I have another question for you: What happened to consideration for one's neighbors?
For the first time in our exciting management history, we have opted to NOT renew a tenant's lease. A paying tenant. In light of my previous rant, you're probably asking: 'Are you nuts?' Maybe so. But while these guys pay their rent - 2/3 of which is paid by the Longmont Housing Authority even - that is about the extent of their lease compliance.
- These guys have had a dead car parked over there for at least a year. 'We're getting that inspected next week.'
- They have 'gatherings' almost every night, where they and their friends steadily ooze across the entire front lawn area, smoking and drinking, and intimidating the other tenants in the building to stay inside their own apartments, or blocking them from reentering their homes.
- Once they finish up outside they move it on inside, where, now drunk, the couple that lives there fights and yells for a while.
- When asked how many times the police have been over there this year, an indignant 'only twice' was offered as a response. (The second time, the male tenant got arrested for mooning the cops as they were driving away. Smart fella.)
- They have had at least 3 dogs - at different times - and a ferret, all on a lease that requires approval for animals.
It's a little funny being on the other side of the line now. I mean, as a renter, I thought some of the clauses in my leases were silly, but being the law-abiding soul that I am (if you don't count the speed limit) I never really considered violoting any of them.
Sad for many, but better for us, the increase in the rate of foreclosures - CO has ranked#1 in this arena for much of the past couple years, but has recently fallen to #5 - has really helped the pool of renters improve dramatically. Hopefully we'll be able to get a GOOD tenant in there in no time.
Fortunately, dealing with the renter drama really gives me some great practice getting over my fear of confrontation. It's been an interesting evolution of Kat, minimizing the emotional components of dealing with people and shifting into more of a complete mindset of 'it's just business.' What's that? You don't like me? That's a shame. I don't particulary care for you either.
So what's the word? Have you ever moved because the neighboring tenants have been so bad? Did talking to the landlord ever help? Did you ever get anyone kicked out because of their nonsense?
1 comment:
In college I had the intimate experience of living above what I would best describe as constantly hung over continual pot smokers. I didn't quite have a firm grasp on the smell of pot until that situation, at which time I mastered the smell.
The apartments were individually cooled by swamp coolers, and anyone who has ever had a swamp cooler knows you have to open a window to make it work. And I assume anyone who smokes pot knows you can't open a window for fear of something (I assume the 'man', disipation of the hot box effect, or some other sublte nuance of consumption.
Anyway, this left them in a pot smoking, swamp cooler on, windows closed situation, leaving the smoke with only our appartment for escape. More smoke came up through the floor than the combined output of the Springfield Tire Fire, my dad's cooking, and the teachers lounge at my high school.
I mustered the courage to talk to them about it one time, not about their "habit", but that as a mechanical engineer in training I thought their swamp cooler would function better if they opened a WINDOW!!!!
The other fine feature of these fine neighbors was that they hated noise of any shape or form, and constantly banged on the ceeling when we walked around. I never saw it but assumed their ceeling looked like the surface of the moon based on the frequency and intensity at which they offered their opinion. The could kiss my (at the time) fine ass because between my roomate and I we had about 13 feet of height and over 500 pounds of opinion. Well, ok, we didn't ever offer them the chance to pucker, and the majority of the time we simply tried to be more curtious.
The final 'feature' of these outstanding members of our appartment community is that they owned large speakers located in the room below mine and would regularly listen to music till wee hours of the morning. This wasn't such a big deal becase the majority of the time I was up doing something else. But the appartment next to them had kids, and one morning at something like 3 they came home, started playing the music, the nieghbor called the cops on them and what I can best figure was a interesting 'discovery' escorted the pains in our asses to jail. I can imagine the cop when he knocked on the door, which as you remembered, was sealed shut. I'm sure he asked if they had any thing to disclose at which time the neigbors, whilst waving the zero visibility cloud of 'habit' away, blamed it on someone other than themselves.
THE APPARTMENT WAS VACANT THE NEXT DAY!!!
The landlord did the right thing in my opinion by kicking them out. Although I'm not 100% that they did anything or simply the fact that its really hard to pay rent while in jail, but it never occured to us to call the landlord and ask for help.
Go DrSlumlord, you can bet there was plenty of other things not recorded in your blog that merit a change of tenants.
Sharing your pain,
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