All good advice but even limiting rentals to a minimum of 30 days is no guarantee as we learned from an experience with our condo in Panama.in response to original thread "Is your listing a party target?"
We now are fortunate enough to have a retired couple as longterm (hopefully forever) tenants but with condos one never knows. There are too many circumstances beyond our control and it’s surprising that things like the following don’t happen more often.
For a start, the “management” of the complex consists of a nearly useless Canadian expat and his entirely useless Panamanian wife who gets paid to be “Administrator.”
They should both be discharged immediately but most of the other owners prefer “not to get involved.”
So, anyway, “Panabob” as rental agent, decided to sign a couple of young Panamanian men to a 30-day lease with an option to extend indefinitely, and being the kind and considerate scumbag that he is, he waived the security deposit usually required. (There’s a shortage of tourists; we need to open up local markets.)
Right away the neighbors were somewhat concerned because these guys didn’t seem to have jobs. They also decided that they had exclusive rights to both swimming pools, tethered their surfboards in them, and spent most of the week days paddling for exercise.
First politely worded objection: Panabob says they have as much right to the pools as anyone else. Or maybe more. The other tenants, mostly decrepit old people, don’t use the pools much anyway.
On Friday there was a parade of young men bringing huge sacks of oranges, cases of beer, wine and liquor, a stereo karaoke system with refrigerator-size speakers and soon some young ladies began to arrive…
PARTY TIME!
The first distress calls went out before dark, but alas, neither Panabob nor Señora Puerca were available. The police could not help until someone outside the walled private compound complained, which did not happen.
Finally someone got mad enough to call the offending condo unit’s owner in the USA.
”There are at least twenty people in your condo and we want them out NOW!”
”WHAT?! I haven’t had a tenant for months!”
Panabob “forgot” to tell the owner that he had rented his unit.
It took a month to get rid of those guys because they had paid in advance and “they really didn’t break any rules, this is normal in Panama.”
Panabob would have let them stay indefinitely as long as they cut him in on the action.
The spoilsport owner refused to cooperate.
Eventually the rest of the story came out. How do two unemployed young men pay $800 a month rent?
Fairly easily, actually. They get about 20 of their friends to pitch in, then set up a bar, drugstore and whorehouse. Very profitable, actually, and since it’s on private property you don’t have to worry about the police.
When they finally left they took everything they could carry with them out of what had been an attractively furnished condo. Too bad the owner stupidly neglected to get a security deposit.
Oh, yeah. The owner didn’t know anything about it.
CONDOS SUCK.
