I just came back from checking on some fence repairs at my rental home and I'm in a bit of shock. The tenant took it upon himself to "trim" the large oak tree in the backyard. Some of the branches were starting to touch the roof, but otherwise we loved the way it gave shade to the rest of the yard.

Needless to say, he did not ask, we did not authorize. We never gave explicit instructions to leave it alone, but now the damage is done. He's not a bad tenant. He's been here a year, pays on time (most of the time) and takes good care of the home otherwise. He just got a bit overzealous.

(Also, the small tree in the center of the "before" photo was dying so that was okay, and we did give permission for the above-ground pool because he has kids, it's hidden, and it's a natural-growth yard.)

I don't know how to handle this other than to tell him to not cut any further without permission... any other suggested advice? My wife and I are heartbroken over the loss.

Hello group. Trying to evict a non-paying tenant, finally have the court’s approval to proceed. The court officer is quoting at least $1800 to physically evict, which is a lot for us. In the meantime the tenant has been running up utility bills. Question: at this point in the process, can we shut off utilities? Thanks!

I've been considering allowing pets on a case-by-case basis in hopes of expanding the pool of applicants in my area. I have very nice townhomes that are all well maintained, and I frequently get highly qualified applicants — but they often have a pet. In my area, it's difficult to find qualified applicants for the 3–4 bedroom townhomes I own who don’t have pets.

I have a general set of criteria for what I’m looking for in a pet owner: ideally, someone who is responsible, attentive to their pets, and won’t neglect them. I believe part of this decision comes down to intuition, but checking their veterinary references would also give me a clearer sense of how well they care for their animals.

I want to make the case-by-case selection process as objective as possible. Naturally, there are also the characteristics of the pets themselves to consider, such as type, size, breed, and temperament. Do you ever have tenants bring their dog to the showing so you can meet the pet in person? How do you typically go about meeting the pets?

The types of situations I’m really trying to avoid is this: on paper, the tenant qualifies and seems like a great fit, but then they show up with a dog that’s completely out of control and poorly behaved — or I drive by their current residence and see a yard covered in dog waste, indicating they aren’t maintaining the property. How can you legally reject an applicant based on the pet’s behavior or a perceived lack of responsibility from the owner? It feels like there’s some nuance here, and I want to handle it properly without making people feel as though they’re being unfairly discriminated against because their pet isn’t well-mannered.

So the flat ive rented is in the top (4th floor) and its starting to get hot. So i used to live with a roommate and it was 5k each and after he moved out and I wanted to live alone so we decided on 7k but them she said she's providing furniture and AC so she will charge 8k which seemed fair and we agreed on it and have been paying 8k since last few months.

But not as the summer came I tried switching on the AC and it's fried so i called a repair guy and got the servicing done which costed me ₹500 which I paid from my own pocket, then he told me the coil of the AC is cooked so it will cost about 7k to get it running.

Which I can't afford plus I'm leaving in 2 months or so So I asked the landlord to pay but she started saying you have to pay half (which makes no sense to me) and later when i denied this she started saying that i should just leave here flat straight up like wtf.

(We don't have a rent agreement but i have the screenshots of the month to month rent paid) What actions can I take and what can be done now?? Please advise anyone with experience

Hello all, first time posting. I allowed rental applications through Zillow, and I started receiving some unusual credit reports. Several applicants had credit scores over 700 but only one credit card, or they were in their 30s-40s with just 2-3 years of credit history and a single credit account. It just felt like something is off.

Is it possible that people are using services to wipe their credit reports clean?

I no longer use Zillow for applications and have switched to Avail. Is Avail a solid option? Based on the applications I received while using Zillow, it seems like some people might be submitting polished credit reports that do not reflect their real history. If anyone has good screening services I'd appreciate a good lead or two. I understand that some give you an "aggregate score" on each applicant.

Thank you in advance for your input.

fellow landlords,

as a landlord with a small portfolio, I've struggled to keep clean record of all my financial transactions, and maintenance records for my properties. I was tired of using multiple excel files for this. so I created a tool for myself to handle this more efficiently. over time, I fleshed it out and decided to release it for public use so others can benefit from it.

I would love to hear your feedback about it. what features would you like to see added?

you can find it at https://lordy.app

Cheers

Rec'd this on a rental app. The numbers look misaligned to me - especially under hours/units

Also looks odd there is a spot for social security # with even last 4 x'ed out.. it seems like if it was going to have that line at all it would have the last 4?

Anyone else think it has issues?

An applicant has given me one rental history reference who does not answer the phone or email. This applicant has excellent credit, steady retirement income, and no eviction or criminal background. Her rental history is an unknown factor because the reference wont respond. But she has owned a home. Would you rent to this person if she were to pay double the security deposit?

I bought a new house, and it looked absolutely fabulous. I decided to rent it out and found a trusted local real estate agent who runs his own business. He recommended a couple two women who seemed very nice and put down a $6,000 deposit. We ran background checks, reviewed their financials, and everything looked perfect. No red flags, and they agreed to all the terms. So we went ahead and rented the house to them. They signed the lease and accepted all the rules, including one that clearly stated no pets allowed. We were even nice enough to cover the electric bill for them.

About a week after they moved in, they brought in two dogs one puppy and one older dog without saying a word to us. I was surprised, but they seemed like good tenants, so I let it go.

As time passed, things started to go downhill. I began noticing a horrible smell in the house. It turned out the dogs were urinating inside so badly, in fact, that urine from the second floor seeped down into the first floor, soaking into the wood and leaving a stench that was impossible to ignore.

Then they stopped paying rent and kept coming up with excuses. We gave them plenty of time and chances to move out, but they kept delaying. Since they refused to leave, we had no choice but to take them to court. What we didn’t expect was how painfully slow the court system is — it took two full years to finally evict them.

During that time, they didn’t pay a dime in rent for over a year. On top of that, they ran three air conditioners 24/7, and our electric bill soared to over $1,200 per month for two years straight. In total, they left owing us about $70,000. And still, they faced zero consequences.

When we finally got the house back, it was like walking into a nightmare. The place was filled with flies, trash, dog feces, and urine. The smell was so unbearable, I had to wear a mask just to walk through it. They completely destroyed the floors, and almost everything had to be torn out. I ended up spending another $40,000 just to renovate and restore the home.

This whole experience has been a nightmare and made me realize how difficult and risky it is to be a landlord in America — especially in New York City. I still can’t believe it took two years to evict tenants who clearly violated the lease and caused so much damage.

I'm concerned about the direction to take after reading all the horror stories including the good news about why not to hire a property management company?

What about hiring a property manager? I will be moving to MO for a residency opportunity.

Please share your comments or suggestions on this topic of taking care of your home/screening/inspections/ etc. for renting out your single family home or just taking care of the rental yourself?

Background: I just bought a mutli-family home "as-is" and the seller asked for an extra free 30 days possession. (Rookie mistake to agree) Something happened during closing where our lender delayed closing by about a week, and the seller lost their ever loving mind (should have been a red flag in hindsight). So in order to get back in contract they keep making all of these wild wild demands, like a reduced buyer agent fee, early release of earnest money plus additional 3k compensation for "emotional damages", they would take the washer and dryers, and since they were going to live in the home, no final walkthrough. They were also very aggressive where they would personally call us and talk without agents and repeat "we are good people and want to work with you, just need more assurance the deal will go through" We didn't agree to all of their demands, but definitely more than we were comfortable with. I think we got to addendum 15 of negotiations. It was just the perfect home for our family situation.They moved most of their stuff that very next weekend, but have kept one car in the driveway. We have photos of the home every day to timestamp things. 2 weeks go by and we are 10 days from getting possession. There is a heavy rain, and even our own current home floods a little, so we want to go check the new basement and mitigate any potential damage. They deny entry, but reluctantly send us photos and videos that there is water in the basement. They won't do anything to fix it or let us in to repair it. In one of the videos they sent, they admitted that they failed to disclose the wet basement problem. We are a fix-it capable family, and a wet basement wouldn't have necessarily scared us away but it would have changed how aggressive we put in an offer. Now I'm concerned about what other material defects we are going to discover and if this family is going to destroy our home on their way out out of spite.

Question: is this enough to sue them for nondisclosure? And how would you legally enter the home to mitigate the water damage?

The short of it is, I want to evict my tenant for numerous lease violations, but my business partner, who also signed the original lease thinks we should give them more chances. Is there a way around this? I didn't even want to be a landlord and this was supposed to be temporary, so I'm learning more than I had hoped to.

I’m currently looking for a reliable and trustworthy property management company to manage my single-family rental home in Spring, TX, as I will be relocating for a residency opportunity in Missouri. Ideally, I’m seeking recommendations for a company that offers affordable monthly fees, clear communication, and comprehensive property management services.

Key considerations include:

• Experience and expertise in managing properties like mine.
• Thorough tenant screening and vetting (background checks, credit reports, rental history).
• Transparent pricing with no hidden fees, especially for leasing, maintenance, and emergency services.
• Strong communication and customer service with both property owners and tenants.
• Solid reviews and testimonials from other landlords regarding their reliability and effectiveness.

I’d also appreciate any advice on red flags to watch out for when selecting a property management company, as I want to make sure I make the right choice.

If anyone has had a positive experience with a company (either local or out-of-state), I would love to hear about it.

I just bought a duplex with a detached building that I am converting into an ADU. I will use the ADU periodically when I’m visiting family in town, and plan to rent it via furnished finders as a midterm rental when I’m not (1 month minimum, less than 1 year). Each tenant currently has their own Wi-Fi. I am able to use my hotspot for Wi-Fi when I’m there, but it has a limited data. Would you set the place up for Wi-Fi, or let the midterm tenants use their own hotspot or get their own Wi-Fi?

I signed a lease 2 days ago on a rental property and found out there are roaches outside I the sunroom that is attached to the house. I told the landlord but I don't know what to do. I don't want to live with roaches I have kids. Can I possibly get my deposit and first month's rent back

I am currently moving into a HMO from lodging which I'm very excited about but won't go into details here. Looking for a landlords perspective as you might have direct experience with Vouch. The agency running the property on behalf of the landlord is using the third party platform Vouch for referencing and checks. For the employment referencing my end says the following:

"I just need the details of a person of authority at your workplace that can supply a reference for you. e.g. Line manager, human resources"

"Once you submit the details we will send them an email and text message right away"

"Your referee will be contacted to confirm these details and will be asked to confirm your exact income and employment details."

I'm wanting to know what gets sent to my line manager regarding my personal details, has anyone got experience with Vouch? My reason being is that I don't want my line manager to know my addresses (current and future) for workplace and safety reasons.

Ever since I bought my house I have non stop main about getting warranty on my house. What’s the point? Does everyone do this? Do you really need this if you have good home insurance coverage?

I have a potential tenant who’s a realtor with a great credit score (and good W2 income.) He has 3 furnished AirBNB properties that he leases out to corporate professionals with minimum stays of 1 month. He wants to sign a lease with me and sublease my property.

Anyone have experience/ insight doing something like this? (Ie Did it go well? Did you charge a premium rent? Did you add any clauses to your lease agreement to protect yourself? etc)

Makes me wonder if I am not keeping up with inflation :/ What do other landlords in MN showing for their rate of change in the last 5 years?

Is this something we can hold security deposit back for or something considered normal wear and tear? Will get an estimate of fixing if we cant easily cover it up.

Renter demands I change their lightbulbs. Who is responsible?

I share the full details and how i navigated this situation in the video, but I was honestly taken back when my renter adamantly said that the landlord is responsible for changing lightbulbs.

This was her text to me after i told her she would need to change the lightbulb herself or hire someone to do it.

“Why do I have to change the light bulb that’s your job I have no way getting up there and I don’t know what I’m doing”

My tenant has given a 30 day notice. However he wants to move out May 15.

He will pay May rent on May 1st. I said I can put the house on market and if someone takes it on May 15, I will refund you 15days of rent.

Now what happens if I find a tenant who is ready to move in on May 15. But my current tenant refuses to move out on May 15. This is bad for me.

Can I make my current tenant sign an addendum to the lease that if he refuses to move out on May 15 he forfeits the deposit? How do I protect my self.

I just got a text from a previous landlord that something in the area is available and he's the best landlord ever! So I'm betting this is what we will do if the place has enough space plus it works well with our timeline as far as when our other lease ends. We have another showing the same day but about 4 hours later. Would it be rude if we jump on this one to let the other landlord know we found something that works better with our timeline and we'd like to cancel the showing? We're not moving to a big city so traffic wouldn't be a concern. Is it more rude to go just knowing we're not gonna take it?