If you own a rental property in Ocala or Gainesville or Leesburg but had a tenant trash it when they leave then make sure you read this article because we’re addressing the all-too-common problem that landlords have when they say, “Help! My last tenant trashed my Ocala house!”
Do you own a rental property in Gainesville, Ocala, or Leesburg? Did you have a tenant leave it in less-than-perfect condition? Did it look like an anger management class took place there with all the holes in the wall? It happens! In fact, it’s an experience that probably every landlord has faced at least once. If you looked at your empty rental property and said, “Help! My tenant trashed my Ocala house” then here are some things you can do about it…
Is it worth going after the tenant?
The first reaction is always, “I’ll sue the SOB.” But first you need to first assess the damage and decide if it’s worth going after the tenant. Unfortunately, it often isn’t worth the hassle because it is time consuming and expensive to get the tenant to pay you back. You can get a judgement but that judgment is only a piece of paper unless you file the judgment against some property the tenant owns. However, if the damage is significant enough, you may choose to do this.
Is it worth repairing the damage?
From holes in the walls to missing toilets – we’ve heard of just about everything you can imagine! I’ve even seen a house where they took everything- and I mean everything out of the bathroom. All they left were studs. Sometimes a bit of drywall and paint will fix the problem, in which case you may want to fix it up and rent it out again, and then just accept the inconvenience as the cost of doing business. However, if the damage is not worth repairing yourself then you might be interested in a couple of other options:
You could rent your house to a handyman
One little-known option that is actually really helpful is to find a handyman who wants to rent the house. In exchange for a discount on rent (or even free rent) they can fix up the house for you to make it a nice rental property again. Make sure you have a timeline all spelled out, though, to avoid then staying too long without a lot of work getting done. if they don’t meet the targets the rent reverts back to market rent.
You could sell the house
Another option is to sell the house and move on from owning a frustrating rental property. However, be aware that if you try to sell the house on the open market, you may have to fix it up first in order for the agent to list it. Another option is to sell privately to a house-buying team like ours. (We buy houses in as-is condition and we’ll fix them up ourselves). We can pay cash for the house as is or we can work out terms to continue giving you a monthly check.