How to Deal With Difficult Tenants in Toronto
Finding trustworthy and respectful tenants to rent your property to, is one of the most challenging tasks landlords face.
The difference between a good tenant and a bad tenant can make or break your investment and cost you thousands of dollars. Money aside, a problematic tenant can wreak havoc on your mental sanity with late-night calls, impossible demands, and rude behaviour.
If you find yourself in a situation where one of your properties is occupied by a difficult tenant, how do you deal with that as a landlord?
Treat Them How You Wish to Be Treated – Even When It’s Hard
It’s drilled in our heads from an early age to treat others the way we want to be treated.
This seems like a simple concept, but when it comes to someone trying to take advantage of us, causing damage to our property, or breaking ground rules, it can be difficult.
A kind word, polite behaviour, and professional attitude can go a long way when dealing with difficult tenants. Of course, this does not mean you should give in to every tenant’s demand, allow them to be late on rent habitually, or even break the rules. Being kind means that you are putting in the effort to be professional no matter how difficult the situation is.
Quite possibly, your tenant will see your kindness and change their behavior or strive to do better for you and your property.
The Three C’s – Calm, Cool, and Collected
Staying calm, cool, and collected sounds easy enough, but when you’re in a heated situation regarding late rent, property damage, or in an emotionally charged case.
Don’t let your thoughts become clouded by high emotional situations or with problems that your tenants are causing.
As a landlord, you need to be the voice of reason, evaluating the situation carefully from all sides and coming up with the best approach for all parties.
Keep Written Records of Communications
A simple way to avoid conflict with your tenants is to keep a written record of all your communications. Print out emails, text messages, and any other correspondence you have with your tenants.
Keeping either a hard copy of these conversations in print or digitally will be invaluable if an issue arises in the future. If a tenant were to dispute something with you, like a set rent price, having a written record of the agreement will provide you with a clear answer.
Ask Bad Tenants to Leave
When you have finally reached your breaking point with a certain tenant, sometimes the best course of action would be for you to part ways and for them to find a new property to rent. While a voluntary move might be difficult with bad tenants, it’s not impossible.
If, after a cordial conversation, your tenant has not started their home search, you can start sending written notices for them to vacate your property on a specific date; in Toronto, landlords need to provide a 60-day notice to terminate the tenancy of their renter.
Hiring an Efficient and Experienced Property Manager
Dealing with tenants, property maintenance, and rent collection can be a full-time job, depending on how many properties you have in your investment portfolio.
Imagine if you didn’t have to do any of these tasks again – how much time would that save you?
Hiring an experienced, trusted, and proven successful property manager to handle your investment properties will eliminate much of your stress as a landlord. Property management companies will deal with tenant screenings, collecting rent, property maintenance, service/emergency calls, and move-outs.
We specialize in residential property management. Regardless of how many rental homes you own, our strategy is designed to save you money at every stage of the process, so our property management service pays for itself. With more and more homeowners looking to buy a second property for investment purposes, many are turning to property management services like RPM to service their buildings.
FAQs about dealing with a difficult tenant
At Real Property Management Service, we have dealt with our fair share of difficult tenants. Property owners trust us to make the tough calls and deal with the majority of tenant relations. Our 30+ years of experience have taught us how to handle some of the most difficult questions property owners ask.
Q: How are emergency calls handled for tenants?
A: Tenants can call their emergency into our hotline at 416-642-1404, where a member of our staff will receive their call and dispatch the appropriate personnel to handle the situation.
Q: What is our process for screening potential tenants?
A: We ask all applicants interested in a property that we manage to provide an application that accompanies their proof of identification, references, and a form of a financial statement proving their ability to rent your property.
Q: Can I choose the tenant for my investment property?
A: Our clients are not involved in the selection process of new tenants. This protects you from human rights issues, among other legal matters. We do, however, provide you with an update throughout the leasing process and full details of the qualified tenants we have found for your property..
Q: How long will it take for my property to be leased once we select RPM Service to manage our investment?
A: We assess every property we take on under our management as quickly as possible. Our goal is to have every property leased with an A+ rated tenant at a price and timeline that you agree with within two weeks. This is a goal we strive to achieve, although some properties take more or less time to find a suitable tenant, depending on location and the rent price.
For more tips and tricks for landlords looking to simplify their busy lives, we have compiled a blog of some of our most useful information for your to utilize on your own time, free of charge.
If having Real Property Management Service in Toronto manage your property sounds appealing to you, follow this link to get started. We look forward to ensuring your investment property is under the best possible care, ensuring your investments for years to come.