Okay, so maybe these are a matter of taste, but who honestly doesn’t love a twist ending to a story?
Landlords. Landlords do not like twist endings. Like with the resident who seemed great, paid all of their bills on time, never caused problems, then they move out and the landlord discovers they’re a hoarder. Or when the landlord thought they were renting to one resident and then there are actually five people living in the unit. Nope. Twists for landlords make for some frustrating surprises.
What’s even worse is when the twist ends up costing them legally and financially because their rental lease agreement wasn’t clear and concise.
For example, let’s use the story above where five people were living in a unit instead of just one. The landlord may try to evict them for having too many residents in the unit, but the group might try to claim that the extra four were ‘guests.’ So unless the landlord stipulated in black and white terms what constituted as a ‘guest’ in the lease, they may be out of luck.
Landlords also don’t like when the terms of the lease are twisted to be used against them. This can happen when listing the terms of the deposit. The landlord may have meant that the deposit could not be used toward last month’s rent, that it was only to cover damage and repairs after the tenant had moved out, yet, depending on how specific the landlord was, the terms of deposit could be interpreted to cover anything unresolved upon move-out.
As a landlord, try to learn your lessons before they actually happen to you. The tenant/landlord lease agreement is one of the most important documents you will deal with as a property owner and you will want it to be as understandable and straightforward as possible. If you are okay with residents owning turtles but absolutely no other animals or pets are allowed, state this clearly. If you do not want your residents barbequing and setting off fireworks on the property because of potential fire hazards, include this as well. Be reasonable. You can’t dictate every action your residents can and can’t make, but for lease clauses that are important for the safety and legality of your business, make sure that they're black and white, no twists in sight.
