Landlord Horror Story

After a career in the military, one’s tolerance for surprise is pretty high. I am thankful for this quality, since in the rental property business there is a surprise around every corner! I’ve alluded to the following story in a few of my writings, but I think it’s time to share what Paul Harvey used to call “the rest of the story”. I know there are probably worse landlord horror stories out there, but this one is mine and I believe there is certainly a lesson to be learned from the experience. I will begin my tale in traditional Army style.

So, there I was…performing routine exterior maintenance on one of our properties on a beautiful Saturday morning in June. Much to my surprise, our tenant drives up in a moving truck. Upon inquiring, I learned the tenant planned to abandon the property and lease without notifying us! When asked why he needed to leave in such a hurry, his shaky, almost terrified, two-word reply, “those people” would turn this seemingly routine landlord tale into a horror story.

It turns out our tenant, who suffered from some health conditions, had been duped by a mother and adult son con artist team. Under the guise of providing home health care, the two had entered the residence, setup household for a number of weeks and refused to depart. Our tenant stated he feared for his safety and was afraid to call the police. Instead, he decided to grab most of his belongings and abandon the premises, leaving us with two squatters!

A quick internet search revealed the squatters had extensive criminal records. I knew I had to act fast. While the sheriff’s office was empathetic to my plight, they advised that there may not be a lot they could do quickly as the individuals established residence. Fortunately, the sheriff’s office sent some deputies out to the property a couple of times to sweat the squatters. Not looking to land back in jail, thankfully, they departed the residence quietly.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there. The unit, which was almost 100% renovated with new paint, flooring and appliances when the tenant occupied, was left in shambles. There were holes in walls as well as filth and drug residue of every imaginable kind throughout the apartment. The two weeks it took me to get the place cleaned up, repaired and rent ready gave me plenty of time to contemplate the lessons learned from this episode.

First and foremost, anything can happen in the rental property business! While our tenant was a fully qualified renter and not a bad person, he fell victim to a scam. I won’t go as far to say it could happen to anyone, but it probably happens frequently. Second, as a landlord I’ve got to keep my eyes wide open all the time. Question everything and address anything suspicious immediately. The consequences of not doing so could be a rental unit full of squatters!

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