SMALL TOWN AMERICA

[Jerry W.]

I have to post what happened to me today. I had a prior tenant who looked good on paper but he always was late with the rent. I meant to charge late fees, but he was always contrite and apologized and so I never did. He had an extremely good paying job, and I know his mother, and often when I would call him about an unpaid water bill she would bring the money by my house in cash. He moved out with only 10 days notice and I had to replace carpet because he had gotten a puppy and it had puppy urine smell in it that did not shampoo out. One room had such nice hardwood floors, I just left it, the other room got replaced. I repainted several rooms as it had been years since they were painted and needed spruced up. There were minor cleaning and repair items but not much for a single parent dad. The property rented the day my cleaning crew moved out, in fact I helped the new tenants move furniture in.

Due to him paying later and later he got further behind and when he moved out suddenly I realized he was over 2 months behind. My late fees are $15 per day, but to be honest I rarely ever charge them. He did not leave a forwarding address but his mother said he moved to another town. My phone messages were not answered and my letters returned undelivered.

Today I get a call saying he is town and how sorry he was for not being current. He asks me how much he owed, including new carpet in one room, I explained and told him if he paid right now I would again waive late fees. Ten minutes later he shows up with cash, shakes my hand and says thank you for for being so understanding. He already moved again due to work, and it would have been hard to track him down to get a judgement.

These things are pretty rare, but they do happen in small towns. Do things like this happen to landlords in bigger towns?