And if you find yourself a bit strapped for cash, you can alway skimp a bit on the maintenance.
Even if it's something major like a damp-course failure that leads to half the plaster peeling off the walls. You can just accuse the tenant of damaging it and withhold their deposit.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Thu 25 Mar 2010, 20:27, 1 reply)

Even if you're not hard up
When it's coming to the end of the tenancy, from which you'll have earned ~£25 000 over 2 years, for doing fuck all, you can suddenly be 'busy' whenever your tenants call, and save re-attaching the bannisters to the wall your mate plastered for a favour (because he'd never done a proper plastering job before), after openly telling the new tenants all the things you're going to fix and buy new before they move in, using the current tenants rent.
( greedyostrich Cheese is evil! Cheddar is VOODOO!, Thu 25 Mar 2010, 22:27, closed)

That's true
I did have one landlord who lived halfway across the country and never returned any communications. Not when the faucet broke, not when the stove burners quit working, not even when the upstairs balcony was threatening to fall off. Another landlord refused to do anything about the severe leaks that caused black mold which gave me pneumonia. The bastard's lucky I didn't sue him.

On the other hand, I've had some pretty awesome landlords. My current one installed a washer/dryer recently and didn't use it as an excuse to raise my rent. Hurrah!

As for making money off rent, with property taxes my parents barely break even and my current landlady is losing money on this property.
(Exempt OH WOW, VICODIN, Fri 26 Mar 2010, 1:12, closed)

Good Lord, my last landlord was completely awful. Admittedly I wasn't playing straight with him near the end either, but that was due to circumstances out of my control, and he did get all his payments on time...

Regardless, I was there for close to two years, and in my second October, some squirrels came in through the roof that he just wouldn't do anything about for the longest time. I had to pretty much put my life on hold for two weeks and shoo the bastards back up in the ceiling each time they poked their heads down. And in the week before I moved out, the bedroom roof completely fucking caved in with a torrent of water pouring down through the window and the light fixture in addition to the big fuck-off hole in the ceiling. Did he pay for the damages to my bed, bookshelves, and dresser? Did he fuck.

Heh, I might shoehorn this into its own answer later on.
(Legion, Fri 26 Mar 2010, 4:10, closed)

It's nice to know that there are some good landlords
but even 'breaking even' means that you've essentially got a house paying it's own mortgage , not exactly something to complain about!
( greedyostrich Cheese is evil! Cheddar is VOODOO!, Fri 26 Mar 2010, 12:01, closed)

It can be a good deal, but...
Tenants can cost you a LOT if you get a bad one. A few years back we had a tenant who broke and filthified a bunch of brand new appliances (including the stove), then said that it was like that when he moved in (BRAND... NEW...). He then took my family to court over it and won, though my dad was able to get a restraining order against him because he had been making harassing phone calls.

A criminal background check revealed that he had done the same thing a few years prior.

Whichever side you're on, it's just a matter of finding people who aren't assholes out to screw you.


(Oh, and: we don't have a mortgage. I know, Americans without a mortgage. Freaky. Anyways, we wouldn't be able to afford to pay property taxes if we didn't rent out the unit, so when we have to spend the rent on fixing tenant damages, we aren't too pleased.)
(Exempt OH WOW, VICODIN, Fri 26 Mar 2010, 19:44, closed)