How do you cope with tenants or lodgers?

bobwilson

Tenants always want a clean place to live. They never want to clean up after themselves, but they also never want to pay for a cleaner. If you don't hire a cleaner, it becomes impossible to live (in the case of live-in landlords), or impossible to rent out a room when a tenant leaves (in the case of live out landlords). So, if you offer the place without a cleaner, no one wants to rent it. If you offer the place with a cleaner, they don't want to pay the bill. If you increase the rental price to accommodate for the cleaner, they don't want to rent it. If you offer them the choice of "pay for a cleaner or clean up after yourself", they always opt for the latter, but then never do it, which makes it impossible to find new tenants for other rooms. If you try to enforce it, they give you attitude & move out, then the cycle repeats with someone else.

They seem to have this idea in their heads that any money they pay for bills goes to you. Because they literally pay it to you, it's hard for them to accept that you don't actually receive it. They don't understand that if an electricity bill is £50, that doesn't go to you, it goes to the electricity company. It's like these invisible things aren't "real" for them.

If you reduce the rent & include bills & cleaning to a point where someone is willing to rent the room(s), the rent doesn't cover costs.

If you're wealthy enough to be able to offer to pay for their bills and cleaning yourself, even though it makes a huge loss, tenants aren't grateful and consider it your job to do so, as if you're their parent.

If you offer bills included, they take advantage (e.g. windows open with heating on full 24/7, or air conditioner unit and server unit in room on 24/7). If you enforce rules, they break rules or you have to ask them to leave & cycle repeats with someone else. If you don't offer bills included, they don't want to rent it in the first place. If you reduce the rent, the property doesn't make ends meet.

I may not be putting it in a concise way, but hope you get the jist.

My question is two-fold:

Considering how almost all tenants want everything for nothing as in the above, how do you manage it & make it worth your time without turning it into a not-for-profit charity?

What makes the majority of tenants or lodgers behave in this self-entitled way? Non-lodgers seem to understand they have to pay their bills & clean up after themselves. Are lodgers a different breed of humanity with "self-entitled / spoilt" DNA profiles, or does something about the "paying rent for a room" process enact a "spoilt" marker in the DNA of most human beings?

When I was a lodger myself, I understood that my landlord was relying on my rent & splitting the bills to make ends meet. I didn't behave like he was the root of all evil or that he should pay for me, so I don't understand this attitude that houses are free & it's all pure profit for landlords. Houses aren't free. Energy & bills aren't free.

Moneysaving222

HMO has to have clean communal areas afaik. We have one once a week.

HMO has to have bills included unless you have separate meters which is impossible for communal water etc.

Sounds like you despite tenants. We don’t need another landlord unwilling to do their job.

Yalpsmol

Is it possible you are rubbing them up the wrong way without realising?

Only I know plenty of people who have been or had lodgers and its all been fine for both parties. And most of my friends are in house shares where again it works fine. So this plus another thread of yours where you sounded to have horrendous lodgers makes me think they are being vindictive. Most people are not like this and lodgers are some special breed of people.

Yalpsmol

Lodgers are NOT that should read.

diggingdude

Sounds to me like you need to get out of this profession as your attitude stinks.

steampowered

It sounds like you aren't suited for the business of being a landlord.

bobwilson wrote: »

I recently have become an unwitting landlord

Nonsense. You didn't just wake up one morning and find out that, by some stroke of luck, you were a landlord.

If you increase the rental price to accommodate for the cleaner, they don't want to rent it.

Then rent the property at reasonable market rates.

bobwilson

Moneysaving222 wrote: »

Sounds like you despite tenants. We don’t need another landlord unwilling to do their job.

Are you by any chance a lodger or tenant?

If by "landlord willing to do their job.", you mean someone who is willing to pay for you to live I think you're mistaking "landlord" with "parent".

Perhaps you should re-read my question. How do you think it's possible anyone would want to pay for you to live? He isn't your parent. Lets say mortgage interest + bills = 750. You have a tenant only willing to pay 550. That's a shortfall of 200. Note this is a random example and the figures aren't absolute, they're relative.

You do your job above & beyond by helping the tenant with every little thing they ask, whilst making a loss.

You ask the neighbours how they're able to rent out their properties for such cheap prices & it turns out they're all wealthy people who own their homes in cash & are generous- they're even happy to pay their tenants' bills for them for free when they lost their job.

You explain that the property is making a loss & that you will have to sell unless you can find a solution, because you can't make ends meet. The tenant looks shocked and says "but it's your job!".

You're working for free for said tenant. You're paying 200 for the pleasure of working for them. Instead of being grateful, tenant is self-entitled, never says "thanks", and when you do anything nice for them, such as buying them a card or cake for their birthday, or when they come up to you while you're out with friends & you offer to buy them a drink, they act like it's your job to do so & you should be grateful for the opportunity to pay for them in any way you can.

So, in response to your comment "We don’t need another landlord unwilling to do their job." - find another landlord who is willing to run your life for you then! I have my own to run :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

bobwilson wrote: »

Are you by any chance a lodger or tenant?

If by "landlord willing to do their job.", you mean someone who is willing to pay your bills, clean for you, fix things you break for you, help with all manner of problems such as relationships or jobs, and all for free- then I think you're mistaking "landlord" with "parent".

Perhaps you should re-read my question. How do you think it's possible anyone would want to pay for you to live? He isn't your parent. Lets say mortgage interest + bills = 750. You have a tenant only willing to pay 550. That's a shortfall of 200. Note this is a random example and the figures aren't absolute, they're relative.

You do your job above & beyond by helping the tenant with every little thing they ask, whilst making a loss.

You ask the neighbours how they're able to rent out their properties for such cheap prices & it turns out they're all wealthy people who own their homes in cash & are generous- they're even happy to pay their tenants' bills for them for free when they lost their job.

You explain that the property is making a loss & that you will have to sell unless you can find a solution, because you can't make ends meet. The tenant looks shocked and says "but it's your job!".

You're working for free for said tenant. You're paying 200 for the pleasure of working for them. Instead of being grateful, tenant is self-entitled, never says "thanks", and when you do anything nice for them, such as buying them a card or cake for their birthday, or when they come up to you while you're out with friends & you offer to buy them a drink, they act like it's your job to do so & you should be grateful for the opportunity to pay for them in any way you can.

So, in response to your comment "We don’t need another landlord unwilling to do their job." - find another landlord who is willing to run your life for you then! I have my own to run :rotfl:

The costs to the landlord are of no consequence to the tenant. If the going rate for rooms in the area is £550 people aren't going to pay an extra £200 a month to cover the landlord's costs. The landlord either has to make savings or accept it is not a viable business.

bobwilson

steampowered wrote: »

Nonsense. You didn't just wake up one morning and find out that, by some stroke of luck, you were a landlord.

You're right, I must have imagined what happened in my life! You know best. I'm living a dream.

Morbier

Having read all the other posts from you, OP, I'm not sure if this is a wind-up. I'm a tenant, but I'm not rising to the bait of your wide-sweeping derogatory statements ... well, almost not.

bobwilson

Lover_of_Lycra wrote: »

The landlord either has to make savings or accept it is not a viable business.

What do you mean by "make savings" exactly?