quick to fix every repair they have called about, but they are still unhappy with me. I don't know what else I can do other than be quick to fix problems and just deal with things as they come up. I ceratinly am not happy with the amount of phone calls I hav gotten this month from them. They have only been there for a month and I am going crazy!!! Can I do anything to help this situation? At this point I don't care if they leave or not, I'm just tired of the complaints and sooooo many phone calls.

When you rent out a place you should have a maintainence check list to go over and look for problems like leaky faucets and burn-t lights and a stove working and such, You are lucky they are not witholding rent.

Posted by Donald G, MA on Monday, August 30, 2010

Donald: My renters have no reason to withhold rent, because I have fixed every issue as it has arisen and in remarkable speed. I took your comment as a “cheap shot.” As far as when they move in, we do go through a checklist to make sure everything is in working order. I just found out a few min ago that there is one major problem which has been the result of the other problems so my checklist in this case didn’t do me any good anyway.

Posted by Christina B, IN on Monday, August 30, 2010

Please do not take it as a insult but when you have a rental you are going to have problem especially as the house gets older, I am only saying there are people out there will hold back rent money at the drop of a hat.

Posted by Donald G, MA on Monday, August 30, 2010

Donald, I would like to apologize. You are right and I know that. I guess yesterday my renters got the best of me....and you got the worst of me. I am sorry, thank you for your insight.

Posted by Christina B, IN on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

No problem, tenants can be rough on you especially with this economy, what was the nature of the problem? The forum is here to help. I had some bad weeks, bad weeks but renting is a marathon. You have to have tough skin some days.

Posted by Donald G, MA on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Yea, tell me about it. The problem was the sewer...it is an old clay one. I will be replacing it soon so that I don't have to worry about it.

Posted by Christina B, IN on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

was it where the toilet mounts to the floor?

Posted by Donald G, MA on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Is it terrible to say I don't know? I'm just going by what my plumber told me. I know the bathtub had filled up with...stuff... and that was when we found problem.

Posted by Christina B, IN on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

What must of happend was a pipe must of collapsed.

Posted by Donald G, MA on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

I say if it is a safety or health issue, you are out of luck. Sometimes you just get lucky with some people that have a higher tolerance than others :( I get cycles of tenants that are worse than others. Sometimes it is the luck of the draw, but if they have a legitimate issue, I guess you have to deal with it. Maybe you can mention that non-critical issues will be dealt with once a month? Then you can take all of their requests and fix them once a month? Of course, if it is critical you have to do right away and it sounds like you have been. Maybe not be so accessible for the minor things? You may have to pull back a little. Call back once a week? Only if it is not serious. Maybe start a written request system for non-critical requests? Might slow down the amount of calls! Sounds like a pain. Its a bummer sometimes!

Posted by Land L, CA on Wednesday, September 08, 2010