Every landlord’s worst nightmare – besides not being able to rent out their property – is having to deal with horrible tenants that cause trouble and damage the property. You might think you’ve met some nightmare renters, but after reading some answers on Quora from landlords about why they kicked out their tenants, you might just breathe a sigh of relief that it didn’t happen to you!
(Answers have been slightly edited for length and clarity.)
#1 Flasher got what he deserved
Years ago, when I was new in the property management business, a father came to my office and stated that a tenant in one of our buildings was exposing himself on the balcony as girls walked by from the local high school. The next day, camera in hand, I stood in a yard across the street to see if this was the case. When the big school let out and students began to stream past, the tenant came out on the balcony with an erection and beckoned to the girls passing by. I used the trusty Kodak and produced photos of this jerk. I then knocked on his door, which he answered half naked. I showed him a photo and suggested that he leave by midnight. There was a U-haul in the lot within the hour and he was gone well before midnight. I contacted the police anyway and gave them the photos. Jerk spent three years in prison.
#2 Turned out to be a drug den
We got a call from another tenant on the property asking if we knew that the police had been at the property, kicked in the door of another unit, and found a load of drugs plus $100,000 in the attic. No, we didn’t know. The police arrested some of the tenants, and I thought, “Oh boy! Now I’m going to have to evict the rest.” I didn’t know how these things go, but $100,000 of somebody’s money was missing, and they weren’t going to be happy about it! The ones who weren’t arrested disappeared immediately. So I guess I didn’t actually kick them out, the police and their drug boss did.
#3 Wreck-And-Run
I had a group throw a “wreck the apartment party” in one unit of a 4-plex. It wasn’t the tenant I leased the unit to; unbeknownst to me he had moved out and his roommate set it up as a rooming house – mattresses on the floor in the bedrooms and even in the closets. He collected some sort of rent from several people and then was late the following month. This was a pay-in-cash type of building, high maintenance, so I was there knocking on the door by the 4th or 5th. They let me in and it was immediately apparent there were several more than the two allowed tenants, plus they could not produce the original tenant or the full rent. I immediately posted a pay or vacate notice, and they chose to run, but not before inviting 20 or so people over to party and destroy. Cabinet doors were all ripped off, many holes kicked in the walls, broken door jambs and more. The other tenants called the police (and me) quickly, the cops broke up the party but also let everyone leave because none of them “lived” there. No names or IDs, just let them all walk out into the night. I got there a few minutes later, made the report, secured the unit and next day filed the insurance claim.
#4 Giving college students a bad name
Some years ago, the man who would become my husband, bought an apartment building and lived on the top floor. The apartment was located close to a hospital as well as a college. He rented the second-floor apartment to two college men. They punched holes in the wall, had food stains on the carpet that wouldn’t come out, loud beer parties well beyond midnight, etc. Also, my future husband had to “beg” for rent money. At the end of the year, the college students were asked to leave.
#5 Questionable guests every night
Back when Airbnb first started, I decided to rent out a spare bedroom in our apartment on a long-term basis. The tenant was this very handsome young gay guy. He was very clean cut and well spoken. Unfortunately, he also had a very active personal life and brought home a different guy every night for a loud romp… It was too much for my parents who lived with me at the time, and they could not accept it. I didn’t want to be a bigot, but then I realized that if he was straight and bringing a different girl home every night, I would find it just as objectionable. So, he was asked to leave.
#6 Strange roommates
I had an interesting time renting to roommates after my kids left home. One had ferrets and insisted on using various scented candles and room deodorizers, even though he kept the cage really clean, and I told him that the artificially scented products were making me sick. Another roommate (under 18, special case) invited someone else to come and live with him in his room, without telling me. The kid showed up at the kitchen slider with a clothes basket full of stuff. That same roommate invited all kinds of sketchy people in until I put my foot down. He moved out not too long after that.
#7 Those are some expensive herbs
My brother and I owned a rental house in Fort Collins for a number of years. We had some very good renters for a while. Rented it to some new people and with kids and such they trashed the place… Also had marijuana growing downstairs. We decided to sell the house. It cost us over $50,000 to get it in condition to sell.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg of problems landlords face when renting out their property though; there are even worse tenant experiences shared by people online. But don’t worry! Landlords and even real estate agents can now download Landlord123 – our very own property management mobile app – to easily manage rental properties and safeguard rental properties from damage! Down it now on Android or iOS for FREE! 
