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Landlords and property managers share one thing in common: tenant horror stories. There are plenty of worst-case tenant stories to go around, each unique in their own way. Some are funny and some are tragic, the two faces of humanity, if you like. But let's tell the truth, if landlords didn't have quirky and troublesome tenants life would be a lot easier, but far less interesting. After all, being a landlord is far more than just collecting the rent and making a trip to the bank every month.

It turns out that most tenant horror stories could have been avoided if the landlord had diligently and dutifully screened every application and background check for each and every tenant. If you are a landlord or property manager, you may have a story or two much like these:

There's the bi-polar tenant that stopped taking the prescribed medicine and paying the rent, claiming that an imaginary daughter was going to arrive shortly to settle the account in full. The same tenant stopped flushing the toilet for nearly three months before being evicted.

Then there's the tenant that was merrily selling drugs from the back window of his apartment and, after being arrested for trafficking, complained about your lack of compassion because he was a "nearly disabled" war veteran.

There was once a tenant that couldn't control her teenage children. After they broke down every single door in the four bedroom apartment unit, she couldn't come up with a dollar to pay for the damages.

There was another tenant that tried cooking drugs in the bathroom and nearly burnt the unit down. The sheetrock and fixtures all had to be replaced after the tenant disappeared one night. Don't bother asking about the rent.

A tenant claimed to be of age and waiting for approval for an alleged disability. After investigation, it turned out that the tenant was a minor, was not disabled. Rather he was abandoned by his parents because they couldn't control him. No one claimed responsibility for the situation including management or the parents. No one paid the rent, either.

Then there was the ex-con that sold drugs and stole everything not nailed down. Ex-cons never pay the rent and never disclose their prior landlord, either.

Another lady, newly divorced with three children was really Lady Madonna, paying the rent after the kids went to school.

One-half of a couple renting a two bedroom apartment arrived in town with the traveling circus. He was accompanied by a run-away minor that was wanted by the authorities for unknown reasons. Her face was not on any milk carton, either.

Finally, a tenant that never allowed management to inspect his apartment was keeping his dead dog in the back bedroom. The dog had been dead for a couple of years and its mummified remains were removed after evicting the tenant for non-compliance with the no pets allowed provision of his lease.

Go back to the beginning and read the first two paragraphs again. Perhaps you have a tenant horror story to share as well. If you don't you must really being something right.

Learn more about this author, Francis Jock.
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