Torturing a Deadbeat Ex-Tenant!

No, the law doesn't allow water-boarding deadbeats here in Ohio, so I guess torture isn't exactly the right word. However, I currently have a situation that is going to provide some amusement to me as I get the chance to make an evicted tenant's life miserable. Here's the story.

Last January, I took over a building that was mismanaged and full of druggies and deadbeats. One of the apartments was occupied by a man and woman. The woman was a crack addict and they were not paying rent regularly to the previous owner. The woman decided to spend the money on crack instead of the rent. I suppose that she expected me to act like the last landlord and accept some silly excuse instead of the rent. I immediately evicted them. In addition to evicting them, I had them banned from the premises by the police department.

They moved into another rented apartment a few blocks away, but would return to stand on the sidewalk and talk to their mother who lives in a downstairs apartment. I have told them that if I caught either of them actually on the property that I would have them arrested (and I have had some of the other evicted druggies arrested for criminal trespass). I also told the mother that if she allowed them in her apartment, I would terminate her lease (she's on a month-to-month).

Well, the bottom line is that the two druggies split up and the man is homeless. He has returned to the property to live with his mother. The only problem for him is that he can't allow me to see him, or his mother will lose her apartment and they will both be homeless. Unfortunately for him, I have eight security cameras at the building and therefore he can't come or go without me seeing him. So, he snuck into the apartment wearing a hood and now he's trapped. He can't risk coming or going without being seen. He might as well be in prison!!! LOL!!!

So, now I'm going to have a little fun! There is a little spot on one of the walls that needs fixed in the mother's apartment. After keeping him trapped in the apartment for a few days, I'm going to call the mother, when we have a particularly cold day, and tell her that I'm coming over to fix the wall. He'll have to sneak out before I get there, which I will catch on the surveillance system. While I'm there, I'll mention to the mother that I heard that he's been seen by a neighbor and remind her that if I see him going into her apartment that I'll be forced to terminate her lease. That should be enough to keep him out on the street for a few days. If he sneaks back in, I'll find another excuse to go over and force him out again. It should be fun and I'll enjoy making his life miserable after he ripped me off for hundreds of dollars of rent and eviction costs!

I took yesterday off, so today was my first day of working on the rentals this week. My project today was to paint a one-bedroom apartment. I got one bedroom done and touched up the paint in the living room. I still have the kitchen to paint and that's on the agenda for tomorrow along with painting the floor in one of my duplexes.