Frustration of a landlord

[tall cat]

After all the bad press on unreasonable landlords (tenants: my heart goes out to you, those guys shld be shot!) , can i just share my frustration, story... Maybe you guys can share some good advice or maybe people will understand why the nice landlord becomes the landlord from hell eventually..

Note: i'm not trying to find new tenants here..

I bought a condo on city-fringe in 2010 & inherited the tenants from the previous owner.

Since then, the things in the condo mysteriously keep breaking.. Firstly it was air-condition, the water heater, the light covers in a few rooms; mind you, all this repairs are all a few thousand bucks each.

Recently, the tap was leaking and amazingly, changing a tap cost $160, just $10 more than the agreed minor repair range of $150. I'm not the fussy landlord who checkins often. I only come in once to see what broke then once more to see what has been changed and the stuff i replace, i don't just go for the cheapest, i go for the same if not better. Now i have just been told the stove is spoiled and the fridge has cracked..like seriously..how do you crack the fridge?

During my last trip, i noted the lack of shower curtain and i am worried that in longer time, the doors (wooden) will rot, i have asked the tenant to install shower curtain, but he refuse to, i think it's because it will fall within the range of minor repairs.

Sigh.. I think this is the last term i will rent out the place to him..and next time, i won't be as nice a landlord...much stricter by the book.

[x9200]

The basic question is, why do you allow it? Unless it is said in the TA that the tenant is in charge of all the repairs claiming later the money from you .... but I have never seen any clause like this. I would expect this is yours and not their decision to make as you are the owner of the broken things unless they fall under the minor repairs. You should work out together some kind of protocol.

Next thing, If you see their claim as unreasonable why don't you say so out and loud and support your opinion by some data (a quotation)? You should question anything that makes no sense. You have no obligation to accept anything that you have not agreed for earlier.

The shower curtain: what do you mean by you noticed? It was there but was removed?

[PNGMK]

Some tenants are very, very hard on fixtures. Others not so much. If I have a tenant who is hard on the finishing's I usually abort their contract early and throw them out. (i.e. one repair.... ok - two in a month - forget it). You should try to avoid renting your condo as furnished as furnishings and white good particularly suffer very much with some tenants from certain subcontinents.

You should never pay on a receipt for repairs unless you've authorized them (i.e. and preferrably via your own contractor you trust). This should be clear in your contract.

The $150 is deductible in some contracts - i.e. you deduct $150 from the repair every time. This will stop that stupid stuff happening - however it will also mean a lot of minor repairs go undone.

For the shower curtain - buy one (come on - it's $20) and issue it to the tenant with strict instructions to use it.

You should consider using an agent to avoid dealing direct with the tenant as well.