Where do criminals live? Not the Enron-type criminals, but the ordinary, run-of-the-mill robbers and stealers, the drug dealers, the burglars. I will go way out on a limb and venture to guess that better than 99 percent of them don’t own their own homes. That means that they live in rental housing.
How do they get to live in rental housing? One way is, assuming they are male, that they move in with girl friends. The girl friend rents the house or apartment, and her criminal boyfriend “crashes” with her. She might even have a real job with references and all, and that’s why the landlord rented to her.
Another way is that they sucker some landlord into renting to them.
Of course, being a criminal and all, they don’t have much respect for landlords, the place they live, their neighbors, or even themselves. They probably don’t pay rent, unless they have to. They probably are far from meticulous about keeping their homes neat and clean. They might walk around with chips on their shoulders being rude and threatening to any neighbor who has the audacity to complain about the wild parties and the riff-raff that shows up after the sun goes down when it can venture out without danger. And they have so little respect for themselves that they feel no shame for all the illegal and sleazy activities they perpetrate and engage in.
Is that the kind of person you want living in your rental property?
No matter how they slithered into living in a rental property, they need to be gone. These miscreants do neither the landlord, other tenants nor the property any good. In fact, allowing them to continue to live in a rental property shows disrespect for good tenants and the property investment.
I have heard more than one landlord say with pride that they want to respect the “privacy” of their tenants. At the expense of what? Can you respect their privacy when they don’t, won’t, or can’t pay the rent? Will you respect their privacy when they trash the property? Will you respect their privacy when they steal from or assault neighbors, possibly your other tenants?
How about the “roommate” of a tenant who is living in a property without an approved rental application? This is the same individual whom a landlord would turn down flat if he tried to rent on his own. But this same landlord allows him to live with his girl friend? Does that mean, just because he’s not a “real” tenant, that he will be a good little boy and not trash the place or throw wild parties? Should a landlord respect his “privacy”?
Go ahead if you want to, but as for me, my investments are more important than the privacy of a criminal, especially one who has not earned the right to live in my property anyway.
Making a profit on your investments means you have to take and keep control of them. So first of all, you don’t rent to people who don’t pass muster. Second, you get rid of tenants as soon as they show signs of being bad neighbors or someone who might be hauled off to jail at any moment (thus moving without notice). Third, you demand that your tenants not allow their “friends” to move in with them without your approval. And your approval isn’t easy to get.
Where do criminals live? Not in your rental property.
