This story from Buffalo came across my news feed the other day and I thought it would make a good introduction to a post. In the story, a tenant and his landlord apparently ended up in a very adversarial relationship. The tenant damaged the landlord’s car, the landlord had the tenant arrested and the tenant then proceeded to wreck the landlord’s property causing thousands of dollars in damage.
I am sure there is much more to the story than the snippet reported in the link, but the story helps to demonstrate some good points that we landlords need to remember. Tenants can retaliate and cause a lot of damage. We therefore need to do our best keep our relationships with our tenants on a professional level. And we need to choose our battles wisely.
Tenants Control A Valuable Asset
Our tenants occupy some very expensive and easily damageable assets, our property. If they get it in their head that they want to cause us harm, then they very well can and will. There is simply no way that we landlords can guard and protect our properties 100% of the time. Sure, you can sue and you might get a judgment against them, but good luck collecting it and who wants the hassle of going to court and repairing a destroyed property. It therefore makes a lot of sense for us to do what we can to keep our tenants from taking things personally.
Sometimes however that can be a very difficult thing to do.
Tenants can and will do crazy things. Tenants will hide stuff from you. They will paint the walls purple. They will not pay the agreed upon rent and then tell every lie in the book to try to get out of it. It can all make you want to scream just throw their butts out on the street.
Keep Your Cool
Do not let the professional relationship with your tenant spiral out of control. And do not let them get the best of you. There is just too much money, property and emotions on the table to allow that to happen. It may take a humongous effort on your part, but here is what you must do if a tenant starts to become unreasonable or emotional and tries to escalate matters.
- Keep Calm – You have all seen those trendy British posters. You need to follow their advice and keep calm. An angry mind will make stupid decisions. Do not put yourself in a position to make stupid decisions.
- Keep Things Professional – Always keep things on a professional and businesslike level, even if your tenant is yelling at you. Cite company policy and the house rules.
- Keep Your Voice Down – Never ever get into a shouting match. Nothing good will come of that. If you have to, just….
- Walk Away – Remove yourself from the situation to let things cool off. If you feel your temperature rising and you think you are going to blow, it is best for you to remove yourself from the situation before things get askew.
- Do Not Take It Personally – It is hard not to sometimes, but just remember that these are business decisions and people lash out at others associated with those business decisions.
Now, I am not saying that you do not need to defend yourself, your reputation and your property. Nor am I saying that you should not bring the hammer down when it needs to be brought down. What I am saying is your tenants control a significant asset of yours and they can quickly do a significant amount of damage to it if they feel wronged. They can and will retaliate against your property if you handle a situation poorly. It has happened to me and it has happened to many other landlords I know. So the thing is to not make them feel like you have wronged them, even if you are demanding rent and evicting them. And you cannot do that if you get angry or let them dictate when and how the battle is fought.
Choose Your Battle
Remember, you can get into a screaming match with your tenant, or you can calmly walk away and go back to your office then call your attorney and file for eviction. In this way, you choose the timing of the battle and how it is fought, not your tenant.
The Smarterlandlord knows not to let their tenants get the better of them. They know when to walk away and they know how and when to pick their battles. They understand that ultimately they will have the upper hand, and that they can make even the biggest problem go away eventually. But they also know they have to be careful and remove that problem in a way that will not cost them so dearly on the back end. It does not always work, but when you choose wisely, it will work most of the time.
