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Occurrences of renters abandoning rental properties are on the increase and this is pretty much a global problem for private landlords. The state of the economies in many countries means that many renters are finding themselves in dire straits and the first problem becomes paying the rent.
Sometimes renters have to choose between paying the rent or putting food on the table for their families, no prizes for guessing who loses out.
Not paying the rent or paying it late is one thing but there are renters who not only don't pay the rent but who abandon rental properties and leave a trail of damage behind them.
For you as a landlord it leaves you with a huge headache, stress and financial loss, even if you can find the tenant your chances of getting any money out of them are about as likely as someone walking up to you in the street and giving you a million bucks.
So how can you prevent this from happening to you?
There are ways of dealing with bad renters, you have to establish a relationship with your renters, treat them respectfully and always in a business manner. After all renting property is a business not a hobby.
You have to make sure your renters understand you are running a business and while you may have every sympathy when they find themselves in financial difficulties, if they don't pay the rent on time, every time there are consequences. Let them know that your bank or financial lender won't give you any leeway if because they don't pay the rent you are unable to pay the loan.
Dealing with bad renters is one thing but the real key to preventing property abandonment is in finding the right renters in the first place.
You absolutely must do a full screening which means:-
* Verify the prospective tenants are who they say they are
* Verify their employment by talking to their employer
* Verify their previous rental history by talking to their previous landlord. Go back to several landlords if they have been short term renters, of course if they have a history of short term rentals this might raise a red flag too.
* Get a criminal background check done
* Get a credit check done .
* Check their references but be wary, references are easy to fake
Remember you can charge an application fee which will offset your costs of getting tenant screening reports.
Don't use telephone numbers for referees, employers etc. provided by the prospective tenant, look up the numbers in the phone book, that way you can be sure who you are talking to, and know it's not a friend or family member of the tenant pretending to be their employer, previous landlord or bank manager.
Successful landlords use a proven process for finding the right renters, I'm sure you don't want to be the next landlord referenced in the local paper that has a headline
"Tenants Leave Owners With A Trail Of Damage"
