Tenant horrors

On the evening of the 11th, a Thursday, Tyler arrived home late and asked if our tenant had been by. He hadn’t. But Tyler had just seen his van parked up by the gas station (which was closed). A couple of hours later, he called, returning my call from Tuesday morning. Tyler told him that we delivered a 10-day notice and needed to pay his rent. He feigned surprise, and told us that he had put the cash underneath the concrete pad in front of his door on Monday at about 2 am when he came by to pick up some stuff. He said he left a voicemail message, so he must have dialed the wrong number! The money was indeed there, albeit still $50 short, and we’re quite positive that at the time Ty saw the van, he had walked down from the gas station and left the money.

I was become more and more distrustful of him, and I was very upset. I called him back and explained why I was angry and was not happy that he had been dishonest. Our conversation got a bit intense, and he asked if we wanted him to move out. I said yes. We agreed to prorate the amount for the month’s rent. He said he would move out the next night, Friday.

And so he did. At midnight, he knocked on our door and demanded that we do a walkthrough. He still had a few things in the suite and he wanted his money back right then and there! Tyler and him got into a slightly heated argument. Tyler gave him his rent money back, and told him to leave the key and a forwarding address in our mailbox. We would mail him a cheque. He became quite angry — he absolutely would not accept a cheque. Cash only! As he walked away, he said, “Well we’ll see about that”. To us, he suggested a threat.

He didn’t return the key. So the next day we replaced the deadbolt. The carpet was dirty and needed to be steamcleaned. There was also some minor cleaning in the bathroom and kitchen.  We deducted all of that from his damage deposit. It wasn’t until Tuesday evening that he returned the keys. I gave him a cheque for the remaining damage, with a letter outlining the charges. He called me a few minutes later. “Are you kidding me?” Nope. And he said he would be calling the RTB the next day, and I said, “You do that.”

I don’t feel in the wrong at all. And I am so glad that he is gone, without too much trouble. We were so worried and stressed.

I put an ad up right away, and on Friday we rented to two young men, 21 and 18 years old, for Jan. 1. The older boy is in college and wanted a quiet place to study. The other, his friend, is finishing up school through correspondence. They both seem pretty responsible, and their references were great. This will be their first home away from their parents. I told them not to be brats.

In other news, we finally found someone to replace our gutters for a reasonable price. He may even be here tomorrow, so we’re quite pleased.

Happy holidays! We have a few in-house projects planned, including some painting.

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