If you are a landlord but had a tenant trash it when they left you must read this article because we’re talking about the all the usual issues that landlords have when they say, “Help! My last tenant trashed my NJ house!”
Are you a landlord? Did any of your tenants left your property looking like trash? It happens! Actually, it’s an experience that probably every landlord will face at least once. If you looked at your empty rental property and said, “Help! My tenant trashed my New Jersey house” then here are some things you can do about it…
Is it worth going after the tenant?
First you have to understand any damages, and check if it’s worth the headache of going after your tenant. As a matter of fact, often the hassle is not worth. The process could be time consuming and expensive to get the tenant to pay for his damages. However, if the damage is significant enough, you may choose to do this.
Is it worth repairing the damage?
From holes in the ceiling to missing toilets and sinks – we’ve heard of just about everything you can imagine! Sometimes a quick paint and patching the drywalls will do the work, 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 which is super helpful (but also super hard) is to find a handyman who wants to rent your house or apartment. You can give him a big discount on the rent, and have him fix up the house for you. Just make sure to layout the discount terms according to a reasonable timeline. You don’t want to give him discounts forever if he could fix the house in a couple of months living there!
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).