Michael Rossi's Blog

The purpose of this blog is to give you a look at the daily life of a rental property owner. It's not all sitting on a yacht like you see on the TV Infomercials! Visit our Website at: www.1MinuteToRentalPropertyRiches.com

Saturday, June 2, 2007

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

On May 31st, I posted a 30 day notice for one of our worst tenants. This is the same Section 8 tenant that has gotten one of those scumbag contingency lawyers to try to sue us (extort money from us) over an alleged fall that wasn't my fault and over which I had no control. In fact, I think that the fall (if it even occurred) was caused by her son or his friends hiding drugs in the water meter cover (and leaving the cover off). This is a tenant who has been totally disabled for years and that I allowed to move out of one of my 2 story houses into one of my single floor houses because of her "back problems". I rehabbed the house before she moved into it. I have bent over backwards to accomodate her problems and listened to her whining for two years. The house was in excellent condition when she moved in. Nice Berber Carpet, fresh paint, and a new screen door were just a few of the things we did during the rehab.

Now, the carpet is in bad condition; the new screen door is ruined; the paint will need to be done again and she is trying to sue us over something that is likely her son's fault. The moral of the story here is that you should get rid of bad tenants quickly. She has always paid her portion of the Section 8 rent on time but she is filthy and destructive and so are her kids. Unfortunately, her one year lease just expired and therefore we are just now able to get rid of her.

I received a call from her daughter today. The tenant is reportedly in the hospital and has been in intensive care for a serious infection and blood clot, resulting from some more back surgery she had. The daughter said that after she gets out of the hospital, she will be going to a rehab facility for a couple of weeks. It may sound harsh, but I told the daughter that I expect them to be out with-in 30 days - NO EXCUSES! Their problems are not my problems and the threatened lawsuit scam is the final straw. I don't care what her condition is; what her problems are; or even if she has to live in the street. I'm sick of going above and beyond the call of duty for tenants, only to be screwed (or should I say sued) by them. Good Riddance!

Always remember that in business - NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I remember reading about the founder of DHL...you know...that overnight service that competes with Fedex....well, I can't remember the specifics of the story...but from what I vaguely remember when he was involved in some type of lawsuit...he came well armed....he walked in flanked in by 3 different lawyers that represented him.

In this supposedly frivolous lawsuit by your tenant...I like that you instructed your lawyer to send off a letter that let her scumbag lawyer know that you would be fighting this aggressively.

I might further suggest that if he her scumbag lawyer makes a second move....that you again have your lawyer send out a second aggresive letter AND pull in ANOTHER of your lawyers and make it clear to this scumbag that you have more than one lawyer that represents you.

If it were me I would time things perfectly so that both CERTIFIED letters landed on the scumbags desk on the same morning.

Just my 2 cents.

-Mike

Unknown said...

BTW....Thanks for the reminder...In Business...No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!

Definately a good dose of wisdom that probably is only best learned thru experience...but I'll try my best to use it from day one.

Thanks.

-Mike

Trisha#1 said...

Hey, Michael! I am having a landlording issue and would love to have your input if you get time. I respect your landlording prowess and have been following your blog for a couple weeks now. Come visit my blog when you can!

Thanks,

Trisha