Okay, so my girls all moved out and we had three empty rooms and a lot of bills to pay. So we decided to rent the upstairs room with its own bath. We also have a three car garage and the single car garage is fully drywalled, has its own entrance and is HUGE. We used it as an exercise room for a few years and then my teenagers turned it into their hangout. So, we started with people from church, spreading the word that the upstairs room was going for $400 and the garage was going for $100 and there was to be a $200 deposit.
So a girl from church tells us she is currently renting in a "slum lord house" which is "filthy and has not been cleaned for 9 years" and she is paying $650 for that and she has no use of the living room, etc because the landlady will not furnish it... She also tells us she is renting a storage unit for $139 per month. So to her, our house sounds like a dream come true.
Our house is really nice. We have a beautiful patio and garden with furniture so it's like an outdoors living area. We keep everything very clean and tidy. We redid the floors in the rental room, painted it the color she wanted, treated the windows to block out 70% of the heat...
She was supposed to move in on September 1st. But she said she had not given 30 days notice to her landlady so could we hold the room until 9/17. We said ok.
So she shows up on 9/17 with her bed and furniture and clothing and starts moving in. So I said, "Well, we haven't gone over the lease and rules and you haven't paid us to move in." So she said, "Well, I have not received my disability check so I don't have the money. As soon as it comes I will pay you."
Well, at that point I was thinking, "Don't let her move in!!!" But I am too nice. So I asked her when she thinks she will get her check and she said, "Any day now. It's on its way. It just got sent to the wrong address...." So I went over the lease, especially the PET policy.
She has a small dog. I put in the lease that the dog could be indoors as long as it NEVER peed or pooped in the house. I said that if it peed in the new room with the new floors which were laminate and float on a styrofoam pad that it would have to be replaced at her expense because the urine would be trapped through the cracks. I also said in the lease that she would have to WALK the dog and teach it where it can go to the bathroom and clean up after the dog. And finally, I said the dog had to be clean and free of fleas, etc.
I had her sign each and every line on the lease regarding the pet policy and asked her if she had any questions or concerns. She signed it and said she understood it.
So, finally I had to keep asking her if her check came and the answer kept being no no no. Two weeks later she told me she borrowed money from her mom and paid me $400. She did not pay for the garage rental or her deposit but from day one she has been using the garage to keep things in. Last Saturday a Uhaul arrived with all her things from her storage unit and they are int he garage. Still ... no payment.
So I asked her several times when she would pay us for the garage rental and the deposit. She said, "When my check comes." So I ask her every day to call to see where the check is. She has told me already 3 times that it's on its way. Then she played dumb and asked, "How much do I still owe you? $100???" And I said, "NO! You owe me $100 just for the garage. You also owe the deposit, which is $200."
On top of that, she leaves her fan on and her light on when she is gone for hours at a time since she doesn't pay utilities. What does she care.
But ... even worse than not paying all that she owes ... her dog is a filthy mutt and it doesn't know where to go to the bathroom. She doesn't walk it (which I also put in the lease that she would walk the dog so it knows where to go). So the dog is peeing on our concrete patio and right on the legs of the furniture. It poops on our landscaping rocks which we paid a lot for and my son plays with his Tonka toy truck there. She doesn't pick up the poop or hose down the patio. I go out there every day and hose it off so it will not begin to stink. And the same dog shit is there every single day drying up on the landscaping river rocks. I have already asked her twice to make sure and clean up the dog poop.
Yesterday I was out there watering and hosing down and saw two dog poops. I was going to pick them up but then thought, "No. I'm going to see how long she leaves them there." So she gets home, goes outside, gets her dog and goes up to her room with the dog. She didn't even bother to pick up the crap. So this morning I didn't go to work because my son is sick. She got up around 9:00 AM, went outside to get her filthy dog bowl and feed her dog and let it outside, which all she does is open the slider and shove it out there. She has never walked the dog. Not once!!! Then I see her look at the poop, come back inside, make herself a shake and leave.
And now the dog took another two dumps and has peed on the patio and furniture legs another bunch of times since she's been gone. Other times she leaves the dog for up to 5 hours locked in her room. Where is the dog peeing in there???? It better be on her BED!!!
My husband said he likes her because she is never here and when she is she is in her room. YES! That is a great point. We LOVE that and wouldn't want a renter who was all up in our family business all the time.
But at the expense of the dog shit/urine problem and the flakiness with the rent????
I texted her this morning and told her these words:
"Hey M. Sorry to bug. Its just that I went out to water and hose down the patio from the pee and the same dog poop that was on the rocks yhesterday when I didit was still there today. We spent a lot of money and energy to make the patio and garden nice. I think the dog needs to be walked so it will know where its supposed to go to the bathroom."
I also asked her before she left if her check came and she said, "You will know when it does because it's coming here."
Most of this is just venting. But any tips, experiences or advice would be appreciated too.