Topic: I’ve been in the field almost 10 years now and never had this happen

I’ve been in the field almost 10 years now and never had this happen curious if others have and how you handled it and move forward and build a strong relationship with tenant.

I had an applicant apply and want a very specific townhome of our five available in a community of over 60 townhome apartments. She viewed our model apartment which was identical to the unit she wanted and after approval she asked to see the specific unit to which I replied no because someone lives there however when it is first available I will show it to her. She said she understood.

Fast forward a couple weeks at a resident event the immediate neighbors that would share a wall with her new unit told me that they met her and started talking about her, I was quite confused as I wasn’t sure how that was possible. They then proceeded to tell me she walked up to the door knocked on it introduced herself and wanted to confirm her new neighbors were “normal”. She then proceeded to ask for a tour of their unit and did the same thing to the tenant that is now moving out. We have a lease break agreement with the tenant which bought him out by him paying a lease termination fee. As soon as he realized someone was moving in he wanted to try to void that so that he would get rent back. We are covered legally with him however she put us in a position where it just caused more work and turmoil. When I asked her for an explanation and explained never have I had this happen before she told me she bumped into them as she was walking the community (not the truth according the ring doorbells) then freaked out and realize she was in Jeopardy of losing the apartment. She apologize profusely and explained her intentions were good. I advocated to our owners and just asked her to come to me with any problems she had moving forward.

She just told me she’s trying to set her electric up and they can’t find it despite me sending her the numbers and a picture of the meter. She said that the company is requesting the old account number from the old tenant so she said she wants my blessing to reach out to him to get it. She moves in about an hour trying to decide what we should do our owners would like to void the lease however I just wanna make sure that she starts behaving in a normal way.

Ugh DRAMA

Good luck with that.

What did she do that would void the lease?

Lee Tifani she didn’t do anything to void her lease but she created a problem with a previous tenant and made our owners weary of her moving in. Given the lease hasn’t gone into effect and she hasn’t moved in we could still void the lease because it’s not a good fit for us.

I would not allow her to get the old account number from the current tenant. Have the current tenant call the electric company to make sure it is disconnected

Melissa Marie exactly what I did, thank you for the advice! (I wanted to tell her to kick rocks!!)

Melissa Marie agreed that is private information that could be used to steal someone's identity. Don't do it or allow it

exactly!

Typically the way they start, is the way they end! Good luck!

James Austin Shannon agreed

James Austin Shannon THIS! She’s bizzare; she not only doesn’t respect others boundaries, she tramples them and then blatantly LIED about her intentions. She doesn’t even live there and she’s knocking and polling people? Just…NO!!! These are not red flags my dear, they are bonfires. She’ll be the one who starts a petition for whatever. The one who always calls corporate instead of the office. The one who barricades herself in her apartment once she’s in and is harder to get out than a tick on a coon dogs ass. She’ll be the one who calls on/call during the holidays for BS. She’ll be the one who reports on all the neighbors (this is nice info to have but not worth this whack job). She’ll probably get your water tested because she thinks *hers* isn’t right.Do not go forward with this lease. Save yourself, girl.

I have had applicants come to the property and walk right INTO a unit being turned by maintenance without checking first with the office. We do not show anyone a unit that is not completely finished! Application first..the office is a unit and all units are the same floor plan....makes me infuriated!

Merridy Lanzy I’ve had that happen before, once they see behind the scenes it’s never right with them again!

Riley O'Brien exactly I don't know how these entitled people think that they could just do what they want to do with out even applying or checking into the office or anything

She won’t change. #noboundaries #norespect

Run.

Let us know if she moves in.

Kimberly Dale she’s an hour late to key pick up!

Trouble on the hoof that one is!

Would not let her move in.She was not a resident and solicited visited residents without permission or consent.Is every prospective resident applicant allowed to ring up chat up knock on doors ?

Mike Powers quite a bit of entitlement to a property you *rent*

Ooohhh one of those !! Lol god luck with that I had one move in this past week They went and found the unit they would be moving into of course 8 days before move in date while the unit is still being flipped/ cleaned prepared , They went there and the door was open so they walked the unit and then decide to come in the office and complain about the “stuff that is not done on the unit and how it looks “ not ready”Ummmmm whyyyyy TF did u even go on the unit these going to be one of “those” tenants lol

Keira Laraque I’ve said to her “my job is to get it done before you move in, I do that everyday without your help I think I’ve got this one!” I’ve been extra sassy lately!

Riley O'Brien I LOVE this!!

Oh uggggghh

Keira Laraque YESSS I HAD ONE OF THOSE TOOO!!! I was like TF made you think it was ok to just walk into a home that you don’t have keys for when it’s not your move in day???

Run

I had something similar. Before I gave her keys I sat her down and told her her behavior was inappropriate and we were wary of having her move in. After she freaked out, I told her any funny business going forward would result in eviction or non renewal if lease depending on severity of situation. Never had any issue out of her after that.

Melinda Beaulieu I’ve had this convo, clearly not much has changed in her mind!

Riley O'Brien I assume you let her move in…good luck! One other option we did once before - ripped up the 12 month lease and said the only way they were moving in was with a 6 month probationary lease.

red flags red flags!!! i would deny her ( reasons being interfering with management, disruption of other community members, not being honest/forthright) - but aside from denying her absolutely no reasons she needs the previous persons elec account number - that is a huge red flag that she is making up some b.s. to try and get that private info. She sounds borderline stalker and drama/problem maker.

I felt this was an invasion of privacy to the previous tenant and the neighbors!! Funny enough the electric company found her information for her new apartment after I told her I would be happy to contact the previous tenant. Thank you for the solidarity from everyone here, park for the course she’s an hour late for key pick up and won’t be moving in today if she doesn’t arrive prior to 5.Can’t wait to hear from her direct neighbors what a joy she is to live next to, I give it a week!

She’s crazy and you’re going to have your hands full

Hilarious

Omg u got a door right there

Devils advocate... Maybe she had a very bad experience with previous neighbors. Especially in apartments... You don't get to pick your neighbors so you're stuck after you sign your lease when you find out you have bad/crazy neighbors. And bad neighbors can make your life hell. With the wanting the previous account #... maybe she wants to see how much the monthly bill is for that unit?Or... She could just be "one of those" residents. Which we all know... We could do with one less! Don't forget about no collecting double rent on the same unit. If the current resident wants some of his rent back because he heard someone's moving in?

Michelle Ava Quiroz Absolutely right this is what I tried to do at first when this problem started! I’m human too and try to give the grace people show me. There’s a little bit more context to this but she has essentially been a high maintenance move in. So needing to talk to a previous tenant about account number after being told please leave them be seemed to be a little much. We gave the previous tenant the option to give a notice to vacate of 30 days and a termination fee equivalent to one month or responsible through end of lease. He choose the termination fee of month equivalent of rent and then realized we re-rented it within 4 days after his responsible date so he felt like we should refund him for the fee despite that being the option he choose! (Aka if he picked responsible through re rent he would’ve paid 3 days not 30 days!)

Riley O'Brien absolutely. Trust me, I had all kinds in my 20 years in Property Management & wished I would have had red flags or warnings ahead of their crazy behaviors. Because if they are like that in the beginning brute moving in... I can't even imagine once they're in on anything they want to know or find out for themselves. We've all had them. And this is one of the reasons I got out of the industry after 25 years. Best of luck to you on this one.

Riley O'Brien wow.

Your application has been denied.

Does the collection of a lease break fee and then the subsequent rerental of the townhome mean you essentially collected double rent? I don't blame the former resident for trying to get out of it one bit.

She’s wrong and lying.

She’s worried about the neighbors being “normal “. She is not normal. Also the current neighbors may not be her neighbors for long. People move. Even in a house, you don’t get to pick your neighbors.

Wow! Utility account numbers travel with people where we are, so if that's the case there, she'd have no need to contact them if the account number's not tied to address.

That’s future trouble!!! I wouldn’t let her move in! Nope.

Giving her the account number would be a gross violation of privacy. I have had the new resident knock on the old residents door before. Once you release the address, there is no law that says they cannot knock. While it was unusual for you and uncomfortable. They did nothing wrong. If it were me, I would call the electric company myself and ask what the problem is and maybe do a three way call to verify residency.

All the red flags are there…Let her be someone else’s headache If they start out like that, it won’t get better with time

They do not need the old account number. Give them the meter number. That is all they should need.

Did she ever move in?

Natasha Michael she picked up keys at 5:25, I stayed late because I had other things to do, I thought maybe they’d cancel, wasn’t so lucky!!

Riley O'Brien oh girl.... keep us posted on your busy bee newbie lol

She sounds delightful!

Hard decision.Yes, she made a mistake. But people do some crazy stuff nowadays. In my 20+ years of working in this industry, you pick and chose your battles based upon your company policies. It's very difficult sometimes, especially nowadays everyone feels entitled. They feel they are in control because they are leasing one of your apartments. This world has changed and you have to somehow change with it, but still "hold down the fort"!This is a difficult decision. No, she should not have approached your residents. That is invading someone's privacy. However, if they let her in and allowed her to look around and didn't complain to you, that's not invading someone's privacy.As for the person terminating their lease, SO SORRY FOR YOU, but policies are policies and you signed a lease stating you'd pay a termination fee, NO MATTER WHAT.As for the electric, not sure on that one.I'd approach her about it to see her explanation.Good luck, I hope she turns out to be a good resident for you.

Always refer to the lease and the lease policies. Get advice from your attorney. Journal every thing she is doing. It might take a year but you might need to evict or find out what your owner's non renewal policy is and work on that. Go luck.

She’s never going to behave in a normal way, and you will never, ever be able to make sure she does. She will be 1000% a nightmare forever and ever and I’d go with your owners wishes.

This business is full of “take it upon themselves people “ they want to do everything their way. Cancel move in because you will be stuck with her for 12 LONG months

Nope

Take the owners advice

One of my old Regionals used to say "don't let the inmates run the asylum."

She.is lying. As for the power, they can find the address by the meter number. I would not give the old account number.

This is a person who doesn’t respect the normal boundaries that most people understand. I predict there may be more problems ahead.On the other hand, I’m not sure you have legal grounds to cancel her lease, so you may be stuck with her until she violates one of its terms.Next she will be harassing the mail carrier to let her look in other people’s mailboxes to make sure they didn’t get any of her mail, lol. (I had this happen with a resident once!)Lots of red flags but hopefully she will calm down once she moves in. I hope you got positive feedback from her previous community and that it wasn’t just them wanting to be rid of her!

She’ll never behave in a normal way.

That’s why I never give them the unit # . They have to wait or don’t rent. Someone else will be happy to lease that unit, abide by the rules, procedures and protocols.

Run! Cancel!

Creepy and weird and definitely wouldn't have moved forward. Like really can't believe she is asking for someones account number and walking up to random peoples doors and asking to look around in people's homes

Yes to all of this. I had a tenant like this and he found 3 like minded people onsite. They started a mob when the tow company took one of their cars. (We have limited parking and they had 2 unauthorized vehicles).
When I arrived onsite, there were 20 police officers trying to break up the mob. Turns out the 3 tenants went knocking on apartment doors in the middle of the night telling people the tow company had taken about 20 vehicles and they were coming back for more!!! It was a lie but they scared the tenants. EVERYBODY was outside waiting on the poor tow truck driver to come back. :o
Anyway, these type of tenants will make your life hell. We evicted one of the tenants for non rent breach of lease and non renewal notices went out to the other 2 instigators.

Great post & feedback! Isn't this what makes property management so interesting? Sometimes we "dodge the bullet" of a difficult tenant, sometimes we don't. It may take months to surgically ( legally) remove them, while enduring the pain, trauma, and drama, of their damage. Good luck with this one!