Been there, done that. I was a landlord back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Had one tenant for whom I did a favor because she came recommended by someone who had lent me $40k interest-free toward the down payment on the house. I let her move in without paying the last-month's rent, two weeks early rent-free while I finished papering and painting upstairs because I heard she was couch surfing with her young child.

What a mistake. The bitch never gave me another penny, vandalized the place, called the building inspectors, health department and anyone else she thought could give me a hard time and demanded I pay her $10k to move out. That was a third of a century ago and was a lot of money. I went to the local small landlord self-help center to get free advice on the proper legal eviction procedure because I found out that she was connected to a radical left-wing community legal clinic with a reputation for screwing landlords. They supplied me with the eviction forms but I had to do everything myself... serving the papers, filing affidavits of service, booking the court dates, etc.

It took me almost 6 months and several court appearances to finally get her out. Meanwhile I had to keep paying the mortgage, taxes and utilities. The night before the final court date, neighbors called me to tell me she was moving out in the middle of the night. The next day I finally got the eviction order and was awarded over $9k but of course I never saw a dime of it. You can't get blood from a stone.

When I bought our house last year, we inherited a basement tenant who has been there for over 8 years, always pays his rent on time, is a workaholic who's seldom home and makes no noise. He also has a cat, which helps keep rodents away. I met him before closing by chance in a local bar when he overheard me describing our upcoming purchase to the bar owner. He mentioned the address and asked if that was the place. He said he lived there, loved it and hoped he wouldn't have to move. I assured him we had no intention of evicting him or even raising his rent and that he would barely even notice the change in ownership.

Best thing we've done. A few hundred dollars less revenues per month is a small price to pay for the peace of mind of having a tenant who is almost like a partner. He watches over the property while we're in Mexico during the winter and will take care of any crises that may occur.

Landlords and tenants should be partners, not adversaries.