People these days, I swear! This might be medium long, so I apologize in advance.

I had a tenant that was not taking care of the house. A couple examples of this was their dog tore all the screens on the screened in back porch it could reach, very dirty (and they had to live in it), Their dog chewed the wire on the back of the ac and they pitched a fit and refused to pay for it, you get the idea. The kicker was when they called for a furnace not working. HVAC guy found the filter so clogged that it was totally cutting off air supply. Before he got there, they had flipped the filter the other way and turned the furnace back on. This took everything that was on the filter and sent it straight into the coil. The HVAC guy gave me the "I don't want to clean this" price. Not really a choice, so had to get it done. This was the final straw and I decided they were moving. (Before you say anything, I do take blame for part of this and I have also added filter changing to my house inspections so I know it will get done at a min of a few times a year. Should have been doing this before, but I wasn't.)

I had reason to evict them for lease violations, but I was nervous that they would tear it up even further on the way out. So, I just gave them a 30 day non-renewal letter. The wife texted and begged to stay. I told her that I couldn't do that and wanted to go a different direction with the house. Made it sound like selling it was a possibility. They did move out on time and that was that.

I then proceeded to remodel the house. I spent a ton of time and a lot of money. New flooring, new paint, a couple plumber visits, multiple dump runs, etc. (Funny side note, they placed a TON of trash at the curb. Trash men wouldn't take it. They came to do a pick up on their weekly schedule and I ran out to apologize to the guy. He was looking at me like I'm an idiot, but once I explained that it was the tenant that just moved out and I would take care of anything he couldn't, he laughed and understood then.) So now we are on the market for rerent.

During this remodel, I sent them the accounting statement. I took it very easy on them. I could have added so much more and I just decided it wasn't collectable, so I would just make sure there was more than enough on there to keep their deposit. I went on the market with it yesterday. I get a message from a property manager in town that I know with a screenshot of a Book of Faces post from my former tenant. It said "Do no, I repeat do NOT rent from Doogie's Properties!" This property manager apologized for sending it and hoped that he was helping instead of hurting the situation. He went on to say they have had these types of posts before and it was usually after someone moved out and they kept the deposit. I responded thanking him and also letting him know that he had figured out the situation to a T. They had cost me thousands in repairs, so I kept the deposit. He responded once more saying he figured that was the case and apologized she was handling it this way. I did really appreciate him letting me know, even though I can't really do much about it.

Last night, someone commented on my ad on the Book of Faces Marketplace. They said something to the effect of this was not at all what the house looked like, there was mold everywhere inside, the LL is a scumbag, house was not worth the price, don't rent this place, etc. Thankfully it's not like Google and I could just delete that and be done. I'm guessing it's one of the former tenant's friends that did it.

It's not like I haven't been through this type of thing before. I'm sure it'll happen again. Just sucks that people are so against LL's and the tenant is never wrong. Pretty sure they know they are wrong too. One person had commented on her post asking what happened and she said "I'll text you". If it was so bad and you were so in the right, why not just lay it out there for anyone to see? Pretty sure she didn't want someone replying "That doesn't sound like the LL is to blame here."

It should be obvious to people that the landlord doesn't introduce mold into a house, nor does he punch holes in the walls and doors, nor does he (insert laundry list of other DAMAGES).

The tenants do that stuff.

Even the worst of the worst slum lords doesn't purposefully damage his or her own properties. Slum TENANTS do the damage. The only time the LL is at fault is if something breaks and he doesn't fix it, which then exacerbates the problem.

Tenants damage houses and turn them into slums. Landlords, at worst, may be guilty of neglect. And why would you fix something just to have the same kind of people destroy it again and again?

This is why screening is important, including the 2-minute in home inspection. Check out CDM's post from yesterday "First two-minute visit" and how well that gives one peace of mind when you take that one little extra step to ensure you're not renting to a house wrecker.

Tenant Lifestyle Issues -

Any one problem in their lives,

could turn your rental into a disaster.

I doubt that postings like that stop anyone from renting. You'll have photos of the renovation up on your ad and the tenants will at least go to look to see why the tenants comments are so at odd with the photos.

Thanks for responding all. I knew you'd understand.

It's so many "nut jobs" out there that it is impossible to avoid them all. And you are so right, you find out what they really think when it doesn't go their way!

I've had a woman post on our ad that she couldn't remain silent and let someone else get sick like she did living in that mobile home! She also claimed it had mold. Well, I guess it did, the heat had gone out and for some unknown reason (she smoked real bad) she had not advised us of this very important fact. She also had dogs that had peed and pooped on the carpet. She was worried about getting her deposit back and I felt like we treated her more than fair and she still tried her best to ruin us.

Doogie,

Thanks for posting all that! Newbies need to learn this happens.

Congrats for getting them out when you spotted trouble.

BookFace - when it became "the thing" I tried LOGIC to defend my crew. I posted a copy of the court damages letter signed by the judge. Got blasted for it.

Posted a few pics of the filth. Got blasted for it.

"How could you do this to people!!" was the basic and popular response.

57 negative entries by other people. I clicked on some of their avatars and MANY of the commenters lived in DIFFERENT STATES! *I* was fueling the fire.

I mentioned this to our local Sec8 director and she trained me - "Don't feed the trolls! We get PLENTY of negative comments but don't respond to ANY comments. In a few hours those negative posts are just pushed down by newer posts."

Social media frequenters can read between the lines and spot trolls. I don't want people who would pay attention to stupid posts.

Your photos of a good looking home will attract the right people.

Landlord on!

BRAD

Phase 2...

You need GOOD reviews to offset the bad ones for when your good applicants search your name.

I pay $20 for a res to post a good reveiw

BRAD

Will you charge for all the damages next time?

Seems it wouldn't have made any difference as they would bash you either way.

Doogie,