| 134 Marsh Ave Suite 2 Reno, NV 89509 By Appointment Only Office: 775 331-9405 Fax: 775 786-2326 |
| ARE YOU CUT OUT TO BE A LANDLORD? |
There is something about tenants and the toilets they rent from their
landlords. Sure, they rent the entire apartment, condo or house, but for some
reason the toilet is usually the epicenter of the tenant/landlord relationship. A
clogged toilet can bring out the bad in an otherwise good tenant, and make a bad
or evicted tenant into a complete nightmare. What’s a landlord to do?
Hi, I’m Laura and I am a property manager – often called “the landlord” to those I
rent to. If that sounds like I’m introducing myself at a support group, well, that’s not
far from the truth. I have more stories about the crappiest tenants ever and their
toilets than there are pages in this book. So, I’ve handpicked the very best tales
and morals of the stories that I hope you will learn from. I will also cover all the
laws, loopholes, tenant traps and landlord procedures that will help you survive in
this profession. But for now, let’s get started with some real life tales from the toilet.
My stories take place in Reno, Nevada, the “Biggest Little City in the World”,
where I live, work, and frequently rent to students at the local university. In this
story, you’ll learn what happens when two coeds prioritize their party plans over
their plumbing.
It was a just after quitting time – 5pm on a Friday. The weather had been
switching back and forth between rain and snow all day, making for a typical
schizophrenic winter evening in Reno. Curled up on the couch with a good book,
part of me was thrilled to see the clock turn five. But as a longtime property
manager and landlord, there was another part of me that knew I wasn’t in the clear
yet. I learned early in my career that at least one holiday every year will be
disrupted by tenants and toilets. No sooner did the familiar warning sound in my
head than my cell phone rang.
I looked up from my book and gave the flashing screen a death glare before
politely answering (being the chipper, consummate professional that I am). On the
other end of the line, the two nice college girls, who had been tenants in one of my
rentals near the local university since the previous August, unleashed their sob
story. Their toilet had “suddenly” become all plugged up and now it was backing
up “all over the place.” If you’re a seasoned landlord like me, you instantly figure
out a couple things. First, that “all over the place” probably means that it has
skirted the pristine tile boundaries of the bathroom hours ago. And second, that’s
also about when the problem “suddenly” presented itself.
Ding, ding ding! When I arrived at the unit with my husband to investigate, I
discovered that I was right on both accounts. Damn, I’m good. Unfortunately, the
state of my rental property was not. The toilet had flooded out of the bathroom
and into the hallway, soaking the carpets all the way through. This was not going
to be an easy fix. The two nice girls, of course, stood nearby insisting that they
had absolutely no idea in the world what could have caused such a vile thing to
happen. I think one of them was even fanning herself, Scarlett O’Hara style. They
were clearly distressed (most of all because the sewage river in the hallway was
seriously tampering with their Friday night plans).
I hit the familiar auto dial number on my cell phone to summon my longtime
plumber Danny. When you deal with tenants and toilets for a living, your plumber
quickly jumps to the top of your holiday card list. This can be financially
advantageous because as anyone in property management also knows, the
standard plumber rates after 5pm start at double time and only go up from there,
making it a $90-$150 job before he even walks in the door. Danny gave me a
better rate, which I’m sure had more to do with my frequent flyer status than my
awesome holiday cards.
First, he tried to snake the toilet, but to no avail. Next, Danny had to remove
the entire toilet. He ran the snake down and immediately found the reason for the
“sudden” problem – 15 tampons in a giant wad, jamming the entire line. Over the
years, I’ve developed a pretty strong stomach for the things that Danny pulls out
of my tenants’ toilets. But this, honestly, was one of the grossest things I’ve ever
seen in my life.
Now that they were busted, the nice girls confessed that the toilet had actually
started to back up at 8 o’clock that morning (recall the couple things I figured out
when I was still on the phone with them). They knew about the problem, they didn’t
take it seriously, said “no big deal,” and left the toilet to work out its own drama.
They went to their classes, ate lunch, hung out with their friends, and waited until
quitting time to face reality.
Well, reality was that Danny had to put the toilet back on and then I had to
bring in a carpet shampooer to clean up the sewage river and then dry out the
carpet. Once I tallied up the cost of the damage they had done to my rental unit –
the nice girls burst into tears. As college students, they did not have even close to
that kind of cash and they were too embarrassed to call mommy and daddy for it
(can you imagine how that conversation would have gone?). So, they did the next
best thing – they begged me to take the damages out of their security deposit. I
don’t know if it was the tears or the sight of all those tampons, but, in a moment of
weakness, I agreed.
Big mistake! From then on, the nice girls (actually I’m not sure that’s what I was
calling them after that) asked me to take any repair costs or damages out of their
security deposit. By the time they moved out, the security deposit was tapped out
and I had to pay for the remaining wear and tear out of my own pocket.
Moral of the story for landlords and aspiring landlords: Never establish the
precedent of taking money out of your tenant’s security deposit. This creates the
mentality that damage to the unit is not actual damage because the tenant(s)
doesn’t have to pay for it right then and there, from their own pocket.
WANT MORE ORDER.......Tales of Tenants and Toilets $19.95
landlords. Sure, they rent the entire apartment, condo or house, but for some
reason the toilet is usually the epicenter of the tenant/landlord relationship. A
clogged toilet can bring out the bad in an otherwise good tenant, and make a bad
or evicted tenant into a complete nightmare. What’s a landlord to do?
Hi, I’m Laura and I am a property manager – often called “the landlord” to those I
rent to. If that sounds like I’m introducing myself at a support group, well, that’s not
far from the truth. I have more stories about the crappiest tenants ever and their
toilets than there are pages in this book. So, I’ve handpicked the very best tales
and morals of the stories that I hope you will learn from. I will also cover all the
laws, loopholes, tenant traps and landlord procedures that will help you survive in
this profession. But for now, let’s get started with some real life tales from the toilet.
My stories take place in Reno, Nevada, the “Biggest Little City in the World”,
where I live, work, and frequently rent to students at the local university. In this
story, you’ll learn what happens when two coeds prioritize their party plans over
their plumbing.
It was a just after quitting time – 5pm on a Friday. The weather had been
switching back and forth between rain and snow all day, making for a typical
schizophrenic winter evening in Reno. Curled up on the couch with a good book,
part of me was thrilled to see the clock turn five. But as a longtime property
manager and landlord, there was another part of me that knew I wasn’t in the clear
yet. I learned early in my career that at least one holiday every year will be
disrupted by tenants and toilets. No sooner did the familiar warning sound in my
head than my cell phone rang.
I looked up from my book and gave the flashing screen a death glare before
politely answering (being the chipper, consummate professional that I am). On the
other end of the line, the two nice college girls, who had been tenants in one of my
rentals near the local university since the previous August, unleashed their sob
story. Their toilet had “suddenly” become all plugged up and now it was backing
up “all over the place.” If you’re a seasoned landlord like me, you instantly figure
out a couple things. First, that “all over the place” probably means that it has
skirted the pristine tile boundaries of the bathroom hours ago. And second, that’s
also about when the problem “suddenly” presented itself.
Ding, ding ding! When I arrived at the unit with my husband to investigate, I
discovered that I was right on both accounts. Damn, I’m good. Unfortunately, the
state of my rental property was not. The toilet had flooded out of the bathroom
and into the hallway, soaking the carpets all the way through. This was not going
to be an easy fix. The two nice girls, of course, stood nearby insisting that they
had absolutely no idea in the world what could have caused such a vile thing to
happen. I think one of them was even fanning herself, Scarlett O’Hara style. They
were clearly distressed (most of all because the sewage river in the hallway was
seriously tampering with their Friday night plans).
I hit the familiar auto dial number on my cell phone to summon my longtime
plumber Danny. When you deal with tenants and toilets for a living, your plumber
quickly jumps to the top of your holiday card list. This can be financially
advantageous because as anyone in property management also knows, the
standard plumber rates after 5pm start at double time and only go up from there,
making it a $90-$150 job before he even walks in the door. Danny gave me a
better rate, which I’m sure had more to do with my frequent flyer status than my
awesome holiday cards.
First, he tried to snake the toilet, but to no avail. Next, Danny had to remove
the entire toilet. He ran the snake down and immediately found the reason for the
“sudden” problem – 15 tampons in a giant wad, jamming the entire line. Over the
years, I’ve developed a pretty strong stomach for the things that Danny pulls out
of my tenants’ toilets. But this, honestly, was one of the grossest things I’ve ever
seen in my life.
Now that they were busted, the nice girls confessed that the toilet had actually
started to back up at 8 o’clock that morning (recall the couple things I figured out
when I was still on the phone with them). They knew about the problem, they didn’t
take it seriously, said “no big deal,” and left the toilet to work out its own drama.
They went to their classes, ate lunch, hung out with their friends, and waited until
quitting time to face reality.
Well, reality was that Danny had to put the toilet back on and then I had to
bring in a carpet shampooer to clean up the sewage river and then dry out the
carpet. Once I tallied up the cost of the damage they had done to my rental unit –
the nice girls burst into tears. As college students, they did not have even close to
that kind of cash and they were too embarrassed to call mommy and daddy for it
(can you imagine how that conversation would have gone?). So, they did the next
best thing – they begged me to take the damages out of their security deposit. I
don’t know if it was the tears or the sight of all those tampons, but, in a moment of
weakness, I agreed.
Big mistake! From then on, the nice girls (actually I’m not sure that’s what I was
calling them after that) asked me to take any repair costs or damages out of their
security deposit. By the time they moved out, the security deposit was tapped out
and I had to pay for the remaining wear and tear out of my own pocket.
Moral of the story for landlords and aspiring landlords: Never establish the
precedent of taking money out of your tenant’s security deposit. This creates the
mentality that damage to the unit is not actual damage because the tenant(s)
doesn’t have to pay for it right then and there, from their own pocket.
WANT MORE ORDER.......Tales of Tenants and Toilets $19.95
