Working with tenants is stressful, landlords agree. Eighty-eight percent of landlords recently surveyed say they have experienced some stress renting out their properties, yet 80 percent say the money from being a landlord is worth the stress, according to a new survey from Porch.com, a home remodeling website.
Nearly 49 percent of landlords say they’ve had a tenant ask to break a lease early; 45 percent have had to evict a tenant; and about 41 percent have had a tenant who suddenly stopped paying rent, according to the survey. Porch.com surveyed 563 renters and 532 landlords nationwide to learn more about the renter-landlord relationship, from repairs and responsibilities to working with tenants.
“Chasing after people’s rents, having units returned to you in a dire state, tenants who refuse to respond to calls and emails … there is no end to the list of hair-tearing stressors that landlords regularly face, not to mention a ton of hoops to jump through before they can even set up shop,” the study’s authors note.
Are landlords doing enough to pick the best tenants? Twenty-seven percent of landlords say they never or rarely do criminal background checks. Nearly 18 percent say they never or rarely do credit checks.
“Credit reports are a great vetting tool for companies,” the report notes. Landlords are less likely to do a criminal check than a credit check, but a criminal check “can help reduce their liability and ensure community safety.”
Source: “Renters and Landlords: A Look at the Pros and Cons of the Renting Economy,” Porch.com (April 24, 2019)
