Landlord Blues: Renting out the house from hell

mike_walsh said:
Sunday, November 17, 2013 @ 9:39 PM

It is unfair to blame all men for the sins of a tiny handful. It is also unreasonable to focus on tenants from hell. I have been toying with the idea of writing a series on the shortcomings of those who rent their properties to tenants. I should imagine it is 50 / 50 on both sides. Talking numbers, I wonder how many lessees declare their rental income? Precious few I imagine.
My wife and I will son be moving. Rents in this region have dropped in response to market conditions; ours has been increased. There was no TV or DVD player, no phone, a/c, the bed is so old that neighbours (no kidding) complain that they hear its creaking springs each time we visit the loo.
The appliances are ancient, the fridge freezer is broken. The lessee does not put a penny back into it. I have carried out maintenance. I doubt very much that the rental appears on her tax returns. Sorry, sore point; I have been on the receiving end of corrupt lessees far too often. I refuse to pay a deposit because the chances of getting even part of it back is remote to say the least.

robertt8696 said:
Monday, November 18, 2013 @ 5:37 PM

a landlord who doesn't fill in a tax return for the property most likely also doesn't participate in the landlord and tenant guarantee scheme, which is also a legal requirement, Therefore if as a potential tenant a landlord does not explain the scheme and give you details of exactly where the deposit will be held, i would advise that you, as that potential tenant, do not go anywhere near renting from that landlord, as that would be the first thing I would want to know, and any terms of rental, before even inspecting the property. If this information was not forthcoming, (and which you are legally entitled to) I would just jog on , and find a fair and decent landlord, renting a fair and decent property.
My thought on this is you pay for what you get, and if you don't confirm what you are getting at the start then you cannot really complain later when your deposit mysteriously dematerialises......

dayzero said:
Tuesday, November 19, 2013 @ 8:26 AM

I have met an incredible amount of useless women in my life, many of whom were unable to keep anything clean, and many of whom were also in total denial about their own obligations.

But then, they were women, so they were free to moan all they liked about men, whereas I would be
considered some sort of evil pariah for doing the same about them and their shortcomings.

This is one of the saddest ways that people have been turned against one another in my opinion.

I note that you expect your male partner to do the cleaning. I am familiar with that scenario.

eggcup said:
Tuesday, November 19, 2013 @ 9:31 AM

Hey guys, chill out. I didn't say ALL men are useless. You must have noticed there's a generation where many of the males can't seem to do a thing for themselves, apart from impregnate women or girls. There was one such boy at my coffee shop the other week - on work experience, aged 16. I felt sorry for him because he was only getting to clear the tables every day, so I asked why he didn't get to help on the till as well. The member of staff said that he wasn't the whole package, so could only be trusted to clear the tables. But, by the way, he had a baby on the way...
And dayzero, you've got no idea about the division of labour in my household, so you're wrong to make assumptions. Cleaning isn't the only job to be done - maybe I do all the shopping and cooking, cleaning, laundry, finances etc. in our house, and maybe I clean up all the dog's mess and sort out all the emotional problems and homework stuff with the kids. My point is, that you don't know. I didn't say I expect Adrian to do the cleaning up after tenants - he decides what he wants to do and if he wants my help, he says. If I spent my day doing that sort of stuff, maybe he'd have to go shopping and make the tea? And maybe he wouldn't want to.
Mike: in terms of renting and letting houses in Spain, I want nothing to do with it, from either side. Both times I rented a house and flat from someone I had trouble getting my deposit back; and I would never let out houses long-term, with the expectations that as a landlord you have to fully furnish a house and even be responsible for the telly, DVD, 'phone and bed of the tenant, and then be in a country where tenants can stop paying rent and landlords have to spend years and lose thousands of pounds trying to evict them. Letting and renting in the UK is far easier - despite the problems we've had over the years.

mike_walsh said:
Tuesday, November 19, 2013 @ 10:01 AM

Well Eggcup, so far the owner has received €8,000. She has not put a brass farthing back into HER previously empty home, secured and maintained by us.
The creaking spring bed, which was well past its ’sleep by’ date when we arrived, wakes the neighbours. The fridge freezer is kaput. Do I replace it and other things and leave them for her when we leave?
There is only one solution, leave it empty for an owner who is more appreciative of good tenants. We do, in January. That said, finding an owner who is appreciative is as difficult as finding one who declares their rental income to their tax commitments. Owners, bless them, are so hard done by.

fazeress said:
Saturday, November 23, 2013 @ 3:32 PM

I have to say that when I took my son to his first Uni house share, which was already almost full with 5, 3rd year girls. OMG! I could not believe the state of the kitchen! I have brought my children up to be clean and tidy. It took me 2 hours of hard labour to get the kitchen remotely clean! I felt I couldn't leave him there when it was so filthy dirty. I think your husband is right to clean even though I'm sure he doesn't want to but many would be instantly put off. My son soon got used to living in a hovel and the following year when he moved to another house with what he thought were 'clean and tidy' friends, he once again saw that they were not! Third time lucky as he is in another house! I hope he's not permanently hovelised! :)

eggcup said:
Sunday, November 24, 2013 @ 6:02 PM

Yes, Fazeress. We have the annoying scenario every September at one or two of our student houses, where we have handed it over clean in July, and one or two of the students have occupied it. They make it filthy and then the others turn up in September with their parents and we get the blame...

eggcup said:
Wednesday, July 30, 2014 @ 9:31 AM

I don't expect very many people to ever read this comment as it's an old post, but I just wanted to say that this is my most viewed post out of ones which didn't go on the Weekly Digest - around 1,800 views to date. And I'm wondering why the title 'useless men' appealed to people. Could it be that a lot of women have to put up with useless men, so it struck a chord? Or do a lot of men suspect they may be useless and wanted to read about themselves? Just checked with my husband and he said the latter isn't correct - but that men are more likely to think 'I'm not useless' and are just interested in reading about the other men who are...