Why tenants are dangerous: 9 fears of the owner

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Irina Zhigina, the author of business courses, shares her personal experience of renting out an apartment and tells how to build relationships with tenants so that both parties are happy, what problems may arise and how to protect yourself from dishonest tenants.

- When I left the previous apartment, the hostess was crying!

“Don't worry, it won't happen to me. I take my rent in advance.

Do you know that there is an epidemic of bedbugs in Moscow? I didn't know either, until I ran into this. First, my sister had to make a complete renovation in the apartment (nothing else helped), and then I called the exterminators 6 times to the rented apartment. But there is no certainty that she got rid of it. Bugs were brought in, of course, by one of the tenants. And they will be transported to the next apartment …

So why is renting so popular despite the downsides? How to build relationships between the parties so that both tenants and apartment owners are satisfied? And finally, why are tenants dangerous and what are they hiding from the owners? Let's figure it out.

Why is renting so popular?

This is a quick way to improve:

a) living conditions, b) quality of life (proximity to work, reduced transport costs).

Renting also gives people the opportunity to manage their budget more freely, renting cheaper housing in difficult times and more comfortable - with an increase in income.

According to the AHML, out of 23 million families in need of better housing conditions, about 8 million are potentially ready to consider rented housing.

Currently, about 4 million families rent housing on market conditions, of which more than 3 million are from individuals.

What are the types of tenants?

1. Students.
2. Family.
3. Loners.
4. Girlfriend girls, boy friends.
5. Combined hodgepodge.
6. Hard workers.
7. Sweet couples.
8. In the eternal search for an apartment.

(We will not divide by ethnicity.)

I will dwell on the last point. There is this type of tenant who is always looking for it. They are not satisfied with everything. Everywhere. Don't even try - it's useless. And if you can consider other types of tenants, who likes who, then I do not recommend contacting these last ones on the list. Just take your time. Because even if they rent your apartment, they still won't be happy with anything. To paraphrase a well-known anecdote: "If we go to another landlord, will you be sorry?" - "Why would I feel sorry for another landlord?"

Why are tenants dangerous and how can an owner protect his apartment?

There are times when a homeowner becomes a victim of scammers or dishonest tenants. Let's take a look at some of them.

The apartment was flooded

In addition to the insurance deposit, which must be indicated in the contract, I advise you to purchase a policy from one of the insurance companies. Usually, property and liability to third parties are insured (this will help in the event that employers flood not only you, but also your neighbors).

A case from practice. My tenants flooded both me and the neighbors. They paid me a certain amount of money, and I also had insurance: the insurance company paid a decent amount of money to my grandmother from below. The next year, other tenants again flooded the same apartment, but the woman tenant was so curious about her grandmother, went to her several times, gave sweets, drank tea with her - and the neighbor did not complain (although I think that she did not make repairs the previous time, and some of the smudges were old).

Bed bugs / ants / cockroaches settled with the tenants

- Today I saw two cockroaches in the kitchen. Some of the new tenants brought with them. I had to kill them.

- Hard! Are you sure you killed exactly those tenants?

This is terrible. There are simply no words. This is me about bedbugs. Personally, after the horror I experienced, I will now check the apartment with a familiar exterminator. You yourself can also examine the walls for bloody spots, sofas on the back. I'm thinking of adding a clause on the presence of undeclared tenants to the contract.

Damage to property

Why is he a crook? Man knows how to live!

(film "Beware of the car")

To a certain extent, the problem of property damage is solved by the insurance deposit, which the tenant pays upon arrival. But it does not always cover the damage caused, so I advise you to check the apartment once a month, as well as draw up an inventory of the property with an act of acceptance - transfer (especially if you have made a high-quality repair in your apartment and bought new expensive furniture). If you do not want cats and dogs to live in the apartment, then it is also better to include this clause in the contract.

A case from practice. My tenant calls and confronts me with the fact that the refrigerator broke down and they repaired it for 5,000 rubles. Although the refrigerator was old, and if the tenants had told me at first that it was broken, I would have bought a new one with my own money and would not have fixed the old one. Not even a month has passed since the tenants are going to move out. No problem, all questions were settled. But when I came to settle accounts with the tenants, they began to demand money for the repair of the refrigerator.

I also advise you to prescribe such items as equipment breakdown and repair in the contract. It is always better to agree on everything on the shore.

Moved out ahead of time and didn't pay

You live in my heart … in my thoughts … in my head …

When are you going to pay for the apartment?

Tenants run away often without any warning. Therefore, you should always take an advance payment.

Very often, employers deceive the landlord by asking them to postpone payment for a day, a week, or a month. And then they suddenly move out without paying. Finding our fugitives is quite problematic, even with their passport details and all kinds of phone numbers on hand.

Therefore, be cool and do not get fooled by the exhortations of the tenants.

Noisy tenants

Good advice: it is foolish to waste precious time on self-knowledge, when you can knock on the heating battery at night

and learn everything about yourself from your neighbors.

You may not be aware of the active nightlife your occupants have. Night parties, loud music, gobies from the windows. In my practice, it came to calling the police.

To insure himself against possible litigation with tenants and neighbors, the owner may include an additional clause in the lease agreement containing the phrase that the guest must comply with the law "On Administrative Responsibility for Violating the Peace and Peace of Citizens at Night." According to this document, night time is interpreted as the period from 23:00 to 7:00. And then, when neighbors complain about noise, the owner has every reason to prematurely terminate the lease and evict the violators of the silence.

Utility debt

Be sure to take the meter readings at the time of renting the apartment and reflect the values in the contract. I do not advise placing the payment for the communal apartment on the tenants. But if you entrusted this to tenants, then ask them to send paid receipts every month.

In some apartments, the long-distance telephone service, the so-called eight, is still included. From experience, I can say that now tenants do not really need a landline telephone and you can completely safely refuse it, and the "eight" in a rented apartment must be turned off!

The apartment is subleased

A very popular scheme nowadays: tenants rented out your apartment to other tenants and made money on it. This often happens when the owner does not have the ability to constantly monitor the tenants.

To protect yourself from such a situation, conclude a lease agreement with the tenants, where in a separate paragraph indicate the prohibition on sublease.

Accommodation of friends

If you want to lose a friend, rent him an apartment. Are you friends? This means that you can delay payment, spoil the furniture (it happened), and you can make noise mercilessly. And what about the contract? You can also discuss it orally! I had cases when not even friends, but just acquaintances tried to significantly reduce the rent at the initial stage of negotiations and were very surprised - why not? After all, they are familiar!

The crime

I don't know who I am, but I probably have a lawyer.

(film "Overboard")

Murder, for example. Sounds unrealistic? And I had to face it when I rented an apartment to the Chinese when I was Cherkizon. They summoned the prosecutor's office, wrote statements, came with attesting witnesses to my apartment. This needs to be written separately, a very instructive story. But since I had an employment contract, we can say that I got off with a slight fright.

A competently drawn up contract and a security deposit are the only guarantees for a home owner. But the best insurance against all of this is to look closely at potential tenants.

You may be immediately uncomfortable with them. Or future tenants begin to whine about "there is absolutely no money" already at the time of the negotiations. Do not think that the situation will change later. My advice is to look for another tenant.

In general, renting an apartment is always fraught with a number of difficulties, but if you thoroughly study this topic, then the risks can be minimized.