Are Landlords Helpless against bad tenants?

The trouble with bad tenants is that landlords need the rental income. Each month that goes by without an occupied apartment is negative cashflow. Choosing to streamline your rental process may help get those apartments filled, but can lead to trouble on the back end, from late rental payments, to missed rental payments, property damage, crime, and ultimately the problems associated with eviction, getting a judgment, physically evicting a tenant, and then spending money to clean up the apartment and attempt to rent it again.

If you can afford it, try to screen your tenants before you place them. Run tenant credit reports to evaluate your tenants credit history and ability to pay pills and willingness to work with creditors.  If your tenant shows they have a frequent pattern of ignoring the debt, then its possible your future tenant won’t feel the fiduciary responsibility to pay the rent on time, or at all.

Good luck and spend a little bit of money up front to save yourself the hassle and expense of an eviction process.