My neighbors are being evicted

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

And I feel kind of bad about it.

I guess I should say housemates, actually. My husband and I rent an upper flat, we share the laundry room, driveway, and common hallway with the two women who live downstairs. We’ve been here for about 3 years, they moved in a little over a year ago. Before them we had a stripper/hooker who rented both the first floor flat (for living in) and the basement studio (for turning tricks). She actually wasn’t that bad of a neighbor for the most part. She had a constant stream of men coming and going, but she wasn’t loud and she kept her stuff out of the common hallway.

She left somewhat dramatically, disappearing one night after having someone break in and trash her apartment. She also abandoned her cat when she took off, kitty lives with us now.

Anyhow, the current neighbors are awful. They cook incredibly smelly food all day long.The hallway smells like grease/fish sticks/hamburger/boiled feet pretty much 24-7. They leave their laundry in the washer for so long that it molds. They leave their stuff all over the basment (where the laundry is). They used to let their aggressive cat roam the hallway and basement until we complained about it. They leave the doors unlocked and sometimes even open. They don’t take their trash out until trash day, even if they have full bags, which means that there’s a strong garbage smell intermingling with the food smells some days.

But the worst offense? The absolute limit? They give OPERA lessons in their living room. Constantly with the plink plink bang bang on the piano and the wailing.

When we complained about it initially, the landlord told us that it was in their lease that they were not to have students there while my husband and I were home. We told him that it was fine with us if they have lessons while we’re home, as long as they were done by 5 pm. Pretty reasonable, right? Hubby works from home 3-4 days a week, I’m home at least two days a week, but we figured that until 5 pm, they could be as noisy as they want and it wouldn’t interfere with our days too much.

Weeelll… they pushed it later and later until they were down there singing until 7pm.

We complained to the landlord, he told them to knock it off, they did so for about 3 weeks. We complained again, he told them to quit it.

Three nights ago, they had a client over until 7pm. Between the piano and the singing, I could hear them over the radio that I was sitting right next to. Mr. Tavi called and talked to Mr. Landlord and things just exploded from there.

The landlord called them as soon as he hung up with my husband, they didn’t answer the phone. The next day he came over and slipped an eviction notice under their door. They were home when he came over (hubby heard them singing), they didn’t answer the door.

We didn’t want things to go this far, but I would be lying if I didn’t say we’re happy to see them go. We let things get go pretty far before we complained to the landlord each time, so it’s not like we were running to him every time the lessons ran late. The laundry, the unlocked doors, the mean cat, all of that was either ignored or taken directly to the neighbors.

Anyhow (whew, long post that I’m running out of steam on!), I kinda feel like a jerk, but it’s really the landlord’s decision. We told him that we just wanted to eat dinner/watch a movie/chill out after 5 without the noise, that he didn’t have to take such drastic measures, but he is* pissed*.

I’m avoiding them until they move out, it’s going to be awkward.

2

I want your landlord. You’re so lucky to have a sympathetic one. Find out his birthday, and send him roses AND a cake.

3

He screwed himself out of a birthday cake when we told him we needed a ventilation fan in the bathroom and he screwed a mini desk fan onto the wall instead. :smiley:

4

Well, you’re absolutely right that your landlord is the one kicking them out, not you. And there may have been other lease violations that you aren’t even aware of (late rent, damage to the apartment), so you can’t really be sure how fair he is or is not being.

So don’t feel bad. I’m sure they’ll have their studio up and running again very soon.

5

There’s a Hamtramck joke in there somewhere, I’m sure.

6

You know, Mom was feeling kind of guilty when they were kicking the neighbor out, too. The flat across the hall from hers is co-owned by the owners of every apartment in the building; they’ve been renting it out for the last 6 years. The first renter was ok for about a year but then he started being late on payments, they finally evicted him.

Since Mom was secretary of the community of owners at the time, she had to go in to check for damages. I reckon she’ll be bringing up that smurf-blue living room and the fuchsia bedroom up in conversations till the day she dies.

I don’t really have a problem with colorful housing, but the paintjob and the drug stash they found while doing the damages check were both very much against the lease (that many pills couldn’t be for personal use unless it was the stock for three years). Oh, and since it was a judge-ordered eviction, there were two cops there. Instead of leaving in his car, the ex-renter got a ride to police HQ.

7

Oh, I’d almost bet money there’s damage to the apartment. People who let laundry mildew and ripe garbage accumulate aren’t likely to keep an apartment clean and free of mildew, stains and vermin. People who let a cat roam free may also let it sharpen claws on the landlord’s doors or cabinets, or spray on the landlord’s walls. And in my experience, greasy reeking food, in addition to reeking, leaves a layer of aerosolized grease over more of the kitchen than you would ever believe if you haven’t seen it. Walls, cabinets, light fixtures… It’s a bitch to scrub off, too.

8

I know my landlord is going to flip his lid when he gets a peek at their kitchen. There’s no way there isn’t permanent damage, the smells that waft out of there are toxic.

So far, so good on the avoidance front.

9

Feel bad? I would be celebrating!

Last place I lived, I roomed with the landlord of a complex of about 4 or 5 two-bedroom homes. Well, sort of the landlord. He had 50% financial interest in the property and his mom had the other 50%, so he couldn’t really do anything important without her on board. He’s a pretty mean dude–nice to his family and me, and nice enough to his coworkers at the animal hospital, and adored the animals, but not incredibly considerate of other people. OTOH, his mom’s a big ol’ softie, so a working balance is struck–generally.

Well, both of us worked at night (he from 8 PM until anywhere from 1 to 5 AM, me from 5 PM until 12:30 AM), and the dog next door was up and at 'em at 6:00 sharp–loudly. Every. Fucking. Morning.

This was not acceptable. If I were the landlord, of course, I would have gone over there and given them a warning, then given them the boot sometime during the next week if they couldn’t figure out how to keep the dog inside before 10 AM, and by the way, it’s in their lease that they’re not to be loud and obnoxious before 10 AM.

What did he do? He warned them nicely, then when it happened again he went over there and filled that poor old lady’s ear with about seven truckfuls of racial slurs and threats of eviction. Not cool.

What did his mom do? Shrugged her shoulders and said “I’ll talk to them”. Also not cool, especially since nothing ever actually happened, and the dog was still out there giving us the old rise-and-shine just a couple hours after we got home from our respective jobs.

Some people…