by Karen Smith

Created on: March 30, 2009

etrayed. The word sounds positively medieval. Something dredged up out of a Shakespearean monologue, perhaps - but not likely to describe a feeling right here, right now. Yet that's precisely where I am. Who'd have thunk it?

When my husband was transferred, we discussed selling our Arizona home. But that was counterintuitive to our goal to return there in the near term. Instead, why not rent it out, keeping the house and our westward options open? We were about to place an ad on Craigslist and hope for the best. Discussing the decision one night over dinner with friends, one of them turned to us and said, "Wow, I'd be interested!"

That, dear reader, was when we should have said, "thanks, but no," or, "Never mind, we've already got someone lined up". But instead, we looked at this friend of many years, knowing she'd screwed every landlord she'd ever leased from, and said to ourselves - and to her - "Gee,this might really work!".

The moral of this particular story is that if you have a friend, a treasured and beloved friend, who routinely stops paying rent and ends up in court with their landlords, you should not, under any circumstances, rent them your house and expect things to be different. Because leopards do not change their spots.

In our tale of woe, said friend told us she and two roommates were seeking precisely the home we had available; a pied a terre where all three could have their own rooms and share the patios, pool and common spaces of the larger residence. She further offered to maintain the premises, and as we had hired her regularly as our handyman of choice, this, too, seemed an advantage in the long term.

The two roommates being unavailable (musicians, they were on the road) she signed the lease on behalf of all. When I questioned her past behaviors, husband and mutual friends assured me all would be different. After all, we were friends. We headed east and hoped for the best.

In the very first month, warning bells sounded. The two roommates appeared unaware of the contract she'd entered into; one, in fact, headed to Indiana. Leaving her and the second in our home, one third short of the agreed-upon rent. I flew out for a visit when business took me west and found the second roommate unaware of any commitment at all. He said he was staying at the house only until he could find a cheap room in the center of town to sublet.

Upon my departure, our 'friend' fessed up that she'd not told the two gentlemen of her plans and could not, in good conscience,

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