A Happy Ending

I caught up with my friend Trish the other day. I was curious as to whatever came of her perfect tenants.

Real quickly, Trish had tenants who moved in last spring. The Perfects were complaining because there were air conditioning issues. The issues caused consistent $600 a month electric bills. The wife a stay-at-home mom was not willing to meet the air conditioning repair person so the husband (who is self-employed) was taking time off work to do this. The house down the street was renting for $500 a month less. The Perfects wanted to be reimbursed for their electric bills, the time he took off work and they wanted a permanent $500 a month rent reduction. All the while, other landlords were calling Trish for a rental reference, giving me (Trish needed more convincing), the impression the Perfects were moving. Besides that, the Perfects were two weeks late on the rent and they announced to Trish that she should use the security deposit for that month's rent.

What bothered me the most was the tenants were bullying Trish into making decisions. Trish, wanting to accommodate the tenants, was doing her level best to resolve these issues. When Trish told me the story last August, I predicted the Perfects were looking for excuses to break the lease and were moving out.

At the time this was going on, Trish decided to meet with the Perfects and work things out. They agreed to a temporary reduction in rent until the "air conditioning issues" were resolved. They also agreed to fix a few minor things they didn't know were broken. In exchange, the Perfects gave them the missing rent money (now with the reduction).

At the end of the month, the Perfects moved out without saying good bye.

Trish then found out the Perfects were keeping their air conditioner at 70 degrees. Which sounds just wonderful for an Arizona winter. But, generally to avoid $600 electric bills, we Zonies keep our thermostats set for 80 degrees in the summer. When the Perfects moved out, Trish called an HVAC service. Nope, nothing was wrong.

At the time, Trish was making decisions based on not wanting to to deal with the frustration of deadbeat tenants and a vacant home. None of us do, of course. And I am a proponent of picking my battles just like the next guy. But as I pointed out when we were talking the other day, she WAS dealing with these frustrations. The writing was on the wall. It didn't take a crystal ball on this one. It just wasn't my drama so I could see the big picture.

I personally think Trish was lucky to get the last rent payment when she did--even if it was a reduction. And the place was in reasonable condition when they left. Trish had the house vacant for 10 days when they found a tenant. And, from what I understand, there have been no complaints so far.