Many years ago we had a chick try to pull a Pacific Heights on us. She was too stupid to succeed and she failed and was evicted. The best advice for landlords is the best advice for us too: pre-screen the heck out of everybody, check references, don't fall for charming BS or a sob story.

A lying, cheating and skipped out tenant left us hanging for 3 months rent. There was so much cigarette smoke damage it took 2 more months to treat, clean, paint, scrub and steam carpets and run an ozone machine for 4 weeks to remove the odor. File eviction as early as possible and don't get sucked into the promises and stories.

I am not a landlord but my last broker was. I remember him visiting tenants that didn't pay & coming back with a black eye! 

Possession is 9/10th of the law.  Tenant filed false allegations with free legal help as a method to be able to stay in the home. $20,000 later ... friggin nightmare!!!

when I owned 23 units, and I worked full time in real estate.... I was not able to manage the properties properly.... I should have hired a property manager.... 

Allowing a tenant to stay on with the promise of rent payment. Worst decision as a landlord I've made. Now I have zero tolerance. No pay--out you go! 

Had a commercial tenant file bankruptcy during the eviction process with many suppliers claiming they owned some of the equipment on the premises. No income and a mortgage payment with everyone claiming different things. Judge was not helpful!

Too many bad ones, but I am not revisiting them.

       Took the refrigerator, and left large holes in the walls where they had hung shelves or something.  New refrigerator plus repairs cost more than the deposit.  They moved to another state, so we took the money in hand and let it go.

Lots of repairs.

Non-payment of rent and small claims court. No eviction - tenant left. Never did get the money but they had a judgment for a few years!

Having to evict a tenant. No matter the cause or the response from the tenant, it's not pleasant to me!

Jenifer,

Have not had problems.

A tenant I'm about to take to small claims court painted my wood kitchen cabinets BLACK!!!! With cheap paint no less!

There are many, many stories I could share but there's little point.

The solution is to establish policies that are tight and enfore them quickly.

Sec 8 tenant, ex comes by breaks al the windows. I have to pay to fix, next weekend, same thing, i pay to fix. a week later again and i board up to order more windows. Each case was under my deductable so i had to pay. Tenant turns me into sec 8 and they with hold rent which barely covers damage they are causing. I try to evict and judge says no. I sell the building.

Serving an eviction notice. Was greeted with a gun pointed at me, and was told to get off the property or I'd have it. Thanks to Phoenix PD, the eviction was soon performed.

Nothing... I've never been a landlord and don't plan on being one. And some of the answers you've received is precisely why. I sold a home for an investor whose tenants left behind $60,000+ worth of repairs needed after they moved out... not a pretty picture.

hopefully thorough screening can eliminate many problems - 

None

I guess the worst was when one died.  In the house.  No family and power was off before I knew.  Sold that house.  

No, I saw my corporate America director disappeared each month came back on 10th month of each month acted upset.  His white shirt often had dirt and grease after he received a call and acted upset. Why 10th? No rent was collected.

I"m not a landlord yet. But I sometimes help my clients to rent their properties. Anytime the tenant decides to do what they want without consulting the owner is terrible. I think the worst was when we rented a house to a nice young guy who brought his ''star''  g/f ( she thought she was, at least), she trashed the house almost immediately.... LL just wanted her out.....another similar lady painted walls and kitchen of her rental  in absolutely crazy toxic neon colors....

To evict a dead beat

Major fires and floods at garden apartments.

We responded and coped with the difficult situations.

Lucky I am not a landlord

So far, I have not had any bad situations in my rental properties.

All my experiences have been good, knock on wood.  I pre-screen the heck out of my tenants though.

Tenant refused to pay, answer calls or comunicate in any way.  Had to evict.

My advice?  Do not wait to start theprocess of eviction when they cannot pay and wont communicate.  Do it that day!

I am not a landlord.

Someone I liked.

Got them selves into a bind.

I broke landlord rule #1 and chose to help them out.

The rest of the story....no good deed.....

I wish I could still like them.

Tenant filing for bankruptcy

Most landlords have other day jobs and are untrained and use homemade leases and legal forms.

I was a computer design engineer and landlord after work. I took property management classes from the local apartment association. There are chapters in 150 cities. I learned the landlord/tenant laws and screening processes used by professional property managers.

Never had a serious problem. Three most important factors: screening, screening, screening. Get classroom training. Use a professional lease with protective language.

I became President of the Apartment Association of Southern Colorado. I earned every award they had. I created and taught an award-winning class for landlords titled Managing Rental Property. I have taught classes to about 3,000 landlords over many years.

I became national chairman for small landlords for the National Apartment Association. I spoke to landlords in different cities at conferences.

I worked as a volunteer with the police department on crime prevention for rental properties. I became a Certified Crime Prevention Specialist and earned several community crime prevention awards.  I organized a statewide conference on crime free rental housing. I was M.C. and the Governor was our guest speaker. He recognized me for my efforts and invited me to his New Year's VIP reception at the Governor's mansion.

I got a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance for landlord training in crime prevention. The JFK School of Government at Harvard University recognized me in their report on community policing.

My definition of fair housing: If I am a good landlord, I deserve to have good tenants. Let the bad landlords have the bad tenants. That's fair.

Many mom and pop landlords rent to tenants that are rejected by well-managed apartments using a good screening process. The bad tenants know that it is easier to pass the poor screening process and take advantage of untrained, amateur landlords.

There are many good renters. Choose them and provide good customer service so they stay a long time.

Great reading older question and have an answer.

I had rented out the place for only 3 months - everything porcelain was chipped, missed light bulbs, all screens were missing.  AND, they were not to have any pets, and they had a few cats that peed everywhere.  Took them to court and won.