MALICIOUS DAMAGE

Cases of malicious damage are undoubtedly rare, but they are also incredibly damaging to the life and livelihood of a landlord. Not only do tenants causing malicious damage cause great financial problems to landlords but there are also social problems which can leave black marks on a landlord’s reputation. How should you go about dealing with malicious damages?

Get Covered

To protect yourself against financial loss you absolutely need to be protected with a landlord insurance policy. There is a possibility that you will be able to recover damages through a law suit or from the police but there is never any guarantee. Get yourself covered with the right insurance and make sure you don’t lose out financially.

Finding out the Story

When you can tell something has been broken deliberately you need to confront your tenants over it. They are likely to claim it’s an accident, but even just the confrontation will tell them that you’re aware of what’s going on. You can formally warn your tenants in the first case which, for most, will be off-putting enough, but it’s important to deal with any underlying issues. If tenants are unhappy with the property then you need to know why and you need to deal with it.

Eviction Proceedings

Malicious damage can be a justification for eviction and if you are worried your tenants are going to cause further damages then you can begin proceedings for eviction. Again, it’s worth bringing up the issue with your tenants first: if there is something so wrong that they are inclined to damage your property, they may well be thinking of leaving anyway. This is considerably quicker than awaiting an eviction notice.

Unfortunately the risk of malicious damage is always present and something that you need to be wary of. Usually it’s a sign of some social problems which you need to be aware of and able to deal with professionally and efficiently.