Posted on 03/20/2022 9:07:48 AM PDT by thegagline
In a sign of the times, a fed-up Queens landlord posted two giant banners calling out his allegedly deadbeat tenants for owing him $17,000 in back rent.
“MY TENANTS ON THE FIRST FLOOR ARE NOT PAYING RENT” read the bold posters slung above the first-floor rental on 175th Street in Springfield Gardens.
Landlords Calvin and Jean Thompson posted the banners — which can be seen from the Belt Parkway — in the hopes of shaming their tenants into paying up. It was also featured in a TikTok video that got more than 14,000 likes — and supportive comments like, “Not paying your bills is ghetto.” ***
But with nearly 200,000 eviction cases pending in the city after pandemic protections and the state’s eviction moratorium created a historic backlog, the landlords see humiliation as the next best tactic.
“The signs are very embarrassing and shameful for them,” said the Thompsons’ son, Calvin Jr. “That’s the only voice we have at this stage: freedom of speech.”
The signs seem to be working: Kathia Lamour tried to cut one sign down, Calvin Jr. claims.
“When she calls Uber, she won’t do it in front of the house anymore,” he said. “She runs to the end of the block, so they don’t see them.
***
Problems began in July when the Thompsons raised the rent on the Lamours’ three-bedroom pad from $1,800 a month to $1,900, the first rent hike in nine years, according to Calvin Jr.
The Lamours didn’t want to pay the 5% increase. Kathia, who works for the city Department of Social Services and makes $46,731, according to GovSalaries.com, told The Post she tried to drop off $1,800 in rent instead of the new amount, but the Thompsons refused to take it — so she stopped paying altogether. ***
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The NY liberals will find a way to make deadbeat tenants a privacy concern.
In the old days, the landlord would take the door off it’s hinges and leave a note saying, “”Door damaged, been taken for repair, sorry for the inconvenience.”
Why on earth would you be a landlord in NYC (or SF or Chicago)? You can make way more money and less hassle in red states (and some purple states like NC/AZ)
If they’re deadbeats....
If you ever tempted to invest real estate, stay from big cities, unless you have its politicians in your pocket like those nickles and dimes
I don’t get not taking the rent. Take it as partial rent at least so the arrearages don’t pile up.
Relying on shame to get tenants to pay up is a non-starter. Nowadays a huge swath of Americans is incapable of feeling shame. The taking-the-door-off-the-hinges tactic is much more likely to be successful.
“I don’t get not taking the rent. Take it as partial rent at least so the arrearages don’t pile up.”
The word will get out and no one will pay full rent from then on. People will say, “I can give you $200 today and more next week.”
Oldest tenant trick in the book.
And get just as shafted.
There is so much wrong here. People with limited income signing up for that kind of rent payment...landlord letting it get to $17k arrears...
I flip houses. Occasionally will finance but nobody gets a deed until I'm fully paid for the property. Never had a problem. Never a tenant -- and that's in every contract, in caps.
But a landlord in a big city, that's just nuts. What tenant in NYC or Chicago doesn't know that renting is a turkey shoot?
i’m surprised the tenant was/is embarrassed about this sign, seems like no one is ashamed of anything anymore.
I wish my rent only went up a hundred dollars in nine years...
Yeah, I agree about the shaming. That will lead to damage when they move out.
The tenant doesn’t own the door.
Taking partial rent breaks the lease and if you allow that, you can’t enforce the rest of it, given today’s judges. Tenants will nickel and dime you from then on if you take partial rent.
I’ve been renting in NC/SC for a dozen years with no problems at all. Currently have 9 rental properties. I’ve never had to go through an eviction but it takes less than 2 weeks here (and I have a full month or more security deposit on every property)
All you need to know about every situation is this part you wrote:
“stay away from big cities”
Wasn’t always that way but here we are.
I like that approach!
I was lucky too, ran a 4-plex for twenty years, filed one eviction, tenant moved.
Filed a 3 day notice on a tenant over a noisy girl friend who wasn’t on the lease, barred her from the premises. Checked three days later, guy had moved.
My secret was renting under the market price just enough that people wanted to pay and stay.
I’d rather pay off some AB or Hell’s Angels to make these people’s lives suck until I get my rent or they move out.
In some jurisdictions, accepting the lower payment without a signed agreement in place for the full amount may be considered an implicit acceptance of the lower payment as the legally binding amount due.
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