Once upon a time, ...a house just like this one
was rented out.For the most part because the owners trusted the tenants and the tenants "usually" paid their rent on time, the owners didn't think to inspect their house. This was their first rental and being trusting people, they were sadly naive!
Until almost three years later, they decided that the time had come to sell the house and so they explained to their tenants that on the following Saturday at 2pm in the afternoon in the middle of January, they wanted to come through the house with a realtor.
However on that Saturday, they had to wade knee deep through the snow left unshovelled in the driveway to get to the front door. On the front porch sat a huge overflowing can of old cigarette butts and when they were admitted to the house, they discovered that the bedrooms were still occupied (and so could not be viewed), every spare inch of kitchen counter space was overflowing with dirty dishes and pots, the furnace room entrance was blocked by an old fridge, the original laundry room had been moved to another part of the house .....so that the bathroom could be enlarged without any one's knowledge or permission and the new "laundry room" could also not be viewed because the floor was deeply awash in dirty, dingy, so-called laundry. This was not the only so-called "renovation" that had been done by the tenant; unfortunately no changes to the house had been finished and so could not be called anything other than damages!
Needless to say the owners were in shock and dismay while the realtor, shaking his head in disgust at the house, announced that this house could not be sold in that state of disrepair.
There was nothing else to do but serve an eviction on the tenant that gave him 60 days to vacate the house.
to be continued.......
Yikes Karen! Been there...kind of. My sister and I allowed my niece and her significant other to occupy my mother's home after she downsized to a senior living apt. The housing market sucked and the niece was in financial straights...he had just lost his well paying job, she was in danger of losing hers and was working 2 PT just to stay afloat. Two years later, he is still out of work, she is working 3 pt jobs, they are always late with the rent, the yard is a mess, the house is less than tidy, the new paint colors are hideous, yada, yada, yada. My 90 y/o can't even visit there because it upsets her too much.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. Bottom line is renters never treat the property as if it is their own because it ISN'T! A least you can evict them, clean it up and sell. Good Luck!
You've learnt the hardest way of all and that's never be too trusting and check back regularly. It just sounds dire.
ReplyDeleteSusan is right though, and you are always going to get some people who will treat rented properties with complete disrespect, just because its not theirs. :o((
I hope you are at least able to get the renovations done to correct all the damage.
Michelle x