There are literally dozens of complaints that landlords make about some of their tenants, but in the interest of time, we managed to condense them into ten. So, without further ado, here are the most common landlord complaints we consistently hear:

1. Tenants who do not pay their rent on time (or at all.)

2. Tenants who do not take care of the landlord’s property as contracted/expected.

3. Tenants who do not pay other bills (such as electric, gas, etc.), thereby causing unnecessary disruptions and problems (like frozen pipes when water has been turned off.)

4. Tenants who complain about their landlords, property managers, etc. via social networking sites.

5. Tenants who refuse to pay penalty fees on late payments.

6. Tenants who are impossible to contact.

7. Tenants who repeatedly push boundaries (and buttons!)

8. Tenants who either leave in the middle of the night –or- who are practically impossible to get to leave at all.

9. Tenants who allow other people to occupy the space or “sublet” from them without permission.

10. Tenants who grumble about everything, no matter how insignificant it may be.

So what can a landlord do to avoid experiencing the majority of these kinds of tenant nightmares?

Three words: Always screen tenants.

We always like to say that if you avoid the tenants with a bad (or sketchy) track record from the very beginning, you’re much less likely to have problems later.

For instance, a thorough tenant background check can uncover a host of items you might never have known before, including less-than-appealing credit scores, surprising criminal records, income confirmation, previous landlord feedback, landlord-tenant court proceedings and more.

Remember – if you don’t START renting to bad tenants, you won’t have to ever deal with bad tenants. It’s a simple solution to avoid a huge problem… and believe us, it works!

• ATS: Whether you are a landlord, property management firm or real estate agent, ATS has the solution for you!
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