Because SWAT showed up you moron and that counts as the final strike! The full SWAT story is available here, Has Police Tactical Visited Your Rental Property Lately? So by the title, you can guess I had an interesting day Sunday. I had to stop to collect some rent for November 1st and the yahoo who triggered the police tactical event a week ago finally had some money for me. So I stopped in.
I don’t get it, as much as I like to think I am a smart person, these people, and yes, I have now resorted to calling many of my shared accommodation tenants “these people” just don’t think as I do. He brought up the eviction right away and mentioned the date h was supposed to be out was the 4th, but then proceeded to tell me how he had the money for me so he should be able to stay, and then showed me how clean the place was. He also brought up how he had checked Craig’s list and could get a place just like that if he wanted.
He had also obviously put some suck up time and energy into improving the cleanliness of the property. He even cleaned inside the microwave and the floors and made sure to point it out to me! Nice work, so I thanked him and told him he still had to go. Has anyone else ever seen a lead balloon? I became witness to one right then and there!
To say he was unhappy with me might have been an understatement. He complained about how much work it was going to be for him to move again, he told me how he was comfortable there, how he liked the size of the room. Then he complained about having to call his brother and get his brother to help him move as he had a vehicle and it was going to be a hassle for his brother. I just stared at him.
When he finally realized I wasn’t changing my mind and the only thing moving was him, that was when the comments about how I was one of the worst landlords ever. How I was a certain piece of male anatomy for not keeping a clean responsible tenant (I may have neglected to mention this clean responsible tenant only a couple weeks out of detox, who I had carried during this time as he wasn’t working and couldn’t pay, also smelled of booze while talking to me). It deteriorated a bit more from there, so I started to leave.
I almost made it to the door when one last crack about me not helping people and being a p*^%& made me stop and walk partially back in. As I looked at him, I realized it was just a lose lose situation and anything I said or did was only going to elevate things, so I just turned and walked out to the sound of more yelling and a slamming door from his room.
As I was driving around to my other stops that afternoon, I replayed it all back in my head and after first reminding myself about how many people I have helped, how many tenants I have provide great homes for and how many times I had been ripped off by the majority of these tenants, I just became more irritable. Being a landlord really is a thankless job. You try and provide a safe comfortable place, yet you are a money grubbing land baron in their eyes.
Now the current type of tenant I was dealing with could not ever be deemed a fine upstanding citizen in anyone’s eyes, and I have had some incredible guys stay in these properties as well as our regular rentals, but it just wears a person out. The bad people always leave a much more indeligible mark on our memories versus the wonderful people we have dealt with and unfortunately the bad memories leave a far heavier impact than the good ones. The more I thought about this fellow the more I realized he wasn’t taking any responsibility for anything. I was a jerk (or worse) not him, the police over reacted (still doesn’t quite add up) not him, the other fellow made him drink he didn’t do it himself, he didn’t think it would hurt if he smoked in the house on occasion, and the list goes on. What was he responsible for? Making the place clean and wonderful, but none of the bad things that occurred, they were all someone else’s fault.
This seems to be the biggest fault of so many people these days. They just won’t own up to their responsibilities. I understand no one is perfect, I am far from it, but when I screw up I take responsibility, when people depend on me I take responsibility, when I screw up, I take the blame. If you have to go around hiding from responsibility, pushing blame at others and avoiding being a grown up, you will never amount to anything, or if you do, it won’t last. You will be a fleeting success and as you come crashing down, you will come down hard.
During these tougher economic times, I am seeing more and more examples of this, more and more individuals pushing responsibility away and saying it is someone else’ problem. Whether they believe the government should take care of them or the landlord has to carry the cost of supporting them, whatever the case, they just feel it is not their responsibility and pass the buck.
It should be an interesting day Wednesday, since it’s not his fault my tenant is getting evicted, perhaps it won’t be his fault that he trashes my property. However it plays out, I will keep everyone posted!
That why he’ll always be a renter.
Well good for you to sticking to your guns Bill. As frustrating as it must be, it has to do you some good to look him in the eye and still tell him that he is no longer staying there.
You give someone a long leash and eventually they will hang themselves with it. Until this “tenant” cleans up (gets off the booze or what ever other substance they are on) and starts taking responsibility for their actions, they will always be a leech, looking for their next meal.
Remember a certain tenant here that would complain about how messy the place was, but yet would still walk around on the hardwood floors with his shoes on, and better yet take a piece of paper towel and wipe up a spot he just stepped on with his dirty shoes and show me how dirty the floor was, and thought he was just by not paying rent. People like that don’t make much sense to me.
Congrats on getting rid of this guy Bill, and hopefully you are familiar enough with the head of SWAT to have him on speed dial for when you go over there on Wednesday.
Just a quick addition to the story as it looks like it will be dragging out a bit longer now, he will be presenting me with a letter of objection tomorrow. Now my next step is to compile all my notes, observations, eviction letters, leases etc and go file at the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service on Wednesday morning. He has bought himself a minimum of until Tuesday at this point.
He’s disputing the fact that he had a lit cigarette, he says he only had the full ashtray in front of him, but wasn’t smoking. Perhaps he was just using it for decoration? More wasted time and more wasted energy on an individual who will disappear into the night at my expense.
Are you saying it’s time to look for a new line of work?