This is topic Burglary in Progress! (or, why I spent an afternoon at the police department) in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.
First, a little background. The house we live in now is a rental...it's a nice house, but rent is always higher than a mortgage would be. So, hubby and I put a down payment on a house and are waiting for the contractors to finish the remodeling so we can move in. Meanwhile, we tried to do the right thing and let the landlord know what our plans were. At first, he was okay with it, but in the last week or so, he's been acting wierd. He's been increasingly nosy, belligerent, and just plain creepy.
Thursday afternoon, he called to tell us he was sending a tree trimmer to take out a tree that has been dead for over a year. He told my husband that the guy would be there (here) in about five minutes. Then, he starts yelling about how every day we spend in "his house" is costing him money...keep in mind, we are paid up with this turd until the 15th. He ranted some more, then hung up.
Friday morning, he called again. He yelled at my husband again about how we need to hurry up and get out of his house. The last thing he said, after not allowing my husband to get a word in edgewise, was “I don’t have time to argue with you. I have important things to do.” Then, he hung up.
At about 1pm, I’m in the shower, hubby’s in here on the ‘puter, kids are in their room playing…I hear a very loud knock on the door. Hubby has to shut off his program, get up, tell the kids to stay put, and go to the door. By the time he gets there, nobody’s at the front door. The landlord’s car is in the driveway, so Hubby goes looking for him. He walks around the side of the house and finds the gate open, so he figures the guy is in the back yard. He keeps walking.
What does he find? The landlord, with his hands cupped around his eyes, trying to see in the dining room window. Hubby asks him what he’s doing; he says he’s here to check on the tree. Okay, fine. He starts again with the whole thing, how he needs us out of there now, etc. Hubby tells him we are moving as fast as we can and as soon as we can, we’ll get out. Meanwhile, they are walking around the side of the house to the front again, and I’m out of the shower with my underclothes on.
So, they are walking toward the front of the house, and Landlord gets in front of Hubby. Hubby asks him where he’s going, he says he just needs to check and see if he needs to paint when we leave. Mind you, not asks..TELLS Hubby he’s going to check. Hubby says no, Wife has been doing laundry and packing, we have dirty laundry and boxes everywhere, and besides, Wife is in the shower so you’ll have to look another time. By now, they are at the front door, and Hubby has moved between Landlord and the door.
By this time, Hubby is mad, and tired of being yelled at and pushed around. Landlord says, “This is my house, and I’ll go in any time I want to.” Hubby says, “Like Hell you will.” “What did you say?” “I said, ‘like Hell you will’.”
Landlord pushes Hubby out of the way, turns the knob and walks right in, just as I’m headed to the living room couch to get my clothes. I freeze, half-naked. Landlord gets about four feet inside the living room before Hubby grabs him and drags him back outside. I run for the bedroom, Hubby pins Landlord against the wall and yells “Call the police, the guy just broke in!”
I dial 911, tell them the address, that our landlord has just broken in, and that I think he and Hubby are out there fighting. I get all that out, and then hear Hubby pick up the cordless and dial 911. Hubby has let the guy go, on the condition that he leave immediately. So, Hubby’s on the line, so I hang up, shaking, go get my clothes, get dressed…
Hubby answers all the questions, and yes, we do want to file a burglary report.
Landlord went straight to the police department to file an assault complaint against Hubby …for…pulling him out of the house he just broke into?
So the guy at the PD calls back. Hubby is requested to go down there to answer the assault charge. So, since I am the witness that yes, the guy barged right in, we all (myself, Hubby, and our 2 kids) load up and head to the PD. Over two and a half hours, pages of paperwork, and a couple of bored, cranky kids later, we go back home.
I feel reason to be afraid of this guy. A little over a year ago, he asked Hubby how to get a concealed carry permit for when he has to go collect rent from some of his “uncooperative” tenants. He’s insinuated that people should be afraid of him because of his Italian last name.
What’s going to happen? I don’t know. What I do know is that now, I’m afraid to open the door. I don’t answer the phone. If you don’t have a key, you aren’t coming in my house, because I won’t even look to see who it is. I’m trying to pack and move but I’m afraid to go outside. I’ve started carrying something of my own around the house. I had hubby put the van in the garage so I can load it in relative safety.
I know what our legal rights are, so I’m not asking for advice or anything. Mostly, I wanted to let you guys know what’s been happening to me, and to tell you all to be careful out there. There are more nuts than you can imagine out there in the world. The worst part of it is that, when we first moved in here, we thought he was one of the nicest people. Yikes!
Posted by suntranafs (Member # 3318) on :
Dat not good.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
This story reminds me of what happened when we moved out of the house we lived in before where we are now. But our trouble was not physical violence but the fact that the people who moved into our old house stole some of our stuff.
When we moved, we didn't get quite a large enough trailer (although we had the biggest trailer U-Haul had to rent). In consequence, when we filled the trailer, the pickup hauling the trailer, my car, and my mother's car, all to brimming full, there were three or four boxes that just wouldn't fit anywhere. We were moving two hundred miles away, so we asked the new owners if it would be okay to leave these boxes (which held some of my books), in the garage until the next week, when we would return to pick them up. They said fine, and we left.
Well, as promised, we returned the next week to get my books. Drove two hundred miles in very bad weather (it was an El Nino January in California) to get them. They were gone. We asked the new owners, and they said that they were in the way so they got rid of them. How could four boxes - cardboard orange boxes, not all that big - be so in the way that they couldn't keep their word and store them for a week?
I can see their point if we had just left them without a word. But we asked them if it would be all right. They agreed that it would be okay. If they didn't want to bother, they should have just said so - I could have taken them to a neighbor's house, where they would have been safe. I wanted to make them pay for the loss, (several of the books were out of print editions, and one box held my collection of archaeology and anthropology books that I had taken a long time to accumulate), and I would have taken them to small claims court to do so. However, my mother didn't want to make waves.
I just don't know why people can't keep their word. Later on, we heard so pretty scary stories about these people from others in the neighborhood. Apparently they generated quite a few domestic violence complaints. So maybe it was a good thing I didn't press the issue. But still.
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
A storage space and a motel room for the remaining time? Eeeck - stay safe.
Posted by Zotto! (Member # 4689) on :
That is REALLY SCARY!
(((Boon)))
And to that landlord and the people in littlemiss's story: Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
Yowza!!! I don't have any word of advice except for stay safe, but I'm figuring thats an obvious one.
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
Good luck Boon, move fast!! Get a good night's sleep, too!
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
(((((((((((((Boon))))))))))))))
((((((((((littlemissattitude))))))))))
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
o_O
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Boon, why was the landlord asking your husband about a carry permit? Is your hubby in law enforcement or something?
I guess I've been lucky with landlords. The only thing I've ever been hit with is loss of my "cleaning deposit" to take care of problems that existed before I moved in. Doesn't even compare, really. Just annoying.
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
I know how you feel. We actually had the reverse problem...we bought a double, which had a tenant in the upstairs. She'd been there a few years, and the sellers SAID she was nice, paid her rent, etc. Well that turned out not to be the case! She was, to use the clinical term, nuttier than a fruitcake. She would leave threatening notes on the door if we asked her to do something/not do something...for example, she set up a kiddie pool in the backyard for her daughters. The thing is, we pay for the water, and this was no little 6 in deep plastic thing, it was much larger. And she filled it every day. We told her not to do that, as there is no fence around the yard - it's not safe. She stopped paying her rent...so we start eviction proceedings. We talk to the police about the threats. They knew who we were talking about before we said any names, just the street name. Apparently the cops were there a lot (something about stabbing her ex-husband). Once we got her out, she sued us for something, I don't even remember what. My wife took off work to go, but she didn't show. Then there were the harrassing phone calls, the break in attempt, and the drunk boyfriends who'd bang on the door at 1 in the morning looking for her. And to think I didn't want to be a landlord! Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I take it then that you don't think it's worth it Tick?
For those of you who are landlords, have you ever used any kind of property management service? To what degree to they cut down on the hassles, and what sorts of hassles of their own do they create?
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
It can be worth it (the rent money is NICE) but the hassle of finding someone worth renting to is a pain in the you-know-what. It was great while my buddy lived upstairs, but he lost his job and moved back home.
Posted by Ralphie (Member # 1565) on :
quote:Dat not good.
I don't think I could have articulated it better.
Posted by Ryan Hart (Member # 5513) on :
Lost Boys anyone?
Posted by Boon (Member # 4646) on :
"Boon, why was the landlord asking your husband about a carry permit? Is your hubby in law enforcement or something?"
Hubby has, in fact, been in some form of law enforcement since he was 18. When we moved into this house, he worked for the same police department we had the honor of visiting Friday.
This is the first house we have ever rented. Hubby had his own (mortgaged) home when I met him, and when we moved to Florida, we sold it and bought another down there. Now we're buying again, and I'll tell you something. I will never rent from an individual again. If I were forced to rent again, I will deal only with a leasing company.
From the sound of things, I'm not the only one who has had landlord/tenant problems. Please believe me, my sympathy is with you.
Lord, please save me from the crazy people. Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
I think I have the antithesis of Boon's landlord for mine.
He's awesome.
He has low rent because he only needs folks to fill the three rented units in his building (the fourth is his hair salon). He's a nice guy (he's Greek, married, two sons my age, yes they are cute). He helped me move in when he saw I didn't have anyone to help. He gave me his old couch when he found out that I didn't have one. He's let me into my apartment when I locked myself out at 5:30 AM and didn't complain. Just laughed at the young person learning her way in the world. He asks how I'm doing, why my family doesn't come around, if I would want to join his family at holidays, because that's a time to be with friends and family. He tells me he's proud of me for going to graduate school. One month while between my last job and my current one, I couldn't make rent. He told me to pay it when I could, it was fine, things happen. I paid it the next month.
*grins*
I don't plan on moving anytime soon. Posted by slacker (Member # 2559) on :
I've gotta agree with Mac, not every landlord out there sucks (or is psychotic).
Ours is pretty nice, and is always on the ball when we call her to tell her that something broke (ie: our sprinkler system last week). She never stops by without giving us advanced notice and was willing to let us take our kitty (Bo) with us (of course we've now got our other cat - Squeaky - as well).
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
My apartment's landlord is . . . odd.
He's a middle aged homosexual guy into BDSM with 20 somethings. Also, he's a bit obsessed with signatures (as in, them matching perfectly).
But he's easy going about rent and such, willingly pays for periodic repairs and improvements in the apartments, and charges the cheapest rent he can afford to (comes to $900 a month for a very spacious three bedroom in an in-demand part of saint louis with newly renovated kitchen and bathroom, balcony, hardwood floor, other niceties).
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
There is a funny book with a psycotic landlord, only he's not really bad, just... weird. I suppose it's written for teens, but whatever. It's by Gordon Korman and is called 'Losing Joe's Place.'
The only time my family rented, the owner lived far, far away, so we never really saw him in person. I guess sometimes distance is a good thing. This landlord business worries me because I'm thinking that I'll have to rent in the near future...
(I wish we had a wiggly-mouthed smilie, because I wanted to put it here)
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Yeah, for the most part we have had good landlords. The property managment guy that we had down in OK loved us. The more commercialized service that we had when we were living in the apartment up here in the Chicago area was definitely much more impersonal and the one lady in the office was neurotic, and incompetent with computers, like the time that 3/4 of the entire development got eviction notices for late rent, where it didn't even dawn on her there might be a problem.
Now the house we just bought moved into had an apparently "interesting" previous occupant. Apparently he went through 4 wives and multiple floozies and strippers. The police were a regular occurence for domestic violence. He asked one of the neighbors how one would attach a mirror to the ceiling of the master bedroom.
Also we found out why one of the phone jacks was so messed up and we had to replace it. Apparently he attempted to strangle one of the wives with the pone cord. He went away for "a while" and the soon to be ex-wife trashed the house while he was gone. I can't say I blame her.
But he is gone now, and I can't help but think that the house is happy to have some staid relatively quiet computer nerds living in it, and attempting to give it the maintenance it so sorely needs.
AJ
Posted by Dead_Horse (Member # 3027) on :
What is it about landlords that they think they can just barge in? We had one before we bought this place. Our last month, I paid the rent for the whole month, but we started to move the first week. The beds were moved, and we started spending the night here, but a lot of our stuff was still in the old house. One day I went to the old house to get the mail during my luch break, and discovered that a "homeless" family was living there. There was a nintendo and TV, and lawn furniture in the living room, and food and a microwave in the kitchen. I checked the house number and street sign, just to be sure. It's a weird feeling to come home and find someone else living there. Turns out the landlord decided he could break down the back door (we had changed the locks, but saved the old ones to reinstall, or I would have given him the new keys.) He didn't get it when I explained to him that he was not allowed to do that. If he had asked, I certainly would have speeded things up so the new family could move in. I made him pay me the rest of the rent for that month back, and pay me for the locks and toilet seat. I left my room size rugs, too. Idiot landlord. Posted by Boon (Member # 4646) on :
Okay, here's the latest:
Slumlord calls Hubby's cell phone at about 9:30 pm Sunday night...calls the house phone about 15 minutes later. Leaves the same message on both (needless to say, we aren't answering the phone):
"Hey guys, it's about 9:30 on Sunday evening. You said Friday morning when I talked to you on the phone that you were going to try to move out this weekend. You are in *my* house, man. Please give me a call, I guess, tomorrow, and let me know when you aren't sleeping there anymore so I can get the keys and stuff from you. I need you out as soon as possible. Okay, give me a call. Bye."
Mind you, Hubby never got more than a grunt out while talking to this guy on the phone Friday. We've never said we'd be out this weekend..in fact, he's well aware that we will be out by the 15th, since that's what I put on our "notice of intent to vacate." Idiot.
I can hardly wait until all our stuff (and ourselves) are out of here!
Edit to say: The calls were made later than I thought. Hubby says it was more like 10:30 pm and the clock on his phone agrees with him. So now this dude is calling long past normal hours. Sheesh.
[ August 11, 2003, 03:40 AM: Message edited by: Boon ]
Posted by Ralphie (Member # 1565) on :
Wow. Make sure you have copies of everything you've signed to make sure he doesn't stick it to you after you're gone.
If your hubby ends up beating him up, get pictures. That would be KICKIN' RAD.
Posted by ak (Member # 90) on :
It's in the evil landlord handbook that when you want someone to leave, you act as awful as you possibly can so they get upset and mad and... leave! I discovered this when I had a crazy landlady one time. Since she was violating the terms of the lease I got my sister the attorney to call her and talk to her. Now, my sister is not as easygoing and sweet as me. But because she called me Anne Kate (which the EL heard as "Aunt Kate"), said EL got the idea somehow that she was talking to a young girl easily intimidated. I was in my 20s at the time and my sister had been out of Harvard Law School and working for one of the top firms in the city for a number of years. EL made the extreme mistake of making Laurie mad. I did end up leaving in a week (as Laurie recommended) but the EL paid for all my moving expenses, for a moving company to pack and move me. All I had to do was unpack. EL and her family got very conciliatory when they realized their mistake. I realized that lawyers are sometimes quite useful, and do much good.
[ August 11, 2003, 07:24 AM: Message edited by: ak ]
Posted by BookWyrm (Member # 2192) on :
Before tyou leave the premisis the last time, go around with a camera and that days news paper's front page. Take pics of EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! With one of you standing in the pic showing the front page of the paper. That dates the pic in the event this guy tries to cause you grief over non existant damages etc.... Every room, every wall, inside and out. This gives you pictorial proof with a date of the condidtion of the house.. Anyone moving into a new rental, do the same thing before you move the first piece of furniture in. If any damage is pre-existing be sure to get that into a picture with the days front page.
This is good pratice for everyone because you never know when you'll get the psycho landlord from hell. It might not save you from some of the grief but it gives you proof the guy is trying to squeeze you and if he takes you to court, you got proof and you can counter sue.
Bookwyrm
Posted by Boon (Member # 4646) on :
"Take pics of EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! With one of you standing in the pic showing the front page of the paper."
The good news is, I did do this before we moved in. My naturally trusting nature was overridden by my practical side, for once. (Thank You, God!)
You can bet I'll be doing this right before we call him to come get the keys from the police department. No, I'm not mailing them so he can't claim we didn't send them and stick us with a huge locksmith bill. And no, I'm not giving them to him in person, for the same reason (and for other, obvoius reasons). One of Hubby's friends, in uniform, will come over, test every key on the keyring, and then seal them in an envelope which he will keep until Slumlord can pick them up at the PD.
Ha! I don't ever have to see this guy again...unless he gets stupid again. And if he does...well...let's just say I'd hate to be him.
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That is REALLY SCARY! ![[Mad]](mad.gif)
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I checked the house number and street sign, just to be sure. It's a weird feeling to come home and find someone else living there. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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