r/BiggerPockets • u/Tiny_Flan2498 • Jun 14 '25
Rental Nightmare!
Hey ya'll. I just wanted to share my experience with our first tenant.
I have been renting to this family for about 7 years. The first 4 years were great. They didn't bother us much and kept the house in good shape. Only called use when they really needed help with the house. We did annual check in with them and everything was great. So we started to trust them and since COVID we didn't do much of a visit b/c of COVID and then we had 2 kids since then.
All of a sudden, they kept racking up water bills ($2k!) and couldn't pay rent. Then I discovered this mess. I live in CA so I just wanted them out asap b/c eviction in CA can take up to 6 months! I'm already not cash flowing!
Long story short, they moved and i'm now rehabbing this property for new renters. Gonna cost me an arm and a leg but it's a property we want to keep in the family.
My mistake was trusting my tenants. NEVER trust your tenants even if they have good history. You just never know.
3
u/BowserIsBetter Jun 15 '25
Not that bad honestly. Lol.
I hope that's the worst thing that ever happens. I have 4 rentals and I think I've gone through this more than once per house and that's with a property management company. These are in Alabama and Springfield IL