which_chick | (no subject) (Reply)

One of our tenants is trying to buy a home. She has rented from us continuously since 9-20-01 to the current time, in two different apartments. The mortgage company asked us to provide some information on her ability to pay the rent in a timely and prompt fashion so that they'd know what kind of risk she would be for a mortgage. This is not an unusual request and we are generally happy to write endorsements of reliable tenants, glad to see 'em moving up in the world. Unreliable tenants, though... unreliable tenants are not particularly happy with the letters I produce for mortgage companies on their behalf.

Here's the letter the mortgage company got:

While renting at Location A, the rent was more than 30 days past due on nine separate occasions. In counting those occasions, we did not include any months where we were paid any portion of the rent, no matter how small, in the month in which it was due. In addition, we filed eviction paperwork on this tenant twice while she was at this location, on mm-dd-yyyy and on mm-dd-yyyy.

While renting at Location B, this tenant was habitually slow paying the rent. While generally we got some portion of the rent in the month it was actually due, we did not usually get full payment of the rent in the month in which it was due. In an attempt to encourage more timely rent payments, we filed eviction paperwork on this tenant on mm-dd-yyyy.

Everything I said was the solid truth, documented and verified. I could prove every bit of it in court, no problem.

Today, the tenant called me to tell me that she didn't think she would be getting her mortgage approved. She did not sound pleased. She said that the mortgage lady told her to ask me to write a "better" letter, one that would improve her chances of getting the mortgage. WTF? I picked my jaw up off the floor over that request.

Does the mortgage company know its employee is DOING that? They're not supposed to do that sort of thing, are they? Does the tenant UNDERSTAND the amount of gall she is displaying? What the fuck does she think I owe her? She DID NOT PAY THE FUCKING RENT ON TIME and I'm not going to say that she did because I spent more than three years listening to her song and dance about why there wouldn't be no rent money until next Friday.

Anyway, I asked, ever so politely, if she thought anything I said in the letter was untrue or unfair. She said no, but she allowed as how there were circumstances... she'd had a baby and then her boyfriend was out of work and so on and so on. I said that the paperwork didn't have a space for explanations. It did not ask me to explain why I thought the tenant might have been late with the rent. It asked if the rent was paid on time, and if not, how often not. And then I asked her (this is the bitch part) what, precisely, she thought I could do to write a "better" letter... was she asking me to say things that weren't true? Did she want me to lie? She said no. I said I didn't see how I could write something other than the truth, which I had already done.

Look. Pay the fucking rent on time. Get along with the other tenants. Give thirty day's notice before moving. Don't trash the place. Do those four things and I will write you whatever you want when you leave and be damn sorry to see you go.

If, however, you are like the tenant above, I will flay you on your mortgage application and lay the smack down upon you if you have the gall to ask me to revise my statement so that you can get a mortgage you do not deserve.