In yesterday’s discussion of brownstone tax increases, there was a request for a thread on tenant horror stories. We’ll kick it off with a nightmare scenario described by an anonymous reader:

A couple years ago, I found out too late that I’d rented to a serial tenant; everything else checked out, but she’d never paid rent for more than a couple of months, then claimed the apartment was uninhabitable, changed the locks, and played the LT system for all it was worth. There were no judgments against her. But a litigation check would have revealed multiple settlements with previous landlords who had paid her to get out, as after she quit paying rent each time, she made life so unbearable for everyone in the building (screaming at the top of her lungs all night, accusing neighbors of being peeping toms, threatening to poison pets, etc.) no landlord could wait for months in LT court to wend through the inspections and evictions – all the rest of their tenants would have left in the meantime. And every settlement had a clause compelling the landlord to give her a recommendation to her next victim. She actually owed her previous landlord $16,000 at the point I rented to her; he was just grateful she’d disappeared and never bothered to enforce the judgment because he was afraid she’d kill him if he tried.

This is why we are going to try to lease or rental unit to a friend! Anyway, please share your renter horror stories and tips for avoiding them below.


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  1. Hi All: As an LL with about 20 years of “experience” under my belt, let me offer the following: I have had great luck over the past few years with insisting on co-signers, preferably parents, to leases. Here’s the typical scenario….the T moves in..all is well and good…a few months pass and, well, they find “problems” with the apt. (meaning: they can’t pay the rent or don’t have all the rent or have drug problems and no cash or whatever their mental illness happens to be)..suddenly, I’m not getting paid. What to do? Don’t bother with the psycho tenant; pit the co-signer against tenant by sending a stern letter to co-signer. This works like a charm, gang. The check arrrives and all is well in the world. See, the start of a tenancy is like the start of a marriage…it’s all sweetness and light. That’s when you move in for the co-sign kill. That’s your opportunity and don’t blow it..nobody moves in until the papers are signed and the due dilligence is done. Get everyone’s ss# and credit report. Don’t half-ass it; get a good lawyer top draft an agreement you can use over and over again. The co-sign is key as you now have an individual totally on the hook and you can bypass asshole needy moron tenant to get what you deserve…money.

  2. I am one of five tenants currently renting out an awesome four-level townhouse in D.C. . Me and two other guys rent out the top four levels and two girls rent the basement.
    I located the house in May with a good, trusted friend and coworker. My friend was renting a basement and I had been living in the same one-bedroom for four years.
    He and I signed the lease with a thirty-four year old doctor who seemed to have his life in order. He was a GW grad, with a Phd and a career. My friend had met him living in the house where he was renting the basement . My friend and I just being two humble twenty-something retail sales geeks, we had this idea he’d prove responsible. Cue the horror.
    All was well the first five months, rent and bills were being paid and we generally got along. My friend and I swiftly found our older, more established housemate to be a flamboyant queen who would throw histrionic fits over minor cleanliness issues, but he at least paid his end (or so we thought).
    At the very height of this loser’s anal-retentive fussing, in September, we recieved an email from our landlord detailing $3200.00 in unpaid rent.
    Our landlord set up our payment process so that we would simply deposit our checks directly into his bank account at the start of each month. The landlord had noticed in August that one of us had been SKIPPING payments for two months and traced it to Mr. Professional.
    Upon discovering the good doctor was the deadbeat, our kindly, patient and friendly landlord bargained with him not to tell myself and the other guy of the nonpayment, as long as he got the money by a certain deadline. This never happened, and we were all soon emailed about our situation…
    The email we were all sent was also forwarded with the emails the landlord and the loser had been sending each other. All of his responses to the landlord’s inquiries were peppered with total lies and fake tales of woe to excuse his negligence.
    He was also a shockingly terrible liar. I can post my edited versions of the emails (names left out, etc.) here on this site if anyone is interested. Quite the nauseating reality show.
    When my friend and I confronted our housemate on his little con job he got infuriated we would even have been infromed. He said it had nothing to do with us and it was between him and the landlord!
    We explained, with no shortage of condescension, that we had all signed a little three-way contract and all of us were screwed because of HIM. He refused to hear this and stormed out of the house in an infantile rage.
    Doctor deadbeat was now in a tight spot. He now had two livid, hate-filled housemates to come home to, and the only thing keeping us civil was his flimsy promise to pay it asap.
    Our landlord, by the end of October, could wait no longer. The old eviction threat was thrown and it didn’t matter WHO paid it, it just had to be paid. I was sick with rage, now. Sure, I had the money. But it was my goddamn tuition for the semester and I’d worked very hard to save it. My friend had no money. Bottom line, I paid it. I went right from the bank to the bar, got wasted, came home and kicked this scumbag’s door in for spite. Yeah, I know, smooth one.
    To make a long story short, I explained what triggered my episode both to the housemates and the landlord. I apologized sincerely to Dr. Con and things were tensely levelled out.
    I offered to let the him take his time repaying me and stay current on all future obligations. His rent the month after that, while a week late, was paid.
    Enter December. I’m not holding my breath to see a reimbursment from this creep and I’ve paid his rent again this month.
    We’re keeping this a secret in hopes he will soon pay, but he won’t. We HAVE managed to shorten the lease by getting an addendum with all three of our signatures.
    If anyone knows of a means by which I can serve him court papers of any kind, whether it obligates him to repay me or just make his life difficult, kindly message me.

  3. Can I have the address and telephone No of Mr Halls who was connected with the Gramercy International Investment Trust/ Published: 01 – 23 – 2005 , Late Edition – Final , Section 11 , Column 4 , Page 2