Worst Tenants Ever

by | Aug 17, 2020 | Tenant Screening

An Ottawa landlord has been trying to evict his nightmare tenants for months. The issue: snakes.

When the landlord confronted the tenants over their collection of more than two dozen dangerous snakes left to roam freely in the rental unit, he was met with insults and serious threats of harm to himself and his family. According to this news report, the landlord was forced to bring a police escort when performing repairs, and some of his other tenants moved over concerns that the snakes might make their way into other apartments.

Because of the pandemic, the landlord needed to take his eviction case to Superior Court, where a judge agreed that the landlord’s concerns were legitimate, and that these tenants should be evicted. However, the judge ordered that the tenants could remain for another month, presumably to look for another place to live.

Instead of reclaiming his property, the landlord was forced to wait, and wonder. What happened to the snakes? How much more will this nightmare cost?

And there are other questions: does the new landlord know about the snakes? The threats? The eviction?

The landlord describes these tenants as the worst he’s ever had, and for good reason. But when it comes to describing the worst tenants ever, there’s some competition.

Like the tenants who allowed their animals to urinate and defecate on the kitchen floor for weeks, and then complained to the Landlord and Tenant Board about the unsanitary condition of the property and won an order directing the landlord to clean up the mess.

Maybe it’s the tenant who failed to pay any rent but earned thousands of dollars by subletting the property to someone else. Could it be the tenant who constructed a massive marijuana grow operation that led to the rental property being seized and forfeited to the government?

Or maybe it’s all of the tenants who make it their mission to exploit the loopholes in the eviction system, over and over again, so they can go on living rent-free. When it comes to cheating landlords, practice makes perfect. Perhaps those are the worst tenants ever.

With all these horror stories, one thing is clear: the legal system does not protect landlords — not always, and not always in time to avoid significant income loss. Landlords cannot count on eviction to save them.

Most tenants won’t cause these problems. But it’s worth taking a few minutes and pondering a worst-case scenario before allowing a nightmare tenant to move in. That may be the best motivation there is to verify the information provided in the rental application, speak with previous and current landlords, and run a tenant credit check to be sure this tenant hasn’t been another landlord’s worst tenant ever.

This post is provided by Tenant Verification Service, Inc., helping landlords reduce the risks of renting with fraud prevention tools that include Tenant Screening, Tenant Background Checks, (U.S. and Canada), as well as Criminal Background Checks, and Eviction Reports (U.S. only).

Click Here to Receive Landlord Credit Reports.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this post is not intended to be construed as legal advice, nor should it be considered a substitute for obtaining individual legal counsel or consulting your local, state, federal or provincial tenancy laws.

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