Tenants from Hell

We've all heard stories of landlords from Hell.

But what of the flip-side of the coin?

A long news article entitled Tenants from Hell, detailed some of the atrocities Hong Kong landlords have had to deal with.

When professional tenants move in but refuse to pay the rent, it takes a long time before landlords to be rid of them. Some tenants, not satisfied with being deadbeats, escalate to extortion: they demand payment to move out. The worst go to extremes, stealing furniture and trashing the place. From the article:

· With three months rent owing ($24,000), the landlord went to seek help from the Owners' Club. When she finally entered her flat four months later, the landlord found dog faeces smeared on each floor tile of the 800sq ft apartment. Altogether, she lost $66,000 in rent and unpaid electricity and water bills.

· After several months of non-payment of rent, owner Mrs Wong applied for a court order to reclaim possession of her flat in Tuen Mun. Just before the order was issued, her downstairs neighbour complained of water dripping from the toilet ceiling. When the repossession order came, Wong entered the flat to discover the front gate had been torn off and the floors flooded from a gushing toilet cistern which had been deliberately plugged with plastic bags. All the air-conditioners had been switched to the coolest temperature and the walls badly damaged.

· A landlord reclaiming his Shamshuipo flat found the tenant had ripped the toilet door off and filled the bath with rubbish. All the electricity cables were damaged and water outlets had been clogged with cement.

· A non-paying tenant called the landlord demanding $13,600 to move out of an apartment in Tuen Mun. When the landlord finally got his flat back, all the light fittings had been wrecked and most of the floor tiles dug up.

· Five months after a tenant refused to pay rent because of a leaky ceiling, the landlord with a court repossession order entered his North Point flat to find all the white walls had been painted black. Rubbish filled every corner, and water was everywhere. Today, the tenant sells jade outside the building and the landlord has passed away, $40,000 out of pocket.

· Several months after a landlord let out his Tuen Mun flat, the tenants, a fruit-seller and his wife, stopped paying rent. When the landlord later entered the flat with a court order, the apartment was littered with rotting fruit and rubbish. What furniture had not been stolen was damaged.

· After a protracted dispute over non-payment of rent and demands for "compensation" of $3,000 to move out of a Deep Water Bay apartment, the tenant disappeared, leaving behind a little message. He had painted the character for "death" all over the walls and furniture and cursed the landlord's family.

· For seven years, a civil engineer who rented the top floor of a Lamma Island villa was tardy with the rent and there had been a number of legal threats. The tenant demanded $80,000 to move out. After months of nervous waiting for a court order, the landlord entered the flat. All the walls had been drilled with holes the size of a basketball, letting in the rain and ruining the floor.

Michael Shea Hing-wan set up the Hong Kong Owners' Club seven years ago to help victimised landlords. It now has 4,000 members. That's a serious number of people being shafted. Shea recounted:

They are from all walks of life.

Many are unemployed but some are professionals: engineers, lawyers, doctors, even policemen. Many of them have multiple records at the Lands Tribunal for non-payment of rent. One was even a Lands Department officer.

Many don't pay rent once they move into a place with various unfounded reasons such as the air-conditioning is not cold enough or the electricity cables are frayed.

One tenant broke the toilet and let the contents flood all over the flat. The water even flowed into the management lobby.

I have a much clearer understanding why our landlord wanted to meet us when we placed a rental offer on our flat. Given the excellent condition of the unit when we viewed it, they must not have had any problem with the previous tenant.

After reading this article, I'd wager they know some poor slob who had a tenant from Hell.

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