I rented to the Fricks with the understanding that they had two dogs. They were supposed to be there for a year, pay by the fifth of the month and not tear anything up. Well then.
They were late for six of the eight months that they rented from me. In the end, they went to some church that he went to, and that church paid their rent. They told me that they were going to visit his parents for the weekend in October, and they never came back.
I waited for two weeks and then I tried to call the people that they had used as references. One hung up on me and the other never returned my many many messages. I went into the apartment after two weeks and I found a disaster. There were piles of food on the counter. Dirty dishes in the sink and piles of clothes everywhere. No room was clean. Upstairs, there were puppy pads with urine and feces on the floor.
Let's not even start on the bugs they left behind. But best of all was the time we spent in court. On the first day, she stood up in front of the judge and said (with a straight face) that she knew she owed me some, but couldn't believe it would be so much! I guess she didn't bother reading those papers that she signed. (Here's a tip- always read the lease you sign!)
Then she said that she couldn't get off from work so could we reschedule it? We did, for another Thursday four weeks down the line. She tried for another delay and was rejected. Finally, she gets to court and asks for a trial. Again, she simply cannot believe that she is being held responsible for the lease that she signed.
We had our day in court. I started by introducing the lease that she signed. I pointed out the clause that she still had to pay if she quit the lease early. Next, I introduced the utilities that she stuck me with. Then I showed the pictures of the piles of filth that they left behind. What was her response you ask?
She tried crying. She said that the bugs were there when she moved in. The judge asked for any notes, messages, anything that would prove that she told me about the problem. Nope. Nada. She also tried saying that she had to leave because her father was sick. There were more tears at this point, but my eyes were rolling so badly that I may have missed some of them.
In the end, I won everything that I has asked for and then some. She would have been better off just agreeing to pay what I was originally suing her for, it was five hundred dollars less.
So if you get yourself in a bind with your landlord-don't just cut and run. We will find you. And then you will have to pay everything you owed, and eight percent interest! I haven't had anything pay that high of an interest rate since Ronald Reagan was president. Hot damn.
Think about it, you'll thank me later.
And a special Happy Birthday to my youngest bundle of joy. I love you David Alexandre!
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