I was a landlord just one time. We had invested in second mortgages with a pool of other investors. We took a property back in foreclosure and, instead of selling it, we rented it out. The person we put in charge of finding a tenant didn’t do a background check! He got a criminal tenant who made two payments, then quit paying (a cop friend ran his hotsheet for us and he had a record a mile long, fortunately all non-violent).
Being Santa Cruz County, it took SIX MONTHS to evict him. During that time, water and power were cut off, but he continued to use the toilets that couldn’t be flushed. He stole all the fixtures, hot tub pump, appliances, and left garbage knee deep throughout as well as lots of holes in the walls.
I would NEVER be a landlord unless I could run criminal background checks.
This action will greatly reduce the number of apartments for rent in Seattle. What landlord wants to go through what we went through?
We had thought of moving and renting this place out to vacationers. Then reality hit. Sure, there’s good money to be made but I’d just as soon not have them stealing everything not nailed down.