# Horror Stories from Landlords Renting out their Properties



## Leper (May 12, 2010)

I've rented out property in the UK and Canada so I've had experience of being an absentee landlord.
There is no way I would consider being a landlord in Spain, even if I lived two minutes away from the property.
I've heard too many horror stories of tenants from hell from friends who let properties.

The above is a copy and paste from another subject on this forum. Can anybody inform us of "Rented out Disasters" stories?


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Leper said:


> I've rented out property in the UK and Canada so I've had experience of being an absentee landlord.
> There is no way I would consider being a landlord in Spain, even if I lived two minutes away from the property.
> I've heard too many horror stories of tenants from hell from friends who let properties.
> 
> The above is a copy and paste from another subject on this forum. Can anybody inform us of "Rented out Disasters" stories?


Too many to list!

If you get a good tenant, they're worth their weight in gold!


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## AllHeart (Nov 22, 2013)

Leper, I didn't know you rented out in Canada. Cool! 

So you know how the pendulum has swung in favour of the tenants now through the provincial Landlord and Tenant Acts? It's positively atrocious how tenants can now practically get away with bloody murder. And it's almost impossible to get rid of a tenant, no matter how horrible they are. 

I was very careful in renting out my office as a bedroom for the last two years in Ontario, so that the people came on the lease, but they were not protected by the Landlord and Tenant Act. My last tenant was absolutely positively frightening, and thankfully she was not covered by the tenant law, so I was able to have the police extract her from my apartment. Otherwise that creek-and-paddle saying would have applied. 

Are there such landlord-tenant laws in Spain?


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Leper hasn't rented out property in Canada. She copied my post. I did.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

snikpoh said:


> Too many to list!
> 
> If you get a good tenant, they're worth their weight in gold!


Hmm.....what bait can you lure us with

Two respectable, financially secure ladies, no bad habits, excellent references....and two large dogs!!!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Horror stories of tenants who previously occupied the property we live in:

We are the first tenants who have regularly paid the rent. The last lot did a moonlight leaving unpaid rent and utility bills and some damage.
A week after we moved in the police came looking for them.
They ran some kind of property business.

Our landlord owns another property: he has twice had to go to court to evict tenants for non-payment of rent but each time the tenants vanished and he was unable to collect the rent owed. All in all he has lost many tens of thousands of euros over the past fifteen years. Luckily renting is not his sole or major source of income.
He has decided to leave his other property vacant and uses it once or twice a year when he visits.

We have friends who own a couple of properties in the Estepona area. They have more than once paid tenants to leave. Their properties have been left in a disgusting state.

Another friend rented her adosado to an English woman and her very young daughter who paid a month's rent then nothing more. She did not pay any utility bills. This went on for months. Eventually her husband cut off the electricity and water. The woman called the police. He was arrested and taken to the police station and told he would have to appear in court to face charges. He went to the UK before the court date and his wife joined him later. Their house and two adosados stand empty.


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## Nignoy (Jun 4, 2010)

while living in Australia I left my home in Minden north Germany in the loving hands of my stepdaughter and her husband rent free, with a signed agreement that they paid rates,taxes and gas,water electricity, this went well for 10 years,then I received notice that the house was being auctioned off to pay unpaid rates ,taxes and other debts, so me on the next flight to Germany, stepdaughter had disappeared, leaving me with over 30,000euros debts and to add insult to injury,a 7person family as sitting tenant ,who by law I was now responsible to rehouse!!after months of searching and a lengthy courtcase,they had to repay everything except courtcosts and were sentenced to a 6 month custodial sentence,through thepublicity of the case more people came forward who had been ripped off by loving daughter in law, on finishing their custodial they were rearrested, and are still in prison, you cannot be to careful with tenants or some relatives!!!We advertised for a housesitter for a 6 months housesitt, we picked out a 30 yearold single lady from Calgary great checkable references(We Thought) it seems she kept all the males in the area happy and there were complaints by some irate housewives when we came back,you can never be to careful!!


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## fcexpat (Sep 25, 2014)

mrypg9 said:


> Hmm.....what bait can you lure us with
> 
> Two respectable, financially secure ladies, no bad habits, excellent references....and two large dogs!!!


 
Ditto - well almost - retired partner and myself - respectable - no animals - love gardening - sold our house on first viewing - so must have been okay - also had experience of hellish tenants next door to us - riot police and tasers ! Gone now thank God ! Also financially secure - just looking for a nice home to rent to live out our days ! Would be great tenants for the right property !


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

snikpoh said:


> If you get a good tenant, they're worth their weight in gold!


As are good landlords!


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## fcexpat (Sep 25, 2014)

Not sure if this is something that might help private landlords with tenants from U K - some of the landlords I have acted for here - especially in high value properties - request a form of CRB check from the U K Police - it weeds out those who don't want their past revealed and if you have nothing to hide then its just an added level of security for the landlord. Also again with U K tenants its easy to do a bankruptcy or Judgment check with Registry Trust ..................


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> Hmm.....what bait can you lure us with
> 
> Two respectable, financially secure ladies, no bad habits, excellent references....and two large dogs!!!


Ah yes, but how much do you weigh (for your weight in gold)


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## Expatliving (Oct 21, 2013)

Can I just add that my family will be looking for a 3/4 bedroom place in Javea/Denia around July next year. Obviously, it's peak season for holidays and will probably only need an abode for 4-6 months, as we are looking to purchase and live F/T.

We are 4+ a house trained dog. Sensible? Yes, Mrs Expatliving is an OfSted childcarer whilst I am a builder, so if I damage - I repair!!

If anybody has a townhouse/villa at reasonable rent (July onward's) please PM with details. Better to rent for six months than six weeks eh ;-)


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

snikpoh said:


> Ah yes, but how much do you weigh (for your weight in gold)


Now that I will not reveal.
At present.

But I'm awaiting delivery from amazon.es of an exercise bike so maybe in a month's time...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

I'm in favour of laws affording maximum* reasonable* protection to tenants. After all, for the tenant, your house is their home. For the landlord, it's an asset. We weren't so daft as to burden ourselves with a mortgage the repayment of which depended on rental income.
Therein lies the path to many problems....

As I see it, the problem isn't with the Tenancy Laws, it's with the enforcement process if they are broken. Eviction needs if justified to be a swift, cheap, uncomplicated process which until changes were made fairly recently was far from the case in Spain.

And if you are owed back rent, utilities payments or have damage to your property, there is very little likelihood you will be recompensed.

Like many investments, renting carries risks as well as gains and you have to be prepared to accept that. I wasn't so I got out.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> Now that I will not reveal.
> At present.
> 
> But I'm awaiting delivery from amazon.es of an exercise bike so maybe in a month's time...


Brilliant, so the price is going down as we speak


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

mrypg9 said:


> I'm in favour of laws affording maximum* reasonable* protection to tenants. After all, for the tenant, your house is their home. For the landlord, it's an asset. We weren't so daft as to burden ourselves with a mortgage the repayment of which depended on rental income.
> Therein lies the path to many problems....
> 
> As I see it, the problem isn't with the Tenancy Laws, it's with the enforcement process if they are broken. Eviction needs if justified to be a swift, cheap, uncomplicated process which until changes were made fairly recently was far from the case in Spain.
> ...



Luckily we don't have mortgages on these properties either.

The real problem is that there is no true, welfare state in Spain. If a tenant CAN not pay (rather than WILL not pay), then where can they turn to for help?


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## albat (Sep 11, 2014)

I like horror movies and stories. When i stay in my home and pass my leisure period, I watch horror movies on my laptop.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

The biggest horror in my experience comes not from bad tenents, but from the fact that if you, as the owner are not a tax resident in Spain any rent will automatically be taxed at 24.75%

Nothing can be offset against the tax either, no expenses, maintenance costs, mortgage interest, zip, nada.... So you need to factor in that you will only see about 75% of what you charge (or run the risk of tax evasion)....


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