Feb 02 '09, 04:12 AMJust when I thought I'd seen EVERYTHING that you can see in the rental property business, I was absolutely SHOCKED today! Here's the story.
A couple of months ago, I rented an apartment to a 19 year old girl. Although her boyfriend was not on the lease, she disclosed that he would be living there also. The girl's mother works at a local government agency that I deal with on a regular basis. I did a thorough screening on the girl and her boyfriend and didn't find anything derogatory. They are both relatively clean-cut young adults and I thought they would make good renters.
A few days ago, I received a call from one of the neighbors of the fourplex where this girl lives. She told me that this apartment was definitely a "crack house" and that the tenants were a "nightmare". This neighbor is a member of the local crime watch and I had worked with her in the past to clean up this entire street (which contained many crack houses) when we started buying properties on this street two or three years ago. This street had four buildings full of crackers when we started buying the buildings and we have completely cleaned it up. Even after her call, I doubted that the tenant was involved in drugs. I hadn't seen any coming and going of traffic (although the neighbor said she had) and the tenant certainly didn't look or act like the typical drug dealer.
Yesterday, when the temperature warmed up, I stopped by the apartment building to shovel the ice, since there would be a narrow window of above-freezing temperatures. While I was shoveling, the next door neighbor (another neighbor) came out and told me that the tenants in this apartment were running a crack house. I was in the process of questioning him about what he had seen, when three very iffy looking people came out of the apartment. About two minutes later, a big stoner complete with dreadlocks and pants below his butt (that I recognized as one of the local druggies) came out of the apartment. I instantly went from being skeptical to being 100% convinced that the neighbors were correct. I walked straight over to the apartment door and knocked loudly. A man asked "who's there"? I loudly said "landlord", at which time I heard a lot of scurrying inside the apartment (probably as they hid the drugs). The tenant answered and I told her that I had seen several druggies come out of her apartment. I asked her who else was in there and she responded "NO-ONE". Well, now I was really pissed because she was LYING. A man asked "who's there" and therefore there was at least one more person in the apartment. I said "you're lying, a man answered the door and I want to talk to him RIGHT NOW!" He came to the door and his eyes were completely glassed over. I said, "you're stoned" and he said "I'm not going to lie to you man - I am". Druggies are SOOOOOO STUPID!
At that point, I had heard enough. I told the druggie to GET THE HELL OUT! About that time, stoner Dreadlocks returned and I also told him to GET THE HELL OUT! Next, I told the tenant that her drug activities were over. She could either immediately leave or I would have the police and drug task force down here to bust her AND I would immediately evict her. I also told her that I would be calling her mother to let her know what a druggie her daughter was! She got in her car and left.
Now, if you're thinking that this is what shocked me, you are wrong. Dealing with the occassional scumbag druggie is just part of the business and this isn't even close to being the worst druggie that I've dealt with. In fact, it's probably one of the easiest drug issues that I've dealt with.
Late yesterday afternoon, I received a call from the mother of the tenant. She asked me what was going on and I told her that her daughter was a druggie. I told her that if her daughter didn't immediately leave, I would evict her AND do everything possible to have her arrested. She insisted that her daughter was not a druggie, but that her daughter would leave.
Today, I received a call from the step-father of the tenant. He said that he would be at the apartment at 5:30 pm to move her out and wanted to meet me there. I met the father there under the impression that he wanted me to look at the apartment after her belongings were out and that he wanted to hear the story first hand of what his step-daughter was up to. To my amazement, the mother, father, and step-father of the tenant were there and they wanted to know if I had PROOF that she was SELLING drugs. I told them that the druggie in her apartment had admitted that he was stoned and that he was so stoned that he could barely walk. I told them about the constant comings and goings at the apartment late at night, which are signs of a drug house. I told them that the neighbors and I had both seen KNOWN druggies go into and out of the apartment. Their response - "so you don't have any proof"! I've got to tell you that I was just about speechless! I was absolutely shocked that the parents apparently didn't care that their daughter was hanging around with druggies. They didn't care that I had actually seen a stoner in her apartment and that he admitted to being stoned. They didn't care that known druggies were coming and going. They didn't care that she was on the fast track to becoming a criminal. I told them that I didn't know what kind of parent didn't care that their daughter was a druggie and then I left.
I'm still almost speechless! WHAT A BUNCH OF SCUMBAG PARENTS!
