Are you a landlord? If you own a rental property, then this article is for you. Tenants can trash a home. It doesn’t matter if you have taken all the measures during the screening process. People can still damage your property without your knowledge. Many times, we hear from landlords who are asking for help because a tenant has trashed their house. It happens. Tenants leave your home in less than perfect condition. Sometimes the issue is a cosmetic one. Sometimes the house is damaged intentionally because of misconduct. The truth is that every landlord faces this situation at least once.
If you looked at your empty rental property and said, “Help! My tenant trashed my Lawton house.” then here are some things you can do about it…
First of all, take a deep breath. You need to control what you can and plan for the future.
Is it worth going after the tenant?
You need to first assess the damage and decide if it’s worth going after the tenant. You can avoid this situation by carefully evaluating the house before your tenant leaves it. Assess the damage if your tenant trashed the house and deduct the repair cost from the security deposit. Going after the tenant is always expensive and time-consuming. You might have to file a lawsuit against them.
If the house has been extensively damaged, you might have to go after the tenant. For this, you need to have enough proof. You need to have after-and-before pictures of the house. You will need to know the exact cost of repairs and how much the tenant owes you.
Is it worth repairing the damage?
From holes in the walls to missing toilets, we have heard of just about everything you can imagine! 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. At other times, the damage is beyond repair. The structural damage is the most difficult to repair and consumes a lot of money. In that scenario, you might be interested in a couple of other options:
You could rent your house to a handyman
One little-known option 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 staying too long without a lot of work getting done.
You could sell the house
Another option is to sell the house and move on from owning that damaged property. If the house is too much work and you’re tired of being a landlord, then selling makes sense. You can’t sell in the retail market. Just like the rental market, retail buyers are not interested in fixing the property. A better option is to sell privately to a house buying team like ours. We buy houses in as-is condition. Even if your tenant has trashed the house, we can still fix it.
We’re an experienced team looking to buy more houses in Lawton. We’re real estate investors, and we can help you solve this situation. Join us for a free consultation, and we can brainstorm different ways to handle this situation. Our team can guide you about the cost of repairs and the potential of making a profit from renting out the house again. Reach out. Talk to our friendly team, and together, let’s discuss a favorable outcome.