Let us suppose that landlords are also individuals, with their own inner world, feelings, and experiences, that they emerged in this world not as an evil force destined to enslave the unlucky tenants, but that when they do anything awful, they are also afflicted with sorrow. To do this, consider viewing the world through the perspective of one of these landlords. Read the story of this landlord and share your views on this.
Source: Reddit
I am a 38 year old landlord of a few single family rentals. One of the rentals is an old, beaten up trailer from 1955 that I rented to a single mom and her daughter (around 14 now) a couple years ago. I purchased the property for the land and was upfront about my intentions with the trailer right from the beginning.
I put the bare minimum of work into this trailer, but it is an affordable place to live for now. I charged her $600 a month and made sure she had working electric, water, hot water, heat, etc. The roof was old and leaking and I have tarred over some leaks the past couple years a couple times. I told her when it comes time for a major repair it would not be cost effective to do it and I would be removing the trailer and placing a modular home there.
Fast forward to last month. She informed me that there was a roof leak and needed more tar. Upon inspection, it is no longer feasible to keep repairing and it would need an entire new roof. Well, it’s not cost effective to replace the new roof so I told her she would need to find other housing. She proceeded to play the “eviction ban” card and has refused to leave or pay(even the $600). I had my lawyer send her the “non-habitable” letter and tell her to leave by September 15th. She has not paid September rent and has not mowed the lawn since getting the letter or left.
So yesterday I went over there, walked in and started “living”. She called the police on me, and when they came I showed them all the paperwork and told the officer that she is right, I cannot legally evict her, but I am not evicting her. She is living for free, and needs to pay for EXCLUSIVE use of the house. If she does not pay for exclusivity then she is my vagrant roommate. The officer sided with me, and told her there is nothing he can do to make either of us leave. It is a civil matter unless something physical or threats of violence occurs. She is absolutely pissed, and says I’m a scumbag a**hole. Even though I have given her the most affordable housing in the area for almost 3 years now..lot rent in local mobile home parks is over $500 a month and you need to pay for the trailer and have neighbors. This is on its own acre plot.
I no doubt think I’m in the right here. Someone is living on my property and not paying anything, I have every right to use said property.
I’m curious as to what others think about this. I know many landlords who would change the locks while she isn’t home and risk the charge. I didn’t do it that way. I even told her if she kept paying $600 I would let her stay, but you are renting the land, not the house. I can’t keep losing money to fix something for someone else to live.
Here are a few comments on the story where it was originally posted:
