What defines a bad tenant? Here are some characteristics.
- Does not pay
- Always pays late
- Damages to the property
- Requests unnecessary maintenance weekly
- Breaks things and then wants the owner to pay to fix
- Receives multiple HOA violations & fines
It is important that your property management company handle the above issues correctly in order to protect your best interest as an Arizona Property owner.
The main thing is to take swift and stern action in response to any of the above issues. You have to have clear and set definitions in the lease to handle these issues. Also, stick to the setup you have put in place because tenants have a myriad of excuses that are rarely true.
While we could write many pages about how we handle the above here is one example. A tenant calls in and says their tenant isn't working so maintenance does a screening on the phone to determine the cause. After many questions, it is disclosed that the tenant broke the float and fill valve and then left it like that for several days causing a flood through out several areas of the property. We move quickly and serve the tenant with a notice to cure and call a few days later to discuss the details of the repairs needed and arrange a time line for completion with the tenant. We then follow up with the tenant at each interval of completion, go out to inspection with pictures to determine the work was done in a workmanship like manner. In the end of the tenant completed the entire repair which consisted of rebuilding of the toilet tank, water dry out, replacing of flooring and baseboard. Updates and pictures were sent to the owner along with way to keep them in the loop.
We have a process for all of the above items and these techniques have proven to reduce the frequency of each issue on the list. If you would like more details on how we can help you reduce the pain of a bad tenant, give us a call.
