The Good The Bad And The Rental -- Landlords, Tenants Have Ugly Tales, But It's Not All Bad

Hell could sponsor a heck of a good tug of war.

We asked readers to tell us their experiences with landlords and tenants and this was the result:

-- 44 letters from landlords about their tenants from hell.

-- 31 letters from tenants about their landlords from hell.

Topics ranged from the humorous to the tragic, often with heavy financial and emotional losses on both sides.

We heard from a tenant who's living in a house with grass growing in the walls. She had a functional refrigerator for 16 days - not consecutive - in her first three months of tenancy.

Her landlord solved the problem by running a power cord from the house to a refrigerator in a cattle truck that he backed up to the front door. He expected her to go outside whenever she needed anything chilled.

``I have NO WATER,'' she wrote, not counting the up to five gallons a day that siphons into her house from the roof when it rains. After shelling out first and last month's rent and damage deposit, she feels she can't afford to move or break her yearlong lease.

We heard from a landlady whose tenant asked to put up new wallpaper and then hammered a nail in the corners of every piece to make it stick.

``You're going to think this is so funny,'' the tenant wrote to her landlady - and then proceeded to tell about leaving the house while the garden hose was filling a waterbed, only to come back to find the entire first floor under six inches of water.

The funny part was to see her furniture floating down the hallway, she told the landlady, who was not amused.

We heard from a woman of low income whose son has cerebral palsy. The neighbors in her duplex complained that her son was making too much noise and the landlord gave her 20 days to get out. The stress of an earlier move put her son in the hospital for two months.

``All landlords are interested in one thing only - money,'' she wrote. ``They could care less about the harm it will cause a handicapped boy.''

And we got an eight-page single-spaced letter from a landlord who opened by saying, ``I am in crisis,'' and followed his tales of despair with the conclusion that his health and finances were ruined but that he would not die without taking his present tenant with him.

We sent his letter on to the authorities, but he had already been to them all.

Interspersed in these letters were notes about good landlord-tenant relationships: About tenants who improved the houses they lived in and paid the rent on time and who were rewarded with responsive landlords who rarely raised the rent and sometimes even baby-sat.

And though it may be impossible to convince those tenants who believe all landlords are greedy or those landlords who believe all tenants are irresponsible, it seems there's no true pattern.

``There are no white hats and black hats in this scenario,'' said Jim Metz, executive director of the Dispute Resolution Center of Seattle-King County.

``We generally find there's a little bit of truth to everybody's story and the situation is not so stark in terms of their differences as one side would perceive.''

Here is a sampling of the letters:

Tenants treated unfairly

From a Seattle couple:

``Our experience is that no matter how exemplary we are as house tenants, landlords will always get by with the minimum expense, seemingly with no concern for the value of their property, or the comfort or even safety of their tenants . . .

``In one house our toilet backed up into the shower stall, we investigated and discovered that our plumbing consisted of automobile radiator hose.

``In another house, we discovered that the house stood on cement blocks, one corner of it teetering precariously near the edge of a block (in an earthquake zone!) and the wood supports soaked with fuel oil.''

From a Kirkland woman:

``What seemed to be serene on the surface turned out to be a setting for a Stephen King movie . . . I rented the lower half of a house on a lake with a duck pond in the yard. I soon learned that when my landlord wasn't shooting ducks that landed in the yard, I was his major source of entertainment.

``He peeked in my windows and came inside when I wasn't home and went through my personal belongings. I found out the house was for sale when I came `home' unexpectedly and found a real-estate agent inside showing it.''

She called the police, went back to work and came home to find an eviction notice.

``He threatened to sue me, for what I'm not sure.''

A Federal Way woman awoke at 7 a.m. one morning to the sound of hammering on her door. She opened the door of the condominium she had been renting for six months and found a foreclosure noticeon the door. A year later, in a new home, she answered the door to find two FBI agents, who said her previous landlord found people in or near foreclosures, had them sign their homes/condos over to him so their credit ratings wouldn't be ruined, and then rented out the property to people like her but never made payments to the banks.

``I had my day in court a few years later to finger the man I had rented from,'' she wrote. ``I was just happy to see the Landlord from Hell would soon be a TENANT IN HELL for LIFE!''

A woman who lives in a Capitol Hill apartment house wrote that her rent has been raised 18 percent in 10 months. During that time, sewage has backed up three times into the hallway and neither the carpet nor the sewer pipe has been replaced. The gas line was cut off for three weeks until the owner finally had the leaks fixed. Power blacks out every time a neighbor uses his microwave oven.

``My main point? I believe that the right of ownership means more than the ability to borrow money and pay off debt . . . it means taking responsibility for housing people - i.e. providing at least a minimum standard, where heat, ability to cook, cleanliness, and safety are unequivocally maintained.''

One potential tenant wrote that the Seattle area is unduly intolerant toward pet owners. She has found, she said, that by the end of a month people with bad credit records and other flaws are cozily ensconced in rentals while upstanding citizens with pets are still searching frantically for any old dump that will accept them.

``I'm sick and tired of pet paranoia and landlords who tell me I'm their first choice, but `sorry, we took someone else who didn't have animals,' '' she wrote. ``After 11 years in Seattle, I've dealt with this frustrating discrimination and the endless horror stories time and again, despite having a sweet dog and fat cat who've NEVER DAMAGED ANYTHING!!!.''

Here is how one Eastside woman categorized the landlord business in her four-page, single-spaced, typed letter:

``GREED, ENVY AND JEALOUSY, AND DISHONESTY AND THEFT, ILLEGAL ENTRY, HARASSMENT.

``The rental law in Washington is ON THE SIDE OF THE OWNER/LANDLADY/

LANDLORD,'' she wrote before offering this advice:

``HAVE . . . EMERGENCY VICTIMIZATION MONEY IF YOU ARE A TENANT

RENTALX XRENTALX X. . . A MINIMUM OF $5,000.

``TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS IN COLOR BEFORE YOU MOVE IN.

``SECURE YOUR PRIVATE DOMAIN BY PURCHASING A CHAIN LOCK.

``BEWARE OF DO-IT-YOURSELFER LANDLORDS/LANDLADIES.''

Then there was the Green Lake woman who hurried back to Seattle after her Washington, D.C., landlady, who worked odd hours and liked to drop by to chat when she arrived home, did her laundry once too often at 3 a.m. in the room next to her tenant's bedroom.

``I would try and get some shut-eye during the spin cycles,'' the tenant wrote.

A Lynnwood woman and her husband recalled their college-apartment landlady, who was nicknamed ``Warden.''

``Warden showed up on our doorstep with a knock that shook the paper-thin walls of the whole complex,'' she wrote.

The woman marched through the house with white gloves, swooping down on baseboards and light bulbs in search of dust. She handed the renters a citation noting a piece of toilet paper behind the toilet and mildew on a tile in the corner of the tub and warned that it must be cleaned within the hour.

``I scrambled with fear of eviction,'' and when the landlady returned to find it clean, ``she hesitantly tore up my citation but reminded me that she would be back . . . when least expected . . . and she wasn't kidding.''

Landlords

who have suffered

``I should have known we were going to be in trouble when our renters showed up on our doorstep several days before we moved out,'' wrote a Stanwood woman who was renting out her house and buying another. She allowed the family to camp in the yard.

``It was our first time as landlords, why not help them out?''

They soon found out. The renters paid the first month's rent but nothing more. Four months later, they left after turning the back yard into a landfill and the inside of the house into a punching bag.

A Seattle woman made these discoveries after her tenant, also four months' delinquent on the rent, finally vacated:

``Tenant brought food and stored same in the nonworking frdg (sic) and lined the perimeter of the apt. with perishable foods. Bathroom sink looked like it had hair covering the sink; hair turned out to be maggots. Tenant had also defecated in the bathtub. 1,200 lbs. of newspaper had to be removed from the apt. and the refrigerator tossed out.''

And there was this from a woman who rented a California house to a wealthy family visiting from another country:

``It looked like the tenants had stabled their horses inside. The grease-caked kitchen looked like they had fried every meal and had never cleaned up, not once.

``But here's the worst part. While cleaning the kitchen, I popped an English muffin into the toaster for breakfast. I almost immediately noticed an ugly smell coming from the toaster, so I removed the muffin and took apart the toaster. After a few seconds of concentration I recognized, to my horror, the caramelized remains of a toasted mouse!''

From a Kirkland woman who enclosed pictures of piles of garbage:

``They left owing us $1,550 in unpaid rent, plus $373 in unpaid water bill, $3,595 in damages and $631 in other expenses. In the house there were holes in the walls, doors were torn off the hinges, door knobs were missing, the toilets were full and not working, the odor of urine permeated the bedroom floors and the kitchen cupboards were full of rotten food, chewing gum was all over the floor, the walls and even the ceiling.''

This from a Bellevue landlady: ``In retrospect, I should have taken a friend's advice to hire a very large man to assist the tenants in their move.''

From a Renton man: ``I tried to be a nice person, renting to what seemed to be a good family. All I worked for is gone!''

From Brier: ``Professional cleaning people refused to clean it. Eight weeks and $8,000 later, it was again rented.''

From Des Moines: ``We sold both houses in 1989 after tenant repair burnout and deciding that turning the keys over to a $60,000 and $45,000 house was foolhardy when we wouldn't loan one of our cars to a good friend or relative! We just couldn't justify `renting' that kind of investment to someone and then being unable to remove them or enter the house when rent went unpaid and damage was being done to the house.''

And then there was the man whose tenants noticed that the hot-water heater was dripping water for about a week. But when an electrical short started the drywall on fire, the tenants unhooked the smoke detector to shut it up so they could go back to bed.

``Our Father, who art in heaven . . . '' wrote the landlord.

From Seattle: ``I owned the house five years. The hottest real-estate market in the country and I lost just over $20,000 because of repairs, and attorney's fees.''

From Tacoma: ``The interior of the walls appeared to have been used as targets for knife throwing. Some of the walls were full of holes made by either a .22 or a powerful air gun . . . I was out considerable expense having the building torn down and hauled away. I shall never again become involved with rentals.''

From Seattle: ``The worst, perhaps, was a tattooed lady who entertained a string of men most every evening. She was very noisy. Downstairs, the young Boeing worker - who had to get up early - complained that he was kept awake half the night by what he said was a succession of theatrically faked orgasms.''

From Seattle: ``. . . the property still has a `drug lab' notation on the title to the property. We lost five months' rent, had the place sealed off by the county health department and it cost us $10,000 to fix the unit back up to where the health department would allow occupancy.''

One North Seattle veteran landlord offered these tips: Always get first and last month's rent, plus a $350 to $500 damage deposit and a nonrefundable cleaning deposit; contact former landlords; do a thorough credit check; charge for late rent.

And then there was this note from a former landlady in Bellevue:

``The unit finally sold, burn holes in the carpet and all! Now I am a very happy homeowner of my own home with no more tenant hassles.''

Success stories

``Let me tell you about some real fine tenants,'' wrote a Bellevue man who has never had any damage done to his apartments, which he rents for reasonable rates ($350 a month). ``In 16 years, we have gone to the bank with some 15,000 individual rent checks.

``During this time not one of those checks has ever been non-sufficient funds nor has it ever arrived seven days after it was due. The simple reason is that we rent exclusively to senior citizens.''

A landlord of 20 years, who has had only positive relationships, offers this advice:

``The main thing is to be available to your tenants and be willing to work with them when they have requests.''

From a Seattle tenant:

``I've been renting for 10 years now and seem to remember nothing but good experiences for all parties concerned.''

From Seattle property owners:

``On the other hand, as Mom & Pop landlords for the past 20 years, we have had dozens of wonderful people who pay the rent on time, pitch in on various maintenance projects, and have become really good friends.''

And, finally, from a tenant and landlord who broke all the rules. The tenant moved into a house with no lease, no definite idea of what the rent would be and only promises from the landlord that needed work would be done. When she was able to buy her own house a year later, her landlord loaned her his gardening tools.

``I hope he has never been shafted,'' the woman said. ``I don't know how one finds good people to rent to and from - I have been very fortunate, and so have the people I rented from.''