Renting - The Rights of Landlord and Tenant. Are they Currently Fair?? ( Archived) (36)

I have just had a rather nasty and upsetting night, due purely to the tenant we had renting a room in our house here.
Neither one of us (myself or Jesse)has had any sleep, due to a heated midnight argument that arose with our young tenant over noise levels and having overnight guests, DESPITE this subject having already been addressed with him on a couple of occasions. I’m very tired, and very angry and wanted to vent as much as share experiences and views from around the world on tenant/landlord rights, rules and regulations.

As regards our own situation here, it has become blatantly obvious that the tenant’s rights seem to FAR outway the landlords. The rules regarding notice periods, adherence to rules set out in contracts seem to JUST NOT STAND UP, when it comes to New York State, in this case. I have been told that the rules in this State are very lenient when it comes to welfare, which is why apparently many, many people are attracted to coming to this area to live when they are receiving benefits.
It’s utterly outrageous to me, that a contract that is signed by both landlord and tenant doesn’t seem to be worth the paper it’s written on when it comes down to it.

I am sure this stronger situation for the tenant has arisen from the usual story of “The Few Spoiling it for the Many”, as regards greedy and irresponsible landlords’ behavior in the past, but it certainly seems to have gone too far the other way – giving the tenant access to pretty much every loophole in the book, even despite a contract having been signed.
The rules and regulations here appear to be much more tenant orientated that what I have been used to in Great Britain and Ireland, where the onus is on the tenant MUCH MORE to fulfill THEIR obligations.

My own situation has been (apparently) smoothed over this morning and our tenant SHOULD be leaving on Saturday. However, it still resulted in a sleepless night for me, a lot of angst and unnecessary stress and two more days of having to put up with this person in our house.

What are your experiences of renting? Either as a landlord OR a tenant, in your own particular countries and/or states? And how do you think the current law could be improved or changed to make the whole process fairer, less stressful and more beneficial to both parties?

Comments welcome.

Usually the terms of the contract supersede the law in the US. So if you rent to anyone, you better make sure you have an airtight contract.

If you evict someone, it has to be for cause, esp. if he pays his rent on time. Without knowing the particulars, it's difficult to say something constructive.

I can tell you that the tenants rights in Germany are outrageous compared to any other place I've been in. It takes forever to get a bad and even non-paying tenant out of your house/apartment.

What you never want to do is take state money in the US for a tenant who's on welfare. That's a recipe for disaster.

I always prefer young "ladies" as a tenant..

Just remembered something. If you can, go to an upscale rental community and see if you can get your hands on one of their contracts. They are very well written, very inclusive and modify it to fit your situation.

The laws here in Vermont favor the tenant to an insane level. I'd suggest calling the police on the tenant for noise levels. if you have a video recorder make a recording of the noise, time and date. pan clock and the last news paper.

Sometimes it is even worth it to pay people to leave. Basicly that is what I did with unpaid rent. "If you are out and the apartment is broom clean by Monday morning I forgive past rent. If you are still there at 9:00 AM I hit you for everything including costs of eviction and collection. I'll garnish you wages the whole nine yards. YOUR CHOICE HOW THIS ENDS." They usually cut out to beat the owner and I out of a few hundred bucks.

Hi Scuba..

Well, we rented a ROOM on a WEEKLY basis. It was very clearly, and very strictly rented ONLY on this basis. This tenant has only been with us for two weeks, gave us a load of crap about having a job etc, and of course that was all rubbish. Soon became obvious that he was on welfare, and wanted us to take MONTHLY payment on a voucher basis. We refused, of course, as it would open us up to the 30-day notice period rule.

This is my beef. Our contract was clear, reasonable and signed by the tenant. Still, we received grief when we gave him a legal Eviction Notice. Still, he totally disregarded the rules of the Contract.

What a nightmare you had there, C..

This is my point. It seems in general that the tenant's rights FAR outway the landlord's. Its simply not fair, and I really think the law should be changed to even things up somewhat.