| I’m the collateral party to a residential rental business. We live on-site at one of the properties we own (with an attached office). My husband and his father run the business. Although I don’t participate in the business in any way, here are some of the things I’d really, really like to say to renters:
Emergencies
An emergency that requires you to contact your landlord immediately consists of one thing: imminent damage to the property. Don’t call (or come knocking at the door) at 10:30 at night because your neighbor is noisy – that’s what the cops are for. Lack of air conditioning, a leaky faucet or the fact that you stuffed a spoon down your garbage disposal (again!!!) can wait until normal office hours. Really. And by the way? Don’t tell us at 5:00 pm on Friday about the air conditioner that has been broken all week. Guess what? Repairmen don’t work on weekends!
Rent is due on the first day of the month
Sure, we extend you a grace period up to the 5th, however that doesn’t mean that we are going to answer the door until midnight to take your rent. You know where we live. You know our address. You even have our phone number. If you can’t pay your rent during regular working hours, call and make an appointment or mail us your rent.
We Aren’t Your Case Worker
We don’t exist to solve your problems for you. If you get mail for a former tenant, just write “No longer at this address” and put it in the mailbox. If your cable isn’t working, call the cable company. If your sister won’t stop harassing you, get a restraining order.
We Aren’t Deaf (Corollary: We Don’t Have to Answer the Door)
If you ring the doorbell twice and no one answers, assume no one is available. If you need something, we gave you our phone number to call for a reason. It is also by the door (with out working hours). It doesn’t matter how long you ring the bell, pound on the door or shout, if no one is in the office the door isn’t going to get answered. If it is after working hours guess what? Even though our lights are on, we are closed. CLOSED. Go away. Quietly.
And Finally…
There is NO REASON WHATSOEVER, short of extremely imminent damage to property, to ring our doorbell at 7:00 AM on a Sunday morning. And let me make this perfectly clear: the fact that a feral cat just had kittens under your porch IS NOT an emergency for your landlord…though it could quickly become a medical emergency for you if it happens again.