As a landlord, you will discover sooner or later that your tenants are trying to hide certain things from you. This usually happens when they have violated terms of lease and they are afraid of strict action form your end. You cannot let your tenants hide things from you as they can harm your business and property. Here is a list of 7 things tenants most commonly hide from their landlords.
- A friend moves in and lives in your property This is a very common phenomenon with tenants as they invite someone close to them to live with them. Normally it should not be a problem as you have allowed the tenant after proper screening. But you are not as sure about his guest as he can have a criminal record and wanted by the authorities. You need to act as soon as possible to prevent any trouble with the authorities by telling the tenant that his friend has not signed the lease agreement with you.
- This is another common problem faced by tenants. A tenant bringing a pet in your property seems harmless as everyone loves pets, isn’t it? But if you have rules regarding pets, chances are that your tenant is either hiding the fact to avoid paying pet fees or to make sure he is not evicted from the property. It is difficult to hide a pet for a long time though as you can find out in one of your routine inspections. What if the breed of the dog is potentially harmful for other tenants or your property?
- These days there is a trend of strangers hooking up for one-night stands. One such website is couchsurfing.com. It allows people with a couch to hook up with strangers. Your tenant might have given the address of your property on this website and strangers might be visiting your property without your knowledge. It could turn scary with strangers coming in and going out of your property without your knowledge. The address of your property listed on these undesirable websites can be a cause of big concern to you as a landlord.
- It can be a nightmare for you to know that your property is being used by one of your tenants to earn money through short term letting. This has happened before, and you have to remain alert so that none of your tenant posts an ad on AirBnB or any other short term letting company to use your property commercially.
- This is a clever ploy used by some tenants to avoid paying rent. They think you will empathize with them and allow them to live in your property without paying rent. Do not allow a tenant to leave your premises without paying a rent.
- Some tenants start business activity while staying in your property. They hide this news from you because they know they have violated the terms of lease. Make sure you keep a close watch on the activities of all your tenants so that they do not misuse your property for their monetary gains.
- Your tenant might introduce someone as his friend, but the fact is that this individual has been found by him on Craiglist.com. Your tenant cleverly tries to save money by charging half of the rent from this friend. It could be a big disaster for your reputation as a landlord.
Regular inspections are the only way you can unearth suspicious activities of your tenants.
If you’d like to talk more about property management, or you need help with Everest Property Management, please contact us at Everest Realty.
Property Management Service Areas
Palm Coast Property Management
Flagler Beach Property Management
Ormond Beach Property Management
As a top producing Realtor and Property Manager; Terry specializes in sales, extensive construction homes, rentals, REO’s, short sales, and all aspects of Real Estate. After graduating the University of Michigan with a master in MBA, Terry continued his endeavor and now has over 15+ years of experience in the Real Estate world. If there is anything that has to do with Real Estate and sales, you can always be sure of Terry to provide important, specialized knowledge.
