landlord issues

[michelyn8]

A little backstory of my situation:
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I live in a fairly rural area. My landlord lives next door to me. I’m renting a 10 yr old mobile home on what used to be his mother’s property. Before I started renting it in 11-2009, his daughter lived there for several years. Shortly after I moved in, my landlord in passing conversation mentioned he was switching jobs because his boss was going to start charging him for his health insurance. He switched jobs and then started mentioning how little he was making at the new job compared to the old. Then he quit and started doing something else. Now he’s started his own business doing what he was doing for the original job. He asked me to help him set up Quickbooks and while I was doing that, mentioned how his wife was nagging him about having enough money to pay things. He’s mentioned to me about how tight things are for him personally, that he might sell the home (offered me first dibs which I refused), not having enough to pay personal property taxes, etc. The kicker on the taxes for me is that he has two boats and a motorhome parked in his yard so in my mind if he is keeping them, things can’t be but so bad. I’ve also had it mentioned to me that his daughter wanted him to end my lease so a friend of hers could move in.

Lately he’s been asking me how long I intend to keep living there (month to month lease) and that he’s had others asking him if the place was available – this was right after I noticed that his other daughter’s and granddaughter appeared to have moved in with him. When I stayed home sick a couple of days in Februrary, I was questioned if everything was ok at work. Last month when my daughter moved in with me and I took some partial days off to get her school withdrawal/GED registration done and move her stuff from her Dad’s, he came over to “see if I was ok”.

To be honest, I’m getting pretty sick of this. I pay my rent, the home is 100x cleaner than when I moved in, I keep the yard clean, no loud parties, no people staying with me except my DD (which I gave him as much notice as I got about that change) and maybe my BF one night every few weeks. My cat doesn’t mess with anything in his yard but I have to deal with his grandson’s Jack Russell barking every time I sit on my porch. I tell him when I’m going to be out of town more than a couple days so he can keep an eye on things. I’m a good tenant.

I can understand some concern about me being home at abnormal times because of how many people are losing their jobs, but I don’t feel I should have to explain or give him notice if I take a day off work as vacation or because I’m sick. My job is actually more stable than most. As long as my rent is paid in full and on time and I’m doing anything that violates the terms of my lease, what I do when is my business.

What I want to know from you landlords out there is if you are this way with your tenants? If you guys want an otherwise good tenant out, do you just give notice per your lease that you’re terminating it or do you also play these games? Wouldn't you first try raising the rent if expenses like property taxes on the rental unit start to create a burden giving the tenant the option to pay higher rent or move )which to me would be a win/win if money is actually the issue)? Then if the tenant chooses to move, you can charge the next one more right?

I hate this passive-aggressive BS and have already started planning a move in June. I just hope I can find something decent in my price range. What I have now is actually lower priced than most rentals and a nice place but with my daughter, I could use something with a third bedroom since I can no longer use hers for storage like I was doing.


And thanks for letting me vent.

[RoadToRiches]

Why are you getting so worked up? So he asks you stuff. So what?
Live your life and don't let small things like this give you a bad day. Really

[Gardening Grandma]

I'm sorry you are having to deal with this. Your landlord is being very unprofessional and I think you are doing the right thing by looking for another place.

What I want to know from you landlords out there is if you are this way with your tenants? No, we use a property manager to keep us at arms length from our tenants. I've never even met them (although I participate in the screening process)

If you guys want an otherwise good tenant out, do you just give notice per your lease that you’re terminating it or do you also play these games? Well, first of all, we would not want to lose a good tenant. If we did want them to move (to allow a relative to move in) we'd simply give them notice.

Wouldn't you first try raising the rent if expenses like property taxes on the rental unit start to create a burden giving the tenant the option to pay higher rent or move )which to me would be a win/win if money is actually the issue)? Yes, that is exactly what we'd do.

Then if the tenant chooses to move, you can charge the next one more right? Precisely.

[Deleted]

No decent LL has enough time to micro manage a rental. I had one tenant e-mail me nearly every day for the first few months when she moved in. Most of it was stupid stuff; e.g. there were three lizards in the house last week! Yeah, well you live in AZ. They are doing their job. Grrr...Now it's only once or twice a month, thank God. I was about ready to tell her to move last summer when I made my annual trip to the States.

You need to do your homework and decide whether the cheap rent is worth the hassle. I think the LL wants you to take the lead so he can tell DW that you left and now DD and DGD can move in. But he really could use the money so he doesn't want to push.

I bet next time you will look for a rental where the LL doesn't live on the property! ;D

[michelyn8]

Apr 5, 2011 9:49:17 GMT -5 RoadToRiches said:

Why are you getting so worked up? So he asks you stuff. So what?
Live your life and don't let small things like this give you a bad day. Really

I've been letting it go for months but lately it has really started to bother me. I get the feeling he wants me to move so one of his kids can move in or he can get more rent from someone else but doesn't have the balls to just tell me that. I guess he really just hit me wrong with the asking how long I planned to stay last week and then wandering over Sunday night with more "observances" while I was trying to change the low beam bulbs in my car; the kicker of which was commenting on me having my tools and the owner's manual out while saying he couldn't help because he didn't know anything about that stuff - duh, its a new to me car so that's why I had the manual out - so I guess the means instead of learning to do it himself, he'd pay someone else to do it for him (and his money is sooo tight these days?)

I think I need to go back to the boyfriends and let him use and abuse me a few more days.


I bet next time you will look for a rental where the LL doesn't live on the property!

Hard to find around here unless I go through a realtor and those homes tend to be overpriced IMO. The best landlord I ever had lived on the same property (family farm) too. The only reason I moved from there was because the house was an old farm house that was breaking me to keep heated/cooled.

[phil5185]

bet next time you will look for a rental where the LL doesn't live on the property!

Wouldn't the farmhouse been just as good if the LL had lived a mile away? I don't even consider buying rental houses in my neighborhood - the arm's length rule is far more important than most people realize - from both sides of the transaction. Trust me, I never want to know if my tenant's BF uses his high beams when he drives up, that is way too close.

[2kids10horses]

You're right, Phil. I don't want my tenants to know where I live. Actually, I don't want them knowing I own the place. I act as an "employee" of the management company. That way, when they ask if they can do something I don't want them doing (like raising Rottweiller puppies in the 3rd bedroom), I can tell them that I don't think that management would allow that.

[Deleted]

"Actually, I don't want them knowing I own the place."

Oh I let them know. I find most tenants take better care of a place if they think the owner cares about it vs a nameless, faceless company.

[zibazinski]

No kidding. That is just plain creepy. I'd be making sure my locks were secure and that he did not have access. That he wasn't accessing the place when I wasn't there. I had a landlord do that before when I was too young to know he wasn't supposed to. One time he was entering my apt while I was coming out of the shower!!! You AREN'T friends so you need to start as you mean to go on if you do move.

[TD2K]

I get the feeling he wants me to move so one of his kids can move in or he can get more rent from someone else but doesn't have the balls to just tell me that.


Do you get the feeling he's interested in you? I don't know why he would just beat around the bush if what you suggest is the reason is correct (and it could be). If you are on a month to month rental then he just needs to give you sufficient notice under state law that he's raising the rent, ending the rental agreement, etc.

Good luck on finding another place. He does sound like a twit and while it would be nice to just be able to ignore him, that's easier said than done if it's frequent.