Really? Did that just happen? #3

The feedback has been great from this series, so we have decided to keep this series going.

Tenants are a funny thing.  As mentioned before, we hear just about everything from people in order to avoid paying rent.  When I first started working here, I always believed what everyone said.  At some point (when you have heard the same story over and over) you start realizing that you can't help everyone and that they need to follow what their lease states.

One tenant still makes me laugh to this day.  From almost the day she moved in, she had a problem paying the rent.  Rather than come clean and admit her difficulty, she would always call with an excuse.  One month she was in a car accident, one month she was mugged, one month she broke her leg, etc.  This pattern held true for 5-6 months. 

It was just frustrating.  I think everyone has a heart and wants to help, but if you can't be honest with us, then why would we try to help?  Furthermore, if you're not honest we may not even know that you need help.

This particular lady never really came clean until she was caught red-handed.  She called (on the same day as usual) and said that she was going to be late paying the rent because she was in the hospital currently and very ill.  A few minutes after we took the call we needed to called her back.  The only number we had was her home phone so we figured we would just have to leave a message.

The phone rang.....and the "hospitalized" tenant answered the phone.  My jaw hit the floor!!!  At that point we confronted her and asked what was going on.  She explained that she was embarrassed and confirmed our suspicions.  We tried to work with that tenant from then on out, but eventually the lies just became too much.

If you or someone you know is going through similar hardships, I would recommend to get your landlord on the phone and try to work something out.  Most times that is the best solution for both parties.  It just requires good old fashioned communication