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Why the Eviction Moratorium is Short-Sighted, Unfair, and Possibly Illegal
Not all landlords are evil and not all tenants are saints
My siblings and I are thrilled to have a contract on the duplex we inherited. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it closes. Then we will be free of the property that caused our mother so much consternation.
She depended on the rent money from the duplex because social security benefits were not enough to allow her to retain her independence. But we teased her about being a “slumlord,” because she frequently rented to tenants who trashed the property and refused to pay rent.
I say “refused,” because they were employed and spent money on other things. My mother, who was in her nineties, would occasionally have to evict them.
When she had renters who were making an honest effort to pay, she worked with them. Sometimes she paid their heating bills in the winter when they told her the heat had been cut off. Other times, she loaned them money. But she had no patience for tenants who broke windows, tore doors off hinges, or smashed holes in walls.
Currently we have a renter who isn’t paying, even though she has a job. She keeps the property so filthy that no one will rent the other half of the duplex. It’s been vacant for…
