Tenants Leave Home In Complete Chaos So Landlord Hatches Plan To Get Back At Them

Jan 27, 2021 by apost team

Landlords know that while most tenants mean well, you do get the occasional nightmare renter. Back in 2018, RightThisMinute reported on one such story. According to the outlet, French landlord Thomas Ravaux came back to his property in Rozoy-sur-Serre, which hadn't been paid for in more than 14 months, and found a disaster. But Ravaux, who videotaped the mess the tenants left, had the perfect solution.

Landlords need to check the criminal background of their tenants, their past history in rental houses and collect a deposit. Even after doing that, there is no guarantee that you are getting good tenants who will take care of your property as they would their own homes.

Ravaux had had issues with tenants before, but he did not know how to handle this new breed of tenant that made his life hard at every stage, according to site Home Hacks. He felt like he dealt with an issue every day from his bad tenants. All his houses are in good and clean condition. When he rented them out, he probably assumed the tenants would love the units, and that they would have a good relationship. But as the video below shows, Ravaux's tenants were a massive thorn in his side.

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For 14 months, his tenants could not raise the rent, according to RightThisMinute. When Ravaux tried to contact them, he never heard back. Ravaux could not handle it anymore. But when he got to his property, he was likely shocked. For starters, he knocked on the door. After hearing nothing, he finally got in, but what met his eyes was shocking.

In every room he entered, there was so much litter that the floor was completely covered. He would enter the next room hoping it was better, but the situation was the same in all of the rooms — piles upon piles of litter. That was not all. The tenants also left spoiled food and old furniture in the house. From the look of things, the tenants might have only carried the clothes they were wearing, and then destroyed the house as if someone was rummaging through the rooms looking for something.

As if leaving a mess inside the house was not enough, the tenants turned the yard into a dumping pit and littered every inch of it. Ravaux was likely furious, and his fury seems to have led him to devise a plan to take revenge. He talked to his attorney to find out if his plan was illegal, and when he got the go-ahead he needed, he started on his plan. After talking to his attorney, he called a dump truck company, and the company, like the attorney, assured him that his plan did not break any laws, according to Home Hacks. Next, he needed to track down the address of the former tenants.

His plan worked. He loaded all the litter in the dump truck and unloaded it on the driveway of the former tenants’ new address. He was returning the belongings of his tenants who packed in a hurry and forgot some of their belongings. This seemed like the right thing to do given the situation that the tenants put Ravaux in. He shared his story on social media and most were very supportive. Viewers commented that they would have done the same given the ungratefulness of his tenants.

While it's quite unlikely that your tenants plan on leaving a mess of this scale, Ravaux's story is a cautionary tale. Luckily, there are many things you can do to protect yourself as a landlord.

According to LegalZoom, one of the main things you can do to protect yourself as a landlord is to do your research. That means that you should require potential tenants to fill out a detailed rental application with important information such as the renter's previous addresses, including contact information for their previous landlords. 

Imagine, for example, that the same renters that Ravaux had to deal with showed up on your doorstep. If you did your research — and provided the prospective tenants don't lie — then you can contact their former landlords and see how they were as tenants.

With more information, landlords can also conduct credit and background checks, which can tell you a lot about rental candidates. However, LegalZoom emphasizes that if you do end up running a credit and/or background check, it's important to let the prospective tenants know in advance. 

As a final precaution, you can also ask prospective tenants for references. But don't be satisfied by the simple fact that they provided references. You have to actually call and follow up on these leads. And if something seems off or strange, then perhaps it's better to go with a more straightforward candidate.

Beyond research, the American Apartment Owners Association (AAOA) also has a few tips on how to avoid damage to your rental units. 

Their number one tip is that rental units should be in good condition when you rent them out. "You’re teaching by example — showing the tenant what the property is supposed to look like when it’s well cared for," the organization writes. "If the property is suffering from nagging little problems, the tenant is going to be more lax when in comes to cleaning and maintaining it. Don’t set the bar so low."

And to make sure you have a record of your unit, which should be in tip-top shape, you should document the property's condition before your tenant moves in. That means taking plenty of photos and videos of the property and saving them somewhere where you can find them — in the event that your tenants do wreck the place.

Finally, while this doesn't seem to be a problem in Ravaux's case, the AAOA says that water is one of the main culprits of property damage. So make sure that appliances like dishwashers and washing machines are properly fitted, and if your tenants complain about problems, do fix them.

If you stick to these simple rules, it's unlikely that you'd end up with Ravaux's nightmare tenants. Not only would the credit check likely show up with something, but contacting their references and previous landlords would also give them away.

If you were in Ravaux's situation, would you have done the same? Do you think the tenants deserved what they got? Let us know in the comments below, and share this story with someone in your friend list who has also had a bad experience with tenants.