To Rent or NOT to Rent?

The photo in the post below is a picture of the house across the street from me. What you see is the final stage of EVICTION. The people who owned the house really made some mistakes and I want to tell you about it so you can be informed of what someone could do to you IF you rent to the wrong person. The man of the house was a builder and he put on a beautiful addition on the back of the property for his grandmother who was living with him, his wife and their three kids. They lived there for about 2 years and then he lost his job. (It seems there was a lack of call for mansions - his specialty - in the Toledo area). He got a job in Naples, Florida and they moved while this house here was still for sale. That was Spring 2005.

The house didn't sell. Somehow they got a call from a prospective renter. Although the man had bad credit, he offered them 2 months rent (2400 dollars) and explained all his credit problems away. He was very impressive, a religious man (JW) and they bought his pitch. They gave him the keys and he then moved in with his 4 teenage boys, his newer caucasian wife who breeds dogs and cats, his older daughter and her 5 children.

That 2400 dollars was the only rent money that the owners of this home ever received.

The man stopped paying the water bill sometime back in February and finally the water was shut off in June. The owners kept talking to him on the phone as he kept explaining away his financial lapse. They were so gullible. They really thought when the 6 month lease was up, he would leave. Finally, when it became clear that the man was snowing them and lying to gain another week, another month etc... they had to hire a lawyer to do a formal eviction. I put them in touch with a relative who is a realtor and she helped them with some of the details of the eviction.

The man moved out most of his stuff and stopped staying here about two weeks before the eviction process was complete ... but then he still wouldn't give the keys to the realtor, so the eviciton had to go to completion. When it was final and the sherrif came last Friday, we went in the house. It was ruined! The walls that the previous owner had painted were now colored all over with crayon and were as filthy as the bottom of a shoe. The light tan carpets reminded me of my garage floor. There was dog doo all over the basement where this woman was breeding animals. It also came with a crop of fleas that got on the legs of anyone that went down there. There was a bee hive in the master bedroom - live and dead bees all over the room and bathroom. (It seems if you knock a screen out of a window and the keep opening the window anyways, things like this can happen.) The worst of all was the buckets of human waste in the bathroom. Since the man had no water for the last three weeks that he stayed there, he couldn't flush the toilet, so he just used a bucket next to the toilet. It was disgusting!!! There is more, but I think you get the idea.

The thing that gets me about this situation is how the laws are written to protect people like this - dishonest, careless renters. He did not pay for this property, so in my view, he had no right to it. However, the owners had to hire a lawyer to remove him. Furthermore, renters like this can ruin someone's property and they are innocent until proven guilty - but you must find them. This guy apparently has a track record for this (the lawyer told the owners after they hired him) and his pattern is to dissapear so legal papers etc.. cannot be served. I guess they call him a "professional renter."

I know there are many fine renters out there, but I think there should be provisions for these types of abusers of property to be swiftly removed without all the red tape. If John and I ever find ourselves in a similar situation, wewill think thrice before renting a house out to someone!

Homeowners/would-be landlords BEWARE!