You work hard on your rental units trying to make the efficient, clean and orderly. You spend hard-earned time and money to get your property business running in tip top shape.

Then the inevitable happens:

Your tenants decide to “enhance” your property with comforts that you simply forgot to provide them with!

Here’s a list:

Your tenant,

1. Would like an extra door added to the back of your house, so he put one in!
2. Didn’t like the way the oak tree in the front of your unit shaded the driveway, so she took it out.
3. Decided that he could live without the comforts of an AC unit, so he removed it and sold it for scrap.
4. Has two cats and install cat doors on every door in your unit—including the exterior entries.
5. Wanted a fencing in yard, so he hired his brother Julio Del Foolio to put one in. Julio doesn’t own a level, though.
6. Thought the unit would look better painted bright purple.
7. Wanted a satellite dish installed, so attached one himself to your room and now it leaks.
8. Wanted a three car garage, so built an extra set of walls, roof and garage door out of materials from an abandoned construction site down the street.
9. Needed to burn leaves, so decided to build a burn pit—in your unit’s front yard.
10. Saw a great money making idea about raising rabbits for meat (probably on TheMoneyKings.com), so she built 3 dozen pens in your back yard.

This list can go on forever. The lesson to learn here is to not only forbid tenant modifications to your units before renting, but to put this rule in your lease and to assert yourself with your tenant upfront that modifications will not be tolerated!

You could wind up with tickets from code violators, problems with neighbors, tax assessor and countless other demons, if you’re not diligent in this regard.

Good luck out there.