[marktwain]

America has gone insane.

This is third world country stuff.

The rule of law is supposed to protect people from this sort of predator.

This is how a system falls in to barbarism. Next thing you know, couples will be paying local thugs protection money to take care of problems such as this.

[Former Proud Canadian]

"Next thing you know, couples will be paying local thugs protection money to take care of problems such as this."

That's been going on for a long time. You don't know too many landlords do you?

[Mark17]

This is third world country stuff.

Actually, I think this wouldn't happen in the third world. They would just handle business, and shut up about it.

[Alberta's Child]

There was a reader comment on one of the sites where this story appeared, and if what he said was true then he's a genius. He was dealing with a situation where he wanted to evict someone who was 3-4 months behind on the rent, but he knew that a formal eviction process would cost more than he was willing to pay. So he did the following:

1. Notified the tenant that he was going to enter the property on a certain date and time to fix the boiler (which actually did need fixing). She was away when he entered so ...

2. He fixed the boiler, but before he left the house he removed the front door from its hinges -- leaving the interior of the home exposed to the elements.

3. Made an anonymous phone call to the town's health officer, reporting the open/exposed home as if he was a neighbor who just happened to see it.

4. The health officer came to the property, boarded up the door, posted an "uninhabitable dwelling" notice on the plywood board, and ran yellow tape all over the outside of the house.

5. A couple of months later, the owner (who never heard from the tenant in all this time) simply had the door fixed, tossed all the contents of the home out in the garbage, and paid a small fine to get the certificate of occupancy restored.

LMAO.