3 More Lying Scumbags On the Street!

Today was a good day for me and a bad day for the scumbags. Starting at 10 am, I had 2 eviction proceedings. They were as frustrating as always for me, but of course we won both cases.

Both of these tenants were inherited in my big 11 rental purchase in January. I have evicted and otherwise gotten rid of a few other tenants from that purchase and I'm hoping that I'm getting near the end.

The first tenant to be evicted lived in one of my 3 bedroom houses. She was paying below market rent and had been late on the rent several times for the previous landlord. Of course, I won't accept late rent, which is what brought us to the eviction today. As with almost all low-income, low-class deadbeats, they perjure themselves in court. In this case (as frequently happens), the tenant blames not paying the rent on the landlord's failure to maintain the property. Of course, this was total nonsense and certainly not a defense for refusing to pay the rent, but that didn't stop her lies about undone maintenance. She said that she had two roof leaks - a blatant lie and that electrical outlet covers were missing and that she had gotten shocked. I found that humorous and was trying to picture her sticking her fingers back into the socket and being shocked! I don't discount anything the tenant says in court, she could have easily removed the outlet covers, thinking that would prevent her from being evicted. If she did remove the covers or do any other damage, I'll add that onto the second cause of action (lawsuit) for damages. At any rate, none of that mattered and the magistrate granted the eviction.

The second tenant lived in the Pink Elephant, which is the apartment building I bought in January. She has not really caused any problem, but is a hopeless crack addict. I have personally seen her meeting a known crack dealer in a local alley, although I have not seen her smoking crack. When the magistrate (judge) asked her why she didn't pay the rent, she said that she was mad at me because I wouldn't allow her to move into a different apartment in the building (which was true). However, that wasn't the reason that she didn't pay the rent. She didn't pay the rent because she spent her entire Social Security check on crack; then a couple of days later, she spent her shack-up boyfriend's entire paycheck on crack; and then just a few days ago, she spent her boyfriend's last check on crack. She forgot to mention that in court - maybe all that crack has fried her memory! Needless to say, the magistrate granted this eviction also.

The final deadbeat to go was a young man that was one of MY tenants. He was about 22 years old and my screening of him turned up absolutely no criminal or eviction record. He looked normal and I met his father. Unfortunately, almost as soon as he moved in, he and about 25 of his best druggie friends started dealing drugs out of the apartment. Fortunately, we have security cameras on this building. I pointed out the cameras (which also record sound) and told the scumbag that he had a choice - LEAVE IMMEDIATELY or I would do EVERYTHING in my power to see that they were arrested and sent to prison. They left! GOOD RIDDANCE!

I think we've finally turned the corner on the Pink Elephant. We've got almost all of the scumbags out and I am making great progress on the exterior painting. Getting the scumbags out and painting the building will allow me to get better quality tenants and raise the rents (which I've already started doing). I'm pleased with the progress!