How To Spot a Shitty Landlord

Living in several states, through cities and small towns, I have had my fair share of apartment tours. I am a firm believer in not judging a book by its cover, but I also think there are a few hints that lie within the outside of a person that are important to observe. Especially, in someone that you will depend on for something as important as housing.

Car

To judge one's car is not to determine their income or status, but rather, their practicality. Think of the area you live in. The weather, the terrain, the average household income, etc. Does this car make sense?

A bright red sports car in a snowy mountain town? No sense. They are not thinking of the everyday circumstance. In the city? Someone who likes to enjoy their time. An equipped SUV with ski racks? Hopefully a cool family you want to rent from. A messy minivan when their children are adults? Someone who hasn't put much thought into renovating their life and isn't seeing the big picture.

Hair

As silly as it seems, I think there's a lot to unpack here. Man or woman, the effort they put into their hair when meeting a future tenant is a good measure of the type of personality you can expect from them. If they appear they have just rolled out of bed, my guess is that they're going to be pretty disorganized. On the contrary, if they look like they put effort into the styling of their hair, they probably put a lot of thought into the function of their business. If they have nice hair and it seems they neglect the property, they're probably into some funny business. If they wear a baseball hat, they are probably pretty practical but they're significant other (if they have one) really wears the pants. If they wear a bandana, either they are going to be a hard ass or toke up with you. If they're bald, I have no advice here.

Distance

An extremely important detail of getting to know your landlord is finding out where they live. Your landlord's distance to the property you are considering will speak volumes about what that person is willing to do for you.

If your landlord lives over an hour away from the apartment, you need to listen close. If they do not offer any contacts for maintenance, a property manager or anything of the sort without being prompted, this is a huge red flag. They are not going to have an immediate solution if there is an emergency maintenance situation.

If your landlord lives in the neighborhood or close vicinity, you can expect them to be popping by and observing what you're doing. There are usually terms stated in the lease of when a landlord is allowed to come into your residence, but there are practically no rules in terms of seeing them otherwise. If you're a great tenant and appreciate the close relationship, great. If you're young, broke, lazy or forgetful, you're probably going to get a sticky note on your door when rent is late.

Questions

Coming prepared with questions on the apartment is never a bad idea. But regardless of the type of questions you have for your landlord, their responses to your questions will speak for themselves.

Let's say there's a circuit breaker box inside of your apartment. You ask the landlord how this works if you need to use it. If they rush through the process with you and don't give any further instruction, they don't care very much. If they show you each switch and its labels, they are giving you the go ahead.

They don't need to beat the horse to death with details, they just need to show you that they are able to instruct effectively. If they don't have clear answers on your questions and they aren't sure about what's in front of them, they should be willing to get back to you on that.

Lease

I know we are all guilty of not reading a document we signed. You do not ever want to do that with a lease. Reading the lease will take such a short amount of time from your life and will save you many headaches.

If there is no lease, there is no deal. It will never end well.

If they mention things that are not listed in the lease that are of interest to you, don't sign it until they add it. They will never add it otherwise and you will not have any legal standing to challenge it from just a verbal agreement.

If there are things listed in the lease that they did not mention, that are of importance to you or require you to do something, that needs to be addressed before signing. Depending on the severity, this could be a big concern.

Maintenance Issues

Pay attention to your surroundings inside and outside of the apartment. If you are noticing things in areas where they shouldn't be, you will want to know the landlord's reasoning as to why they are there.

If there is a pile of debris sitting outside of an apartment in your building or a hole in the wall you passed, they should have a plan in place right now on how that will be resolved. If they say to you, "I've been meaning to get to that." or "Maintenance was supposed to take care of that." you need to consider that as they don't care when it gets fixed. If they say "Garbage pick up is coming tomorrow." giving a solution and a time frame, that is a good sign that they will complete maintenance tasks within a reasonable amount of time.

Any minor maintenance issues that are showing inside of the apartment should be pointed out to the landlord. A leaky faucet, a loose door knob, etc. should be addressed by the landlord again as a resolved issue.

Remember, you get what you pay for. If it seems too good to be true, it usually is. The price is low for what you're seeing with your own eyes? Consider what may be happening or what may have happened there.

Eye Contact

I'm sure this is not the first time you have heard that eye contact is important when you are first meeting someone. If this landlord is not looking you straight in the eyes or their eyes are wandering when they are explaining something to you, they are either very nervous or they are hiding something.

Neighbors

Will you have next door neighbors? What your landlord saw in these tenants will give you an idea into the type of judgement they may have. Of course, unless the current tenants were inherited from the purchase of the property. Fortunately, either way, the landlord's comments on the neighbors will give you some insight.

Ask them the question, "How are the neighbors?" and listen for their reaction. It may not come out in a direct statement. Observing their body language is also important. If they sigh, or give a slightly negative response, consider that they aren't pleased with how it's going or they consider them to be a burden. If they have a pleasant response, perhaps with a cheerful voice, this shouldn't be of any concern.

I personally always have a security camera in any apartment I rent, because I've had some wild neighbors. One ran into my apartment with his car and tore my wall down, another accusing me of waking her baby for playing cards with my friends. You'll want to get all of it on video just for entertainment but in the event of an actual safety issue, you'll be glad you had it.

Leasing Office

These tips might not be as simple to follow if you are dealing strictly with a leasing office or touring online. But, do consider the fact that the leasing office that you will be dealing with hired the very person you are conversing with. That person is a reflection of their business.