Nutcase responds to advert

I must tell you this story, sad but true ….


I have a property that is advertised in the local paper, and had block viewing arranged for Saturday afternoon. I do the block viewings thing when I have a property to let that is some distance away from me. That way, the trip is worth doing.

On the way to the property for the viewings, I got a call on the mobile, which I couldn’t take, and as the dial code was that of my destination area, called the number back a few minutes later. It turns out to be a woman who wanted more information about the property. Anyway, she asked various questions, you know, the usual how big are the bedrooms, is it double glazed, gardens, features, décor etc. Then she suddenly, she says, “I’m not interested in your property. You private landlords are all the same, I’ve spent all morning on calling and its costing me so much money just to call you, and I don’t want to view the house” and put the phone down on me. Ironic isn’t it? I was the one who was paying for that particular call, but that was lost on her.

Not quite ten minutes later, she rings me again, this time on her mobile. I answered the call and the first sentence was “can I come and view the property?” I was stunned for a few seconds, then suddenly recognised the voice and realised it was the woman who’d just put the phone down on me, and so I calmly answered “of course you can, I’m on my way there now, so just drop in anytime between 12noon and 1pm”, gave her the house number and she assured me she’d be there, and the conversation ended with “see you there then”.

Imagine my surprise then when at about 12.30pm, a text message comes through on the mobile, and on checking it found this:

“Sorry i dont wish to view your property i have gone through phycotic landlords after viewing there property and the alligations are completely out of character its a complete waste of time infact the journal will be notified on how you all pay for the advert and how you speak to us im not that desperate and really i dont wish to view anybodys property speak or give any of my details to you or anyone ever again u landlords push for money which you are nice then then u give every effort to whind or upset the person thats just paying or wanting to live and pay and look after your property as you may do im not the one thats neglected youR House or houses as landlords its the way u treat us now ask yourself why ur propertys are empty after so many months of basically being treated by you all like basic crap but thats just the town its not the phoning the trip down to the bank of your nasty small print”

I kid you not. Obviously this person has never heard of punctuations, capital letters, proper sentences – even if its text-speak!! If anyone can make sense of this unprovoked diatribe, I should be pleased to hear it.

What a nutcase. She never did tell me her name, nor did I ask. No one forced her to respond to the advert in the first place! And to have a go at someone like that, without any justification, really takes the biscuit. I’m glad she’s not my tenant, and I do sympathise with whomever her current landlord is.

The viewings went well, and I now have an applicant who filled in the application form and put down a holding deposit there and then. I am now carrying out the necessary referencing checks, and so far so good.

And whilst on the topic of potential tenants, why is it that when these people view, and you can tell by their response the property is not for them, they still say to you “thank you, we’ll call you and let you know”. Why not just thank the person conducting the viewing for their time, say its not the right property, and be done with it. It is lying, even if they don’t see it as such. Its become such a normal action that people don’t even think about it, do they?

Landlords, be careful – there are some nutcases out there disguised as potential tenants. Keep them as potentials, rather than actuals and your life will be a lot easier.