Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Rental Nightmare-Chapter 2 of 3

Read chapter 1 Here

Chapter 2

August came and they were late on the rent again. RJ had been in the hospital and couldn’t work. They also said the garbage disposal was broken. (yes, I should have taken this opportunity to try to see the house.) RJ offered to fix it in exchange for part of the rent and I said ok. He actually did buy a new one and fix it. (This was before I told them that they had to move out.) September, the rent was paid but they didn’t pay the money they owed from August. I wasn’t sure how to handle it. (now I know I should have given them a 5 day pay or evict notice) October rent was paid.

November came and they were late. I called and they gave me an excuse about a construction job they were doing and one of the checks was on hold. I told them that I had called around to try to find another place for my short-term renters but everyone I called wanted a 12 month lease. I told them they would have to leave Jan 3. (This is when they stopped trying to pay the rent) I sent them a certified letter to make it official. I thought giving them 2 months notice would give them plenty of time to find a new place.

I called back to inquire about the rent. They told me that the wife was having some “mental health issues”. She was going to counseling and enrolled in some sort of program that would help pay the rent. (Ok, whatever.) She said they would be mailing me a check. I waited. December came and no rent. I called again. They said that they had just missed the cut off date for checks and I would be sent a check for both months. Ok, I waited. I thought about eviction but then I thought that they would be leaving soon anyway. I called again and they told me that they were moving very soon. They were cleaning the carpets he said, and promised to leave the house as clean as when they moved in. (yeah, right) They had found a house in the neighborhood and the landlord wanted them to manager her other properties. That’s great I said, hoping they would leave early.

In the mean time, the gas company called me. The lady asked me if there was a new lease for my house. I said no, the tenants were supposed to be leaving soon. She said that they were trying to get the gas turned back on with a forged lease. I said ‘turned back on? You mean it’s off?’. Yes, she said, for non-payment. I called my tenants. RJ said that he ‘accidentally’ had the gas company move the gas service over to the new house that they were going to rent and he didn’t have the money to start it up at the house again. I said, well, if I get some rent money I can have the gas turned on. Oh, of course, he said, You should be getting that check any day now. At this point I just wanted them to move and be gone.

Christmas came and went. RJ called and gave me an excuse about not having my correct mailing address. I no longer believed ‘the check was in the mail’ but I thought they would leave in a few days and I would have my house back. They called on Tuesday Dec. 30 and said they couldn’t be out of the house on Jan. 3rd, could they have until Monday. I said Sunday the 4th was the latest I could do. They said ok.

Then…black Friday came. I got a call in the morning from Mr. RJ. He was going on and on about how they had this roommate that they had taken it for a few weeks and they didn’t know she was in to drugs and she had stolen $3,000 from them and that was the money they were going to use to get the new house and now they didn’t have any where to go and the shelters were full and they either needed a 5 day notice from me in order for social services to get them emergency housing or their deposit back to get a new place. I didn’t want to give them a 5 day notice because that would give them more time and I wanted them out on the coming weekend. I told them that I would have to see the house before I gave them their deposit back. Mr. RJ freaked. He started yelling that the carpets were dirty and I couldn’t see the house. This made me very suspicious. I said that I could give them 48 hours notice and then I could go in. He said that they were staying in a hotel because there was no heat or hot water at the house and the house was dirty and he didn’t want anyone seeing the house like that and I was going to have to evict them because he wasn’t going to live under a bridge with his kids and I wasn’t going to get any money for my short-term renters because evictions take a long time and judges weren’t evicting people these days.(um, that’s for foreclosure, not non-payment situations) I said ok, I guess I’ll have to evict you.

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion...

5 comments:

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

The more details you give, the more it seems like the horrendous mess left behind was intentional and in part because of misguided spite from them. I'm sure a lot of it came about from their drug use, etc, but that last paragraph seems like they were threatening you. Absolutely horrible. I am glad for you that you are done with it.

Daizy said...

I agree. They stopped trying when they knew they had to leave and suddenly forgot how to use a trash can.

Anonymous said...

Geesh maneesh! What a hard way to learn an owner's lesson about irresponsible tenants. I know, as a woman, I want to believe in people and help them out. It's really a shame that there are people very devious at swindling good hearted people. I hope your short-term renters and the neighbor prove to be godsend. :)

Sharon S said...

Hi there-these people showed their true nasty colours in the end, and you had to deal with the fall out :-(

Daizy said...

Money Funk, so far my current guests have only had good things to say. It certainly would take a lot to get me upset after the old tenants.


Sharon Rose, it is amazing how selfish people can be. Makes me appreciate the good people in my life so much more.