Gave my tenant a break on rent last winter and it cost me $4,800

Everyone on here says you should never bend on rent and I always rolled my eyes at that, until this past January when my tenant at a duplex in Dayton lost his job and I let him slide on two payments. He promised to catch up by spring, spring came and went, and by the time I finally filed for eviction I was out $4,800 plus about $900 in legal fees and a trashed back unit. The part that really burns is he was a decent guy and I still think saying no upfront would have been the kinder move, because it just delayed the crash for both of us. Now I do a written payment plan with a hard deadline on day one instead of a handshake, and the weird thing is tenants respect me more for it. Curious what you all do when a good tenant hits a rough patch, do you work with them or cut it off early?

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juliak734d ago

Read somewhere that handshake deals cost landlords billions yearly.

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