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Feb. 6th, 2007 11:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickThe weather continues cold. Today I spent part of the day thawing out pipes and part of the day on the recently-empty apartment. I got some unexpected money from a Tenant paying rent two steps ahead of the constable and an angry ex-Tenant calling on the phone because we were vindictively RUINING HIS CREDIT.
Ex-Tenant, who rented from us ending in spring of 2000, left because we filed a landlord-tenant against him. It appears, from reading the complaint, that we were not getting any rent money from ex-Tenant. At the risk of sounding like a bad George Thorogood song, we pretty much want the rent money. It's a thing. We don't file landlord-tenants because we've been getting the rent money all along and we want to go to the DJ and LIE about not-having-gotten it. That sort of thing doesn't play well with the DJs we have and since we visit the DJ enough that the ladies in the office greet me by name, it's not a good idea to pull shit like that. So. We only ever file landlord-tenant things for not getting the rent when we have actually not been getting the rent.
Back in 2000, we got a judgment against ex-Tenant for the property, back rent, and court costs. Tenant left or moved or whatever but I don't have constable paperwork so it's possible he left on his own. After he was an ex-Tenant, we sent him a "Here's why you did not get your deposit back and here's what you still owe us" letter, which we mailed certified and which he signed for. I have the card he signed, which was in his file. The signature on the card matches the signature on the lease. We didn't expect to ever get any money out of this tenant, but we sent him the letter so that we didn't have to give him double his deposit back like we would have to do if we didn't send him a letter.
Tenant started calling us some two weeks ago claiming he'd never heard of us and had NO IDEA why we would have a judgment against him because he'd never done any business with us for anything, ever. It seems that ex-Tenant is trying to buy a trailer and is having some difficulty getting a loan due to unsatisfied judgments on his credit report. Apparently we were mad enough at ex-Tenant that we recorded the judgment against him. We don't usually do that, but it has happened in the past. A recorded judgment is good for five years, so our interest in this matter would have expired in 2005. As it is now 2007, we have no claim against ex-Tenant and, as far as I am concerned, the toothless unsatisfied judgment can sit on his freaking credit report forever because he hasn't satisifed it.
I called ex-Tenant back and left a message on his machine that the judgment was for the $714.90 that he still owed us on an apartment he rented at (address) from 1998 to 2000, when we filed on him for eviction due to unpaid rent.
Ex-Tenant called back today, claiming that he'd never gotten any letter about anything owed. I explained about how the letter was mailed certified and how it had to be signed for and how I was looking at the card he'd signed for the letter with. He was not particularly happy to hear that.
Ex-Tenant wanted to know what the charges owed were for. Most of the money was for rent. I allowed as how that was the case. Ex-Tenant said he had paid the rent. He tried to claim that he'd been paying the rent all along and that we had filed on him for not paying the rent IN SPITE OF US GETTING THE RENT MONEY. Er. No.
I allowed as how that wasn't very likely. Then he was like, "So what do I have to do to get this off my credit record?" "Pay us the $741.90 and we'll go up to the courthouse and put in a thing saying that the judgment was satisfied." "I don't owe this money. I paid you folks." And so I said that we had no record of payment and that if he'd provide us with a cancelled check, we'd take that as proof that he'd paid us.
He switched tactics and went back to the rent thing. He tried to claim that he'd been giving his WIFE the rent money and she'd been blowing it and lying about the rent being paid. So, y'know, it wasn't his fault that the rent wasn't paid and that the whole lack o' rent thing was a SURPRISE and besides, he'd been through a very traumatic divorce two years ago (which would have been five years AFTER we evicted him, for those of you paying attention, so he stayed with the ripping-him-off wife for five years after we threw him out of the apartment) and we shouldn't blame him for what his WIFE did. But, y'know, he's the one against whom we got the judgment and it's his name as the named tenant on the lease. I wasn't too impressed with the wife story and I said so.
And then he said "Well, I was going to pay you what I owed you but now since you're BEING SMART, I won't." I call bullshit on that one. He was never going to pay what he owed on an expired judgment what has no legal compelling ability and no teeth. We've been in the same office with the same phone number for the entire seven years that have passed since he was evicted, kicking and screaming, from the apartment where he lived without paying rent... and in seven years, the first time we heard a single peep out of him was when he wanted us to help him get a loan.
This, kids, is why you should pay your rent and not trash the place and give notice when you are moving. Sometimes, just sometimes, your landlord will find a way to fuck up your life long after you've forgotten the whole thing.
On a happier note, mad propz to the tenant at 633 who brought in $780.00 in cash today, an amount that covers all the back rent, the court costs, and most of the cost of the constable. Since the constable isn't scheduled to come change the locks on your apartment until next Monday, you've Paid-To-Stay with plenty of time. Way to go! P. S. Next time try paying the rent on time. The court costs are $140.00 and the constable fee is like $200.00 (We get some of the court costs and some of the constable fee refunded if they don't "use all of it". I don't know how come it costs more sometimes and less other times. I just pay what they tell me to pay.) so it's WAY cheaper to pay before I have to file on you and WAY WAY cheaper to pay before I have to summon the constable.
Ex-Tenant, who rented from us ending in spring of 2000, left because we filed a landlord-tenant against him. It appears, from reading the complaint, that we were not getting any rent money from ex-Tenant. At the risk of sounding like a bad George Thorogood song, we pretty much want the rent money. It's a thing. We don't file landlord-tenants because we've been getting the rent money all along and we want to go to the DJ and LIE about not-having-gotten it. That sort of thing doesn't play well with the DJs we have and since we visit the DJ enough that the ladies in the office greet me by name, it's not a good idea to pull shit like that. So. We only ever file landlord-tenant things for not getting the rent when we have actually not been getting the rent.
Back in 2000, we got a judgment against ex-Tenant for the property, back rent, and court costs. Tenant left or moved or whatever but I don't have constable paperwork so it's possible he left on his own. After he was an ex-Tenant, we sent him a "Here's why you did not get your deposit back and here's what you still owe us" letter, which we mailed certified and which he signed for. I have the card he signed, which was in his file. The signature on the card matches the signature on the lease. We didn't expect to ever get any money out of this tenant, but we sent him the letter so that we didn't have to give him double his deposit back like we would have to do if we didn't send him a letter.
Tenant started calling us some two weeks ago claiming he'd never heard of us and had NO IDEA why we would have a judgment against him because he'd never done any business with us for anything, ever. It seems that ex-Tenant is trying to buy a trailer and is having some difficulty getting a loan due to unsatisfied judgments on his credit report. Apparently we were mad enough at ex-Tenant that we recorded the judgment against him. We don't usually do that, but it has happened in the past. A recorded judgment is good for five years, so our interest in this matter would have expired in 2005. As it is now 2007, we have no claim against ex-Tenant and, as far as I am concerned, the toothless unsatisfied judgment can sit on his freaking credit report forever because he hasn't satisifed it.
I called ex-Tenant back and left a message on his machine that the judgment was for the $714.90 that he still owed us on an apartment he rented at (address) from 1998 to 2000, when we filed on him for eviction due to unpaid rent.
Ex-Tenant called back today, claiming that he'd never gotten any letter about anything owed. I explained about how the letter was mailed certified and how it had to be signed for and how I was looking at the card he'd signed for the letter with. He was not particularly happy to hear that.
Ex-Tenant wanted to know what the charges owed were for. Most of the money was for rent. I allowed as how that was the case. Ex-Tenant said he had paid the rent. He tried to claim that he'd been paying the rent all along and that we had filed on him for not paying the rent IN SPITE OF US GETTING THE RENT MONEY. Er. No.
I allowed as how that wasn't very likely. Then he was like, "So what do I have to do to get this off my credit record?" "Pay us the $741.90 and we'll go up to the courthouse and put in a thing saying that the judgment was satisfied." "I don't owe this money. I paid you folks." And so I said that we had no record of payment and that if he'd provide us with a cancelled check, we'd take that as proof that he'd paid us.
He switched tactics and went back to the rent thing. He tried to claim that he'd been giving his WIFE the rent money and she'd been blowing it and lying about the rent being paid. So, y'know, it wasn't his fault that the rent wasn't paid and that the whole lack o' rent thing was a SURPRISE and besides, he'd been through a very traumatic divorce two years ago (which would have been five years AFTER we evicted him, for those of you paying attention, so he stayed with the ripping-him-off wife for five years after we threw him out of the apartment) and we shouldn't blame him for what his WIFE did. But, y'know, he's the one against whom we got the judgment and it's his name as the named tenant on the lease. I wasn't too impressed with the wife story and I said so.
And then he said "Well, I was going to pay you what I owed you but now since you're BEING SMART, I won't." I call bullshit on that one. He was never going to pay what he owed on an expired judgment what has no legal compelling ability and no teeth. We've been in the same office with the same phone number for the entire seven years that have passed since he was evicted, kicking and screaming, from the apartment where he lived without paying rent... and in seven years, the first time we heard a single peep out of him was when he wanted us to help him get a loan.
This, kids, is why you should pay your rent and not trash the place and give notice when you are moving. Sometimes, just sometimes, your landlord will find a way to fuck up your life long after you've forgotten the whole thing.
On a happier note, mad propz to the tenant at 633 who brought in $780.00 in cash today, an amount that covers all the back rent, the court costs, and most of the cost of the constable. Since the constable isn't scheduled to come change the locks on your apartment until next Monday, you've Paid-To-Stay with plenty of time. Way to go! P. S. Next time try paying the rent on time. The court costs are $140.00 and the constable fee is like $200.00 (We get some of the court costs and some of the constable fee refunded if they don't "use all of it". I don't know how come it costs more sometimes and less other times. I just pay what they tell me to pay.) so it's WAY cheaper to pay before I have to file on you and WAY WAY cheaper to pay before I have to summon the constable.
