Have you heard tenant horror stories or are going through one yourself as a landlord? You can step aside and let a Dallas property manager handle it for you.
Without one, you might just find yourself facing a nightmare like the ones in these stories below.
A Dallas property manager would have handled the matter and saved rental property owners from the following nightmare situations. Imagine this: you, a rental property owner, are getting on with your other financial pursuits or enjoying downtime with friends or family when a call comes through. "Your house is on fire," you are told. You remember that you have been going back and forth with a tenant who stopped paying rent which forced you to file for eviction. By the time the fire is put out, the kitchen is completely gutted and the rest of the house has been damaged by smoke. It cost a total of $61,000 to repair all the damage and make the house tenable again. This is what Brandon Turner went through with his very first tenant.
Some calls from a tenant could leave you checking the calendar to see whether it's April Fools Day. That thought crossed Ryan G. Wright's mind when his tenant called about toilet trouble. Apparently, she had a really bad case of diarrhea. However, she couldn't use the plunger. The reason? An ex-boyfriend had broken both her wrists.
It was worse for Brad Chandler who managed an apartment block. Numerous attempts to evict a violent tenant failed even after she deliberately flooded the houses of those living on floors beneath hers thrice in six months. It came to a head when she got into an argument with another tenant and pushed him over the railing. He died but she still couldn't be evicted. It appears that karma took things into his or her hands when she was run over by a bus and died.
It turned creepy for Chad Carson who was managing a house for a friend. Despite a no-pet policy, a tenant had a collection of rats running freely in the house and others in cages in the basement. Most creepy of all, there were also not a few but dozens of aquariums that housed all manner of snakes, exotic turtles, and amphibians. Once he had been found out, the tenant moved shortly after without paying rent for the month and he left behind a gift. He left rats running around loose and they went on to damage the house for months before they were completed eliminated.
These horror stories from rental property owners on The Simple Dollar can put you off the very lucrative investment option of owning rental property. And there are more on sites like Maid Sailors and Tickled. There are solutions to the problems that renters can cause. One is mid-lease inspections. These are typically done three months after a tenant has occupied a property and then in intervals of six months. However, some landlords do mid-lease inspections every six months. The duration is flexible and will be specified in a rental or lease agreement.
These inspections are very useful for both tenants and property owners. The main reason for carrying out a mid-lease inspection is to check that the tenant is doing their part in terms of maintaining the property in good condition. That takes care of the owner's interest. For the tenant, it is an opportunity to raise any questions or concerns about the property such as repairs that need to be done or improvements that can be made. Seemingly small problems like a broken smoke alarm, leaking pipe, or developing mold or mildew can become big problems like a fire, a flooded house, or ill-health.
Both tenants and property owners have rights under the law. One of them is that a mid-lease inspection is carried out at a pre-arranged date and time. This should be specified in the rental agreement. By law, the time must be a reasonable time of the day. Also, the tenant should be notified in writing 24 hours beforehand. If someone else is to carry out the inspection such as a property manager, they should have the written authority to do so.
A tenant can deny a property owner or their agent the right of entry, but only with only good reason. However, should this happen and the property is in bad condition when it is vacated, the property owner can make a claim for damage from the deposit.
If you are a rental property owner in McKinney, Allen, Plano, Garland or Frisco, you can avoid nasty confrontations with tenants by leaving property management in the hands of a Dallas property manager. Another important advantage of doing it is that your Dallas property manager will take time to thoroughly screen potential tenants and possibly stop any problems before they begin.