A rental applicant lashes out at me after I refused them.

[TerryF]

We had an email inquiry about renting one of our properties. It is for a family of 4 - women and her boyfriend, 2 children aged 5 yrs and 10 months. They have 3 pets as well - a chihuahua dog and 2 kittens they claim are very well trained. We are not totally against pets but know that it can be risky so prefer to rent to applicants with no pets or to limit it to one pet only. I sent a reply back via email saying:

Unfortunately this is too many animals and we would have to rule it out. Thanks for inquiring though and good luck with your search.

Got this reply back:

ok that doesnt make scense to me. u will allow a pet but not three what is the difference between one nd three. Unfortunatly i feel its ppl like u that make ppl put their animals to the street. It because of ppl like u that animals are getting killed and thrown in the garbage. good luck with finding someone to rent ur home cause of ur ignorance.


Unbelievable, eh? Or is this fairly common?

Terry

 

[RedlineBrett]

Part of the business unfortunately. They have now shown their true colors!

Don`t let it get to you... I wouldn`t even respond.

 

[BrianPersaud]

QUOTE (RedlineBrett @ Jul 27 2009, 04:19 PM) Part of the business unfortunately. They have now shown their true colors!

Don`t let it get to you... I wouldn`t even respond.

I had a simiar situation...except they called me a sand nig$%r instead of a puppy killer.

 

[JoefromTO]

Whenever I have a vacancy and am dealing with phone calls, I do a prescreening before I even show the place. I ask a list of questions and generate my own "opinion" of them. Then, if I`m not too found of what they said, I tell them that my partner has been showing the apartment and may have found someone already, but that I still take phone calls and do the prescreening until the apartment is actually rented.

This is my way of having a way out. Remember, you cannot evict someone for getting a pet after they have moved in and I think you cannot discriminate someone for having a pet...so its best to not say that you didnt chose them for a reason...instead, you just say you found someone or are considering someone else already.

We have to play the game carefully...


QUOTE (BrianPersaud @ Jul 27 2009, 03:24 PM) I had a simiar situation...except they called me a sand nig$%r instead of a puppy killer.

 

[REINteam]

Hi Terry,

At the end of the day you can`t go wrong with "We decided to rent to someone else". You don`t have to tell them they have too many pets or they just look creepy...simply say we rented to someone else and move on. We all deal with verbal abuse in this business, but if you keep to a simple "no thanks" you`ll get less of this. You know why 3 is too many, I know why 3 is too many, we all know why except the tenant in question...but it`s not her house.

Smart move in passing IMO, I would have done the same. Big red flag is someone doesn`t see a difference between one and three pets!


Regards,

Ray Reuter
Real Estate Investment Network

 

[NeilUttamsingh]

QUOTE (TerryF @ Jul 27 2009, 04:00 PM) Unfortunately this is too many animals and we would have to rule it out. Thanks for inquiring though and good luck with your search.

Got this reply back:

ok that doesnt make scense to me. u will allow a pet but not three what is the difference between one nd three. Unfortunatly i feel its ppl like u that make ppl put their animals to the street. It because of ppl like u that animals are getting killed and thrown in the garbage. good luck with finding someone to rent ur home cause of ur ignorance.


Unbelievable, eh? Or is this fairly common?

Terry



Terry,

This is part of the game. Don`t be phased by people like this. It is not worth responding either.

Best Regards,
Neil.

 

[TodorYordanov]

Going forward, never give them the reason why you decided whatever your decision is. Offer one simple answer "we decided to rent to someone else" and nothing more. Say anything more outside of this and you open yourself to potentially costly problems.

 

[Nir]

let`s salute to whoever mentioned something like "we decided to rent to someone else". that`s the best answer Terry and you will hopefully receive less "feedback on your performance" in the future. GL! BTW, I`ve seen a dead cat on my way home today. was that you again? (JUST JOKING!)

 

[TerryF]

QUOTE (investmart @ Jul 28 2009, 08:20 PM) let`s salute to whoever mentioned something like "we decided to rent to someone else". that`s the best answer Terry and you will hopefully receive less "feedback on your performance" in the future. GL! BTW, I`ve seen a dead cat on my way home today. was that you again? (JUST JOKING!)

Ok, I do agree that it`s better to keep it simple and just say it`s been rented to someone else. But couldn`t you be confronted on that as well? eg. You`re still running the ad and taking calls. How would you defend that?

Also..... my understanding is that in Alberta at least, you can refuse to rent to pet owners and if they sign a lease agreeing to no pets, and then they get one, you can terminate their tenancy. Is this right?

Terry

P.S. Dead cat? That wasn`t me! I actually own a couple of cats. Love them to bits but even they have issues. Probably wouldn`t recommend renting to me if they are coming!

 

[eddyb1978]

I do keep it simple and say we have selected another tenant... the pool of applicants was very tough and the best rating was given to a better qualified tenant...

Good thing they showed their true colors!

Be careful about pets, people on welfare etc... we need to stay generic and stick to the simple game plan as my other Rein friends had advocated as well.

Cheers,
Eddy

 

[invst4profit]

Terry along with telling them you rented to someone else if they challenge you on still running the add and taking calls you continue to lie ( add is running by mistake, forgot to cancel etc.) and use call screening to avoid there calls. They will move on.
The key is to never say anything in regards to why they were rejected or why the others were accepted over them.

 

[TerryF]

Ok, just to be clear about what happened.............. These people didn`t even fill out an application form. They made an an initial inquiry advising of the number in their family and the number and kind of pets they had. It didn`t get farther than this!

So........ are you all saying that I have to `pretend` they are legit applicants even though I know there is no way I can rent to them?? Does that mean I have to give them the application form to complete and go through all the motions as if they were someone I`d rent to when from the outset I know they aren`t suitable? That`s a waste of everybodies time involved.

I had another call last night about the house from someone who asked right off if we accepted pets. I told them we didn`t and they said, thanks - we`ll keep looking. How is this different from what I did a few days ago with the one who is saying I now kill puppies!

Surely, there must be some screening allowed for landlords before you put them through the official application process ???

I can see telling a rejected applicant that we decided to rent to someone else AFTER they have been accepted as an applicant and we`ve looked into the information they have provided. But from the first inquiry?

So it would go something like this:

Prospect: Hi, I`m interested in the house you have for rent. Is it still available?

Me: Yes it is.

Prospect: I`d like to see it if I could

Me: Can you first tell me a bit about your family and any pets you might have?

Prospect: Sure - a wife, 2 kids, and 2 very well behaved & trained dogs (aren`t they all?).

Me: Sorry but we don`t accept pets in our properties.

Prospect: Ok... thanks anyway. Bye.


What is wrong with that???

Or do I have to say instead
Me: Oh..... uh.... just a minute. I just got an email that my partner has rented to someone after all. Sorry......

It seems a bit strange that we have to do it this way to protect ourselves.

In Alberta, I am sure you can choose not to rent to people with pets - it`s done all the time here and most people understand they will have to search a bit for a landlord who doesn`t mind.

Anyway, thanks for all the feedback and I will definately be a bit more careful how I give the refusal.

Terry

 

[eddyb1978]

I was under the impression that you had the app in your hands...
in light of your details....
here is what i would do...
if you are not accepting pets you can put this in bold on your rental ad... however when you get into a situation where you are OK with some pets but not too many you will need to be prepared to face some challenges like the one you have gone through..

Cheers,
Eddy

 

[Mitch Collins]

We have had to deal with this as well on a couple of occasions.

My poor wife doesn`t deal well with people losing their cool on her over the phone, and there has been a couple instances where we`ve asked good tenants to take responsibility for damages caused at the end of a good tenancy and it has turned into a complete war.

Anyone else had this type of situation, even where things were great? It just seems when people move out they put on their `battle caps` and get ready to go to war about you trying to hold them responsible for cleaning or damages...

No one wants to be responsible for their actions it seems....

Terry - don`t sweat it and don`t waste emotional energy dwelling on it, I`ve been there as well!

 

[HeatherBrandt]

Terry,

I am surprised how many people ask about pets even when the ad says no pets. In answering your question, next time you will change your response to "Sorry, no pets." not "Sorry, too many pets". You may still get the same response, but there`s no arguing (what if they agree to get rid of one of them?)

I am amazed when I go on Kijiji to research availability. There is always a few ads looking for pet friendly places (for several pets, rarely only one!), but explain that all landlords are 1st degree relatives of Satan. Makes you want to contact them, doesn`t it!

The person was venting and you can`t solve her problem (same as those who don`t have enough for security deposit or can`t figure out how to pay rent on time to avoid late fees). People are much more brave on email/phone than face to face. If you feel the need to reply, craft some kind of form letter reply that is as neutral as possible (you can say what you really think while sending the neutral reply to get it out of your system!)

 

[MikeMcCrae]

It seem that in Ontario you have a government that is against business. That is unfortunate because it makes the system even more adversarial than it needs to be. As the owner of my property I feel that I should be able to choose who I rent to. I support the idea of non discrimination but not being able to reject based on pets it just crazy to me.