Aargh. What a fiasco.
I’d finally decided not to rent my house out during our time away this past winter when I got a call last minute from a friend to whom I’d offered the house way back when.
He really needed a house in town for he and his wife, who were currently living in their trailer up north in the valley. The drive into town for work during the winter was going to be taxing and I could only concur.
No problem. They had rented the house next door to mine for many years and had been good neighbours – 4 out of 5 on the rating scale.
The rating would have been 5 out of 5 but for the fact that he’d done me a ‘favour’ by pruning out a maple tree that lay on my side of the property line and made a huge mess of it. Considering there was no way he could NOT have known that I hire arborists to ‘craft’ the trees on my property – this was a huge error on his part.
None-the-less, I was concerned for he and his sickly wife, so decided that they could indeed stay at my home for 5 months over the winter. Originally we agreed that they should pay the utilities, then later agreed that $500 per month should cover everything. BTW, $500 per month is LESS than the cost of utilities.
Because my utilities are paid automatically through bank withdrawals, I assumed (stupid me) that I would get a check for $2500 when I returned home.
But oh no, that was not the case.
“What do you mean, $500 per month? We thought we agreed to utilities”, he said.
“OK fine, I’ll add up the utilities but I guarantee that they’ll be more than $500 per month” was my reply.
So, where’s my check?
“We had a deposit to put down on our new rental house” was the next excuse.
Huh?
“I hope this won’t affect our friendship, which I value highly”.
Huh?
How can you say that you value a friendship highly, then cheat that friend out of what you owe them when they’ve done you a huge favour?
By HUGE favour, I mean letting out a house that would normally rent for 2K a month for 1/4 of the price.
Regardless… I still didn’t see any money forthcoming.
He told me he’d have a “partial” check to me on the 15th. It’s now the 22nd and there’s been nary a peep from him, let alone one red cent.
Furthermore… and this erks me more than anything else… the damage they did to the house in 5 short months is amounting to WAY more than what they owe.
They were told NOT to use the fireplace in the living room unless they used prefab logs (which we left for them).
Yet I discovered that my 50-year-old fireplace, which has never smoked or back-drafted, was black with soot, as was the beautiful cherry mantle. It looked like there had been a freakin’ inferno.
When asked, Kevin (the renter) said they’d only used the prefab logs.
LIAR.
We saw that wood from storage in the outside fireplace had been removed. Unless they up and threw it away, one can only assume it was used in the living room fireplace.
The littany could go on… broken knife, broken vacuum cleaner (brand-new), hole burnt in leaf vacuum bag, cracked casing on leaf blower, missing items including a $150 pillow, and last but not least (that I know of so far) 50 cedars ruined by dog piss. My dog does NOT raise his leg to piss on our trees – he squats and goes on the grass.
Too, I left supplies up the ying yang for them – all of which were used – NOT one of which was replaced.
The nerve.
I personally would never dream of using someone that way. My motto has always been “leave it the same or better than you found it”. Now I learn that not everyone thinks that way.
That’s fine. The answer is simple, I will NEVER again rent my house, UNLESS I make enough to cover all the damages in advance.
Oh my gosh, that is horrible! I can’t even imagine, I would be so mad. We had talked about the possibility of renting but this story scares me. Oh boy, I sure hope they pay up but from the sounds of it, that doesn’t look promising.
Hi Angie,
I agree… the pay back does not look promising at this point. Fortunately, it won’t kill me. 🙂
Cheers,
Ros
I am so sad that this happened to you, Rosalind. It seems that more and more people find it completely justifiable to simply not pay their debt because they don’t have the money (like it came as a big surprise! but in reality they have known for a while that they have to pay you a certain amount). I hope divine justice does exist, because we are left really powerless. We trust in their word, and are left empty handed. Yes, the nerve they have! But, as you say, we can only learn from this experience and have distrust in the future. It’s just sad. Don’t know what is going on, but this situation is happening everywhere!
Best wishes,
Nayyan
Hi Nayyan,
I believe in karma – divine justice – so that helps a lot! 🙂
Cheers,
Ros
They should be embarrassed … that is ridiculous!
Hey Josh,
Embarrassed and ashamed. At least, that’s the way I’d feel.
Cheers,
Ros
I am sorry for the loss that has happened to you. But rest assured that karma and the fact of do unto others as you would have done to you will take care of things. They will have bad luck you just might not see it or hear about it. I know you do not wish that on anyone but it does seem to happen to people like that. I hope they pay you but doubt very much that they will. Now you know what kind of people they are.
Hi Mark,
I couldn’t agree more… I definitely trust in karma. 🙂
Cheers,
Ros
Ros,
it is always sad when things like this happen. It is more sad when your gut tells you that you want to to give a friend
a break, to find out he is not a friend; just someone you know. And in this case wish you did not. The pruning of the tree should have given you a hint. but life being what it is, hind-site is always twenty-twenty.
Hope you, Ed and Jasper had a good time down south. how is business, BTW.
Hey Grant,
We had a fabulous time down south, thanks! And business is good.. or as good as I want it to be, which makes me feel very fortunate!
Cheers,
Ros
Oh man Ros! I could just cry! And I agree, that’s just disgusting behavior for a “friend,” who wants to remain a friend! I hope he never needs you for anything! Ikind of know how you feel – but ours was family for a weekend (and apparently extended family in hot tub – where did those nice steak knives go?
Anyway, sometimes it’s nice to come to a empty house. Soo sorry!
Hey Evelyn,
Like your ‘hope he never needs you for anything’… ha ha.. like a job reference. NOT going to get it.
Sorry to hear that your bad experience was with family. Ugh!
Cheers,
Ros
Ros, saw your story and felt compelled to comment. It is our closest friends or family that tend to take advantage of our kind nature. Renting out your house is a business arrangement and as such, should be in writing for a number of reasons. Secondly, you are not obliged to rent to anyone just because you promised such 12 months ago. Situations change and maybe you have changed your mind because it is your house and your decision. Lord knows, what would you do if these people burned down your house?
Thanks for sharing and glad to have you in our lives.
Oh My, a kind of “friend” is this person? I think maybe IF there is a next time, just suggest that they rent an apartment, somewhere. There are those that can be rented on a month to month bases. Maybe they should move the trailer closer to the job that he is doing.
I guess I would be to “picky” to let someone live in my house for 5 months, using my things, and leaving it with things missing.
Just me I suppose.
OMG This is the most depressing thing I have ever heard. You hear horrible stories like this but until now, they have only happened to people we don’t know personally. As concerned as I was about leaving our place with only overseers, I can honestly say after hearing your dreadful story, it was worth any apprention I may have experienced. Bill wanted me to say to you that he truly believes that what goes around comes around. For my piece I sincerely hope they aren’t renting in your neighborhood, cause if it was me it would probably make me do or say things that are complelely out of character.
It sure sounds like it will be unlikely that you see any of the money, but I sincerely hope I’m wrong.
Good luck, Ros!
Hey Georgie,
What makes this really bad for me is that these people looked after our house last year…no problem.
They didn’t stay in it, but they checked it regularly.
So, I guess the lesson is that you really don’t know someone until they live in your house….
on that note… YOU could stay in it at ANY time… especially after seeing Bill do the dishes. hahahahha
Lots of love,
Ros