That Crooked Clown Landlord

Quick note on that clown landlord of mine...

Recall that last weekend he folded and dropped the eviction proceeding against me when I threatened to sue him for *triple damages* - for failing to properly escrow my security deposit.

One of the things I was planning to do to *disarm* him was to threaten him with alerting his other tenants (past and present) about the *triple damages* statute. Surely he didn't escrow their funds either!

While it never (or hasn't yet) came to that, I did find out some information today on the unfortunate couple who was renting his vacated and soon-to-be-foreclosed McMansion.

They came from out-of-state, probably used a relo specialist, and from afar were duped into renting this other house of his for the ridiculous sum of $5,000 per month. (Rent market value is more like $3,400.)

But at least they were smart enough to limit the lease duration; and they did, after several months find a house nearby and purchase it. Of course, on the move-out, the crook decided not to return their security deposit. I believe he shorted them $2,000-$3,000 or so of the original 5k deposit. Surprise, surprise,...right?

Hold on, it gets worse.

Supposedly, while renting the McMansion, one of their parents came for a visit. This grandmother slept in the guest room or something. The poor woman caught pneumonia and died.

Now I'm not positing a causal relationship, but supposedly the room she slept in WAS NOT INSULATED. And that might very well be illegal or minimally a serious code violation.

Again, I don't know if you can blame *the room*. Every house has cold rooms, people either bundle up or go sleep somewhere else. *Cold* is certainly not indiscernible (like pig flu!). Nonetheless, some building inspector was either incompetent and/or bought off - I think.

And if my landlord had any real assets, I'd imagine he (or his insurance company) could easily be the target of some *wrong death* suit or something.

Consider for a minute how pissed off this couple is. They were over-paying a scumbag, for a place that supposedly had its share of issues. Their mother/in-law catches pneumonia while staying in this $5,000 per month McMansion - AND DIES. And then, on the way out, the (our) landlord decides to keep half of their security deposit!

The third party who conveyed this story to me said that this couple was *very fired up* to get back at the landlord. And being the charitable fellow that I am, I will reach out to them, and avail them of my *services*. I'm right sure I can get their security deposit back pretty quickly - even if the scumbag landlord has to sell one of his kidneys to come up with the cash!