by Richard Serra

Created on: March 07, 2010   Last Updated: March 10, 2010

Having been a landlord for 30 years, I think I've just about had every conceivable disaster when it came to tenants. Of the countless stories I could tell, there just wouldn't be enough space to write about them. I could write a book, and possibly I might do that one day soon. Some stories are as comical as they are of horror, and some include both.

One I will talk about was a model tenant for a number of months without any incidents whatsoever. He didn't have a car, so he would ride to work every day on a bicycle in all kinds of weather. I felt sorry for him on many occasions as the weather was too horrible for him to ride his bike to work.

He was polite, courteous, and never asked for anything. We felt after a while he was almost like a son to us, and we felt if we sold the house, or moved, we would take him with us. Unknown to us, he had recovered from drugs and alcohol, and it wasn't until we got another tenant that things changed from white to black.

The new tenant, brought to us by his beautiful sister, was also a drug addict and alcoholic. This wasn't known immediately, as everyone who comes looking for a room always lies about everything we really need to know. It wasn't long before we started noticing beer and whiskey bottles in the trash, and there seemed to be enough as though it were from a big party.

When questioned about why he didn't tell us up front, he said he just wanted a chance to move in and was afraid we wouldn't take him. Seemed like a very likable guy, and so I let him know that if any problems arise from his drinking, we would ask him to vacate. It wasn't long before he enticed my model tenant to have a beer. At first he refused, but after some pressure, he reluctantly agreed to have a beer.

That was it. That was the end. He completely reversed his good standing by going back to doing drugs, drinking, and becoming a totally different personality. He began bringing homeless drunks to party at the house. Other tenants began to vacate as a result. He would threaten them if they complained. When I confronted him about everything, he became violent and threatened to kill us both. He continued his reckless behaviour, turning the house into a flop house for drugs and drinking.

The house was being destroyed, and calling the police did nothing to curb his activities. As a matter of fact, they began to get nasty with me for expecting them to do something about the constant problems. The neighbors were getting restless as they were aware something

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