She’s Trying
written by: Doug Bartlett
I knew better, so it’s really my own fault. I’ve been a landlord for many years and am a fairly good judge of character.
One of my apartment units had been vacated and was now available for a new occupant. Included in the first wave of applications was one from Peggy. It would be her first time renting, and she didn’t have a strong or deep history of work or renting. I was undecided whether to rent to her or not. She wasn’t as strong an applicant as I would like, but I didn’t want to become cynical of people, and I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, everybody has to start somewhere. I have done this with others in the past, and some of them were so appreciative that I took a risk on them that they made an extra effort to be a good renter. Others apparently saw this as a sign of weakness and continued to push the limits to see how much they could take advantage of me before my patience with them wore out. She was ecstatic and so appreciative. This, I would discover later, would be a mistake.
After moving in, the other renters began complaining about the loud music coming from her apartment at all hours of the day and night. She also moved in three cats, which was clearly not allowed in the rental contract. She always paid her rent late and never paid the late fee. She was what we call a high-maintenance renter.
Speaking of maintenance, she did none. She would not even change a light bulb when it had burned out. When there was a legitimate repair that needed to be done, she would wait until the weekend to call and demand it be done immediately (when it was much more expensive to fix).
Her specialty was calling in after five p.m on Friday. This repair needed to be done immediately. When I asked her how long it had been that way, she would tell me three or four days.
I finally reached my limit and went to her apartment to serve her with move-out papers.
When she answered the door, I handed her the eviction papers and told her things were not working out, and she would need to move out.
She said, “But I’m trying.”
I responded, “ Yes, you are. You are very trying.”
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