The Educated Landlord

Making Landlording Easier

  • Home
  • About
  • Articles & Landlord Tips
    • Articles about Running a Landlord Business
    • Property Management Articles
    • Articles about Landlording
    • Articles about Tenants
    • Articles about Investing In Real Estate
    • Landlord Video Tips
    • Articles about Renovations & Your Rental Property
  • Landlord Training – Courses/Books
  • Rooming House Resources
    • Basics of Rooming Houses – A Beginner’s Guide
    • Rooming House Tips
    • Rooming House Articles
    • Rooming Houses – Consulting
  • Contact Us
  • Landlord Tools
    • Prorated Rent Calculator
    • Rental Property Cash Flow Calculator Tool Simple
    • Rental Property Cash Flow Calculator With Details
  • Access To Courses
You are here: Home / Archives for Tenants

Tell Tale Signs Of Drug Use By Tenants

February 27, 2012 By Landlord Education

Three Tips To Tell If Tenants Are Using Drugs in Your Property

I was busy cleaning up a room in one of my weekly furnished rental properties the other day and guess what I found under the mattress? This was a sure sign there was some drug use by tenants going on.

drug use by tenants

Hopefully most of you don’t recognize this, but it’s a crack pipe. This one is a rather obvious tell-tale sign of drug use by a tenant, so I’ll give you some more subtle ones.

Missing aerators on your taps. The aerators are the little caps that go over the end of your taps in the kitchen and bathroom and have the little screens on them.

They screw on and rarely ever just fall off. So why do tenants remove them? The screens work great as filters for makeshift crack pipes.

During a property inspection do you see lots of steel wool around, you know the kind used for scrubbing pots? Maybe they just like scrubbing, but it apparently also makes great filters as well and might be a sign of potential trouble!

Are you missing door stops and cannot figure out where they go? Well when used with steel wool, they make great makeshift crack pipes. It is simply amazing how many different ways drug users can come up with to take advantage of their surroundings to get their high.

Disposing of Drug Paraphernalia

As you can tell I have obviously been hanging out with the wrong people who have been kind enough to share this with me and now I can pass it on to you. There are likely dozens of other signs, but these are ones I have noticed time and time again.

So phase two, if you do happen to find pipes, drugs, needles or any other drug paraphernalia, what do you do with them? Well, you have a couple of options. If you can safely handle them, you can drop them off at most fire stations or police stations.

If it is something like needles though, you can often contact the local firehall and they will come collect them, but it’s usually not on your schedule, so make sure you have time available (and this is not a 911 call!!!!). Even if it’s just a pipe there are health concerns, so always be cautious.

Hopefully you are doing your diligent screening in advance and never find out about the darker side of some tenants. If not, at least you are now armed with a little more knowledge!

Filed Under: Rooming Houses, Tenants

A Rental Mortgage Doesn’t Have To Be Paid On The 1st

February 27, 2012 By Landlord Education

But My Rental Mortgage is Due On the 1st!

Set your mortgage up to be paid on a day other than the firstIsn’t that right? Don’t you have to make your mortgage payment on the first and that’s why it’s so important to get the tenants rent check in immediately?

Well, did you know you can ask most lenders for the payment to be on a different date? You can even make it mid month if that takes extra stress off of you. Now be warned, the bank may want to charge you slightly more for the privilege of changing payment dates to something that works for you, but if you are a good customer, it might be negotiated away.

The biggest bonus for using this tactic is you will have a large window of notice if a tenant bounces a check and you have plenty of time to ensure your payments are covered. If for some reason you don’t already have a float to cover you in place that is.

Rent Is Due On The 1st! Because My Rental Mortgages Are Too!

This is actually another fallacy that most landlords fall into because they have to make rental mortgage payments on the 1st. Sure it’s easier for you as the landlord to track, but occasionally you will run into a tenant who is stuck in a weird payroll schedule and receives their check on the 5th or some other date.

If you have a tenant like this, you need to make a judgment call. If your mortgage payment date isn’t the first, you can be flexible and allow the tenant to make payments on an alternate date, decided by you and the tenant and then backed up in writing. The question is, how much extra work will this be?

Sure it can be a nice thing to do for a GREAT tenant, but now you have to make a second trip to the bank, which may not be much of a hassle. Unless you have multiple properties and now have to stop at the bank on the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 8th, just because you are so flexible with your tenants.

Understand Your Rental Mortgage Options

So before you commit yourself to some crazy banking schedule, determine whether it’s worth it, whether it’s a perk you can offer some people or whether you are just creating more work. Then again, if you changed all the days your mortgage are due to the 15th, maybe you would still only make one trip to the bank!

Filed Under: Property Management, Tenants

You Want HOW MUCH in Advance? Getting Deposits Early

February 27, 2012 By Landlord Education

You Want it Early?

getting deposits early is important for your landlord successNot getting security or damage deposits and rent before new tenants move in is one of the most common problems I hear about, and it’s one of the most common pitfalls that new and even experienced landlords run into.

You’ve finally narrowed down your list of prospective tenants to the one that best fits your criteria.

All that’s left now is to get the appropriate security, and damage deposits along with first months (or last month’s depending on where you live and local rules) rent from them to move forward. Now depending on the applicable residential tenancy laws in your area, this can entail first month’s rent and a security deposit or possibly first and last month’s variation. Which ever the case, here is where the problems start.

You meet with the tenant to get the security deposit or first and last month’s rent for the property and they tell you they don’t have it all yet. The most common reasons?

Their previous landlord hasn’t returned their deposit to them yet or perhaps they are just waiting for their next check. Sorry, this is a definite warning sign in my eyes.

When it comes to security deposits, there is more than one security deposit in the world.

It’s not your problem to they don’t have their full deposit back from their previous property. Most importantly if it isn’t in your hands before the tenant moves in, they NEVER EVER should get in your property.

Same with first and last month’s rent where applicable. These payments are absolutely required to be in your possession before they take possession of your property. Failure to do this can be an expensive lesson.

If you’ve never heard this before it needs to be said, LOUDLY!  No one should ever get into your property until all the appropriate rent, deposits and payments are made up front and in cash. If you don’t receive the initial payments in cash, you shouldn’t release the keys!

This Tip About Getting Deposits Early Could Save You $1,000

If your local laws allow security or damage deposits, be careful how you write the receipt. Again this can vary from region to region, so you may want to check with the local landlord and tenant representation to confirm if this applies to you.

If the receipt says security deposit and they decide not to rent from you, you typically have to return the entire deposit. If however, you write it out as “deposit against first month’s rent”, it is no longer a security deposit and you have leverage, in this case their cash, if they back out.

There are always extenuating circumstances and ultimately the call is up to you. However, if a tenant commits to you, you turn away other potential renters and are left with a vacant property when they change their mind, you shouldn’t have to cover the entire costs of re-advertising, recontacting potential renters and even paying for new credit checks.

Often, you can keep the entire deposit, or only return a portion to offset your costs, if the laws in your local region allow this and it’s not referred to as a security deposit. So know your local rights!

Understand Local Rules Regarding Getting Deposits Early

Real Estate is a business, it’s ok to be nice, but you have to protect yourself and ensure you don’t get taken advantage of. Hope this saves you some future headaches!

Filed Under: Property Management, Tenants

Setting The Stage For Tenant Relationships

February 27, 2012 By Landlord Education

Your Actions Dictate The Future

Just a quick potential revelation for you to think about when it comes to your tenant relationships. Think carefully about this next statement.

How you deal with your tenants when
issues arise sets the precedent for future interactions.

This applies to both sides of the interaction. My first example is how you react if the tenant has a problem like a broken appliance or problem with the property.

If you stall dealing with it, avoid getting back to the tenant, drag out the repairs or take shortcuts in dealing with the problem, the tenant will see this. That sets the precedent and in the future they believe you don’t care much about the property and by association them.

Be A Professional, Not An Amateur

Contrast this with reacting immediately, getting someone in to deal with it as quickly as possible, getting it resolved fast and keeping the tenant updated as to the progress or if there are delays. You have set the stage as someone who is professional, concerned about both the tenant and the property and you stand out from the crowd.

My second example will likely hit home to many of you who found me due to having to deal with problem tenants.

How you deal with excuses, missed payments and tenant issues sets a huge precedent. Telling tenants a late payment is ok sets a horrible precedent! Getting notice of a returned check from your bank and not immediately contacting the tenant is bad for your future!

Issues like these need to be addressed, penalized where necessary (and legal) and shown how they are an issue. Or they will reoccur!

To show you are serious, if this occurs with one of your tenants in the future, you need to write or type up a notice to the tenant explaining to them the issues. You don’t need to be a jerk, but you need to set the precedent that late, missed or NSF checks are unacceptable and if the practice continues you will take action.

Now sometimes these incidents just happen and they may be out of the tenants control, that’s why you shouldn’t be a jerk about it, but you have to set the precedent!

Good Tenant Relationships Help You

Long term, by establishing good tenant relationships you get rewarded with loyal long term tenants. And referrals. And less headaches.

Any of those bonuses are always great so setting yourself up for all three really can make your job as a landlord easier.

 

Here’s another article showing what happens when you have great tenant relationships, Thank You For Being Such an Awesome Landlord

Filed Under: Property Management, Tenants

Your Privacy Does Matter

February 26, 2012 By Landlord Education

What’s Your Email?

Don’t worry this is rhetorical, but important and relates to your privacy.

You see, email can be a great way to stay in contact with tenants, send them updates and to get updates from them, but you really need to make sure the email address you use as a landlord is different than your normal email. For privacy reasons!

Be a Mystery And Protect Your Privacy

I’m probably a poor example of part of this, which I’ll explain in a moment, but here is what you need to know. Ideally you don’t want tenants to know where you live and to know as little of your personal life as possible. In fact, many sophisticated landlords don’t even tell the tenants they are the owners, they just tell them they manage it for the owners.

It moves you one step back, lets you still call the shots, it stops you from being the bad guy/girl if there is an issue or a rent increase. It’s “the owner” who is calling the shots, you’re just the manager, all while you protect your privacy a bit!

This brings me back to the email. If you advertise on some online platforms, they are nice enough to allow visitors to see your other ads as well. This is all tracked by the email address you sign up with, so if you use the same email for personal items and rental properties, tenants can potentially find out way to much about you.

I recently ran into this with a new landlord I was coaching. I checked out their ad and then followed their other ads to find out all the other items they were selling. This could lead to tenants getting your home phone number, your home address and basically just knowing too much about you.

As I mentioned, I’m not much of a mystery and as such I am a poor example of this in action. If you were to search my name you find thousands of references to me (I think they are all good!), but it’s because I am very active online, have multiple websites and hundreds of posts and articles online.

In this case, do as I say, please don’t do as I do!

Let’s Talk Facebook Privacy

Please please please don’t friend tenants on Facebook or any other Social Networks, there is simply to much opportunity for them to learn too much about you.

Filed Under: Property Management, Tenants

Being a Professional Landlord Sets You Apart

February 26, 2012 By Landlord Education

Start By Making Life Easy For Tenants

Tenants really just want a place they can call home and a landlord they feel will look after them. By portraying yourself as a professional landlord, part of this can easily be accomplished.

If you come across as proficient and prepared it will help allay many of the fears tenants have, so here is a handy tip to help you with that.

be a professional landlordWe have an Emergency Call Number list that we install in every property inside the kitchen cupboard closest to the phone jack. This list has your standard emergency numbers like 911, the local police, non-emergency ambulance, fire department, poison centre, gas and electrical troublelines and of course our contact numbers listed at the bottom.

It’s a simple thing, but it’s just a little bit of comfort for a tenant and is incredibly easy to do. It’s also no accident that we are at the bottom of the list. If there is a fire, or emergency, we want to be called after the appropriate emergency people are called.

Advanced Professional Landlord Tip(s)

If you want to take this to the next level, print these sheets up and take them to Staples or Kinkos or an equivalent office place and have them laminated. We do this and then attach velcro to the backs and in the cupboard so we can easily change them out later if needed. This way they look more professional, they are more durable and it creates a better impression.

Also, if you have certain contractors you deal with all the time, such as a plumber or appliance repair person, include their numbers on there as well. All our tenants have access directly to our plumber and he even has a master key to all of our properties in case of emergencies.

You may want to have an arrangement in place ahead of time, but our plumber knows that if it’s general wear and tear causing the plumbing issues he bills us, if it is a tenant issue (ever had a child’s toy clog a toilet?), he bills the tenant directly.

Can You Be a Professional Landlord?

Do you think this is something you can implement immediately to help establish yourself as a professional landlord? Tell me your thoughts and if you have any additional suggestions or improvements let us know!!

Having contractors you trust makes a huge difference in your landlord business. It’s not always the best price, but it’s always the best relationships that help you succeed.

Filed Under: Property Management, Tenants

Making A Great Impression With New Tenants

February 26, 2012 By Landlord Education

Happy New Tenants Stay Longer

keeping new tenants happy makes your job easier as a landlordIt’s true, when tenants are happy, they’re happy to stay where they are at, but when they aren’t happy they tend to look for greener pastures.

One of your jobs as a landlord (or at least if you want to be a successful landlord) is to create a great environment for your new tenant(s), so they stay as long as possible and they treat your property as their home.

Not just a stopping place before they move on to their next rental.

So what can you do to make your new tenants happy?

Let’s start with move in day.

Moving is a stressful time for anyone. All the changes, the deadlines and the newness of the situation.

Often they are moving into a new neighbourhood, aren’t entirely familiar with local stores and restaurants, and they often have a crowd of friends helping them, so why not make the process easier.

First, a flat of water is quite cheap, so pick one up, drop it off in the fridge before you hand the tenant the keys and make sure you put a note welcoming them to the property with it. Now they have cold non-alcoholic refreshments, courtesy of their new favourite landlord, YOU!

A variation on this is to pick up a box of doughnuts. How many tenants, never mind new tenants,  get doughnuts from their landlords?

Talk about making a great first impression!

Second, if your place is vacant, you are guaranteed to have a collection of flyers from local restaurants along with all the other junk mail.

Separate the restaurant flyers (especially the places with take out!) and put them all together in a drawer for the tenants. You can show it to them when they move in and they instantly have a collection of restaurants to call to feed their hungry helpers and to make settling into the area easier.

If you are really good, why not approach a couple of the nearby restaurants and ask if they have flyers or take out menus you can take to provide your new tenants as well.

Some places will even provide discount coupons to attract a new client! It’s little extra steps like this that will make you stand out in your tenants eyes and make their life a little easier as they move into your property.

By simply doing little things like this, you rise above 99% of the landlords out there and make your tenants happy they have you as their landlord. And happy tenants stay longer, take better care of your property and make your life so much easier.

Bonus Ideas

If you were a tenant at one time, did you ever have your landlord give you a Christmas present? Or a birthday present? A $25 box of chocolates at Christmas or a couple of movie passes arriving in their mail on their birthday goes a long way to making you the landlord they tell all their friends about.

What else can you think of doing to attract and keep good tenants? I’d love to hear your thoughts about this. Leave a comment and tell us what ideas you use to keep you tenants happy.

Follow Up With Your New Tenants

One last tip is too follow up. It’s simple enough to do, but we tend to forget this part so as part of your process give your new tenants a quick call, a text or an email just to make sure everything is ok and to see if they have any questions.

Everything might be great, but maybe they have a question and either way they will appreciate you following up!

Share this with your friends:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Filed Under: Tenants

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6

Resources

Rooming House Resources - Tips and information about rooming house properties
Beginning Landlord Resources - Tips and information for new landlords and beginning investors Landlord training - guides and resources - Guides and courses for new landlords

Need A Lease?

Residential Lease Agreement

Recent Posts

  • When Should You Send A Notice For Rent Increase March 4, 2020
  • Using Prorated Rent To Attract Tenants December 4, 2019
  • Surround Yourself With Other Landlords October 1, 2019
  • What Landlord Classes Do You Need? September 19, 2019
  • A Landlord’s Guide To A Tenant Walkthrough September 3, 2019

Current Discussions

  • Landlord Education on Basics of Rooming Houses A Beginner’s Guide
  • Interested party on Basics of Rooming Houses A Beginner’s Guide
  • Landlord Education on Contact Us
  • Raghav Grover on Contact Us
  • Landlord Education on Basics of Rooming Houses A Beginner’s Guide

Copyright The Educated Landlord © 2025