How To Avoid A “Monster Tenant”

By ERIN FLYNN JAY

Suzanne Seggerman’s historic four-bedroom loft in New York City has been featured in dozens of films, TV shows, and commercials. In 2021, it was demolished by someone who appeared to be the perfect tenant on paper and online.

Through Seggerman’s sleuthing, she uncovered other victims (some international) of the same “Monster Tenant” and has publicly shared her experience.

Seggerman recently spoke to The Mortgage Note, offering some advice for potential and current landlords.

“Landlords should assume that they themselves are responsible for fully vetting every aspect of a tenant’s application – as well as adding whatever ‘extras’ might not be included,” said Seggerman. “Don’t leave anything up to the broker or agent.”

Seggerman suggests getting as much background information on a potential tenant as allowed by federal, state, and local laws.

“Some services offer a package that includes some of these: credit report, bank statement, references including employment and a previous landlord, and pay stubs where applicable. Call all those references,” said Seggerman.

Does she recommend landlords find tenants themselves or hire a firm to do so?

Seggerman thinks either way is fine as long as landlords realize they should do or review all the vetting, almost as if they were hiring potential tenants for a job. In this era of AI and internet fluency, people can falsify almost any document, she said.

“You can’t take anything at face value anymore,” said Seggerman. “The kind of scam I encountered with my ‘Monster Tenant’ is extreme, but cons and real estate scams are increasingly common.”

Holden Andrews, founder of Helpful Home Group, is a landlord with four rental properties. He has his own “Monster Tenant” story.

Andrews bought a house with his partner and put around $10,000 into it making it rent-ready.

“We then trusted our property manager to place a tenant without much oversight from us and the tenant was late on their first rent payment,” said Andrews. “We had to evict them within four or five months because they stopped paying rent. We then had to invest several thousand dollars into the property after they moved out to make it rent-ready again for the next tenant.”

Since then, they have become more hands-on with reviewing applications and choosing who they think is best. The biggest thing they do to protect themselves is talk to previous landlords and have their property manager go out and look at where potential renters are currently living.

“We let them know that they are in the final rounds of being selected and give them notice that we would like to inspect their house over the 24 to 48 hours,” said Bazazzadeh. “A good tenant will typically say, ‘You can come over now,’ because they have a nice house and nothing to hide; even with 24 hours’ notice, a bad tenant will not be able to undo any damage they have done and it is a real indicator of how they are going to treat your property.”  

Sometimes, the landlord-tenant relationship starts off rocky, which can be a sign of trouble in the future.

Billy Rhyne, founder/CEO of Horseshoe Ridge RV Resort, said dealing with no-shows after carefully coordinating appointments and renters showing a lack of respect for the property during viewings are the most common challenges landlords face at the start of a landlord-tenant relationship.

“These setbacks waste time and resources while creating unnecessary stress,” said Rhyne. “Addressing the rudeness factor takes a firm screening process and clear communication from the very beginning. It’s essential to set expectations and track potential renters who show genuine interest and responsibility.”

Rhyne advises landlords to require deposits or application fees upfront.

“This filters out individuals who may not value your time or resources,” he said. “Treat tenant selection as the foundation for protecting your investment.”

Rhyne urges landlords to use reliable background checks, verify employment, and request references to assess a tenant’s reliability before entering into a lease.

“Always document agreements in writing and ensure every term is clearly stated in the lease,” he added.

Kevin Bazazzadeh, owner of Brilliant Day Homes, said the biggest challenge is being patient enough to find the right tenants.

“It is easier said than done as you will have a property sitting vacant and you are losing money each day,” said Bazazzadeh. “You may stick to a screening protocol at first, but after a few weeks or months go by and you haven’t found the right tenant, you start compromising on your screening standards just to stop the financial bleeding.”

He said 99% of the horror stories with tenants come from taking a shortcut on screening and recommends putting a strict screening procedure together that is fully compliant with landlord/tenant laws in your state.

“It is a lot easier today with online tools to perform background and credit checks,” said Bazazzadeh. “These can quickly be done online, but it is critical to make sure that you check a form of identification like a driver’s license to verify that the background check actually matches the person you are screening and not someone else’s info they give you.”

Take the time to call and verify employment, check personal references, and speak with past landlords, he said.

“People can play games and give you phone numbers to their friends that will lie for them instead of a real employer or former landlord,” said Bazazzadeh. “It is always best to get the name of their HR person and call their main line and be transferred to them, so you know who you are actually speaking with.”

For a past landlord, a great way to sniff out a fake is to ask them, “Do you have any vacancies?”

Bazazzadeh said a real landlord won’t be surprised to be asked this, whereas if they are a friend of the applicant, they will be caught off guard and not know what is going on.

The National Association of Realtors has resources available for landlords and people interested in investing in rental properties.