There are two types of tenants: Good & Bad Tenants

All tenants appear to be good, but that is subject to change. At anytime, they can do a Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde,  and make life a living hell for a superintendent, or his wife, which is what I am.

You never really get to know the good tenants. They keep to themselves, don't damage their dwelling or bother anyone. But you sure do get to know the bad ones!

My definition of a bad tenant, is a tenant who does any of the following:

1) Steals plants from the front lobby, or bicycles not locked up in the basement

2) Puts their garbage in the hallway, instead of in the bin it belongs in

3) Illegally dumps garbage from their work and allows their friends to also

4) Parks anywhere, in numbered parking places, that they please; also allowing their visitors to do the same.

5) Lets their dogs run loose in the building, and doesn't use a pooper scooper (outside or inside of the building)

These of just some of my stories, about our "Tenants Gone Wild". All of the stories you will read here are true. Only the names have been changed, to protect the "Idiots".

One winter day, one of the tenants, we shall call Katherine, decided she liked the plant in the lobby. She liked it so much she stole it. But alas, she forgot about the CC TV (Close Circuit camera). When the plant was discovered missing, the manager of the apartment building viewed footage of Katherine carrying the plant up the steps to her apartment floor. When confronted Katherine couldn't apologize enough. You think that changed her from a bad tenant to a good one? She was good for a few months and then she found another way to stay in that category.

Katherine started leaving her kitchen garbage outside of her door, in the public hallway. We're not talking about a few minutes. She left it out for a day. When the superintendent asked her to take her trash out to the bin, her response was cursing & yelling that she was being harassed. She left it out in the hall for 3 days and one day she took it out to the garbage bin She must have received the notice from Landlord Tenant/Board, giving her 7 days to comply or be evicted.

We know she is looking for a reason to sue the building. Her accusation of harassment told us that. Every winter she loses her job. Katherine broke up with her boyfriend, who helped her pay the rent. She can easily be evicted should she lose her job again.

Yes, we are looking forward to the winter!

Everyone knows that apartments have rules right? That garbage bins are for trash from the apartment. They also know that designated spots are just that, numbered spots assigned to each tenant to park in. It's not for their visitors to park in. Visitors park on the grass area or out on the street. After 3 hours on the street, they get a ticket. Come winter time there will be no visitor spots. It will be replaced with mounds of snow. They will have to park on the street!

Tommy don't think these rules apply to him. He has no qualms in driving in from work & dumping his trash from his truck. He even invites his friends over, to do the same thing. Doesn't he realize what he is doing is called "Illegal Dumping"? In Toronto, the fine can be up to $10,000. Is he not afraid, because his truck isn't worth the cost of the fine?

Another thing Tommy likes to do, is play what I call "Musical Parking". Park in everyone's space but his own, while he has his visitors or his new roommate park in his designated space

A few weeks ago, he was busted on both counts. Not by the police, but by me. I caught him & his friend in the act of tossing the trash, that they both brought in off the street.

I was too late to stop Tommy from dumping, but arrived just as the friend opened his tailgate. After writing down his plate number, I told him to leave, before I reported him for attempted dumping. Once again the whole episode was caught on CC-TV and recorded.

I then noticed that Tommys truck was parked in another tenants space. His was roommate parked in his spot. I told him he had 2 choices: visitor parking or out on the street. His excuse to me for parking there was: he didn't see anyone parked, in the spot he was in, for 3 days. Did that give him the right to park there? He thought so, but I straightened him out on that. I also informed him that if he parks, in any other spot but his own, he'll be paying $30 extra on his rent. (The cost of renting another parking space)

A few days after this incident, we spotted two men on the CC-TV camera, that looked like gang members. They wore the colors and tons of tattoos. They got off on the 2nd floor. We suspect they went to Tommy's apartment. But before we could go to his apartment to check, we saw them leaving the building. Hopefully that is their last visit here. We have since learned they DID go to Tommys unit.  He claims they were undercover police officers. I'll believe that when I ask them for their badge numbers next time I see them!

Tommy has given his notice that he's moving, so we won't be dealing with his terrible behavior for long.  His move out day is October 31st. Would it be rude to toast his departure? Maybe I'll just wear my party hat as I watch him move his things out and go!

Dogs are allowed in our apartment building. The lease they signed has conditions to have their dogs here.

1) A dog must not disturb the comfort of other tenants:  Since last April, two dog owners had to give away their dogs. One will guilty of excessive barking. He barked for hours, until the tenant came home from work. The other was a vicious dog. It tried to attack a few people. Even with a muzzle it still jumped on a child.

2) A dog cannot damage the building: The vicious dog above also chewed a big hole in the door.

3) A dog should not urinate in/or on any part of the building: Some owners have allowed their dogs to urinate in the elevator, in the stairway, on the corner of the building, right by the back parking lot door. We've even found poop in the stairwell. I'm guessing they don't use the pooper scooper even outdoors.

4) A dog is not allowed to run free in the building: One tenant, who calls her dogs "her kids", has the bad habit of letting her "kids" off their leashes the moment she comes from outside. One of these days they're going to come in, and run & jump on a toddler.

Signs have been posted on these matters. You can't blame the dogs. It's the owners fault. Last sign we put up, brought a call from Landlord/Tenant Board, with accusations from them that the managers were imposing "petty" rules. Do you see anything petty about them?

Needless to say we probably won't rent anymore apartments out to dog owners!

This is far from complete. As you've noticed, this is Part 1. There's at least one more part to come. I just need to find the time to write it. If you have any comments or suggestions on how to deal with these wild tenants, I'd appreciate it.