I often write about the Sea Dell and have heard many times that I should write a book about the events that occur with a motel. In general, the Florida Keys attract all manner of good, bad and ugly. There is an attitude here that is very positive about acceptance and allowing individuality which I like very much. I have met many interesting and bright people who seem to follow their dreams and interests. And those interests generally involve a love of nature and the beauty that lies over and under the water. And most of our guests, from all around the world, are wonderful and lovely people.
However, on the down side, the Keys do attract an inordinate amount of people who seem to be escaping the responsibilities of life. Perhaps because it is the furthest south you can go in the Continental U.S., it is almost like as escape route from reality. Or, because of the accepting manner and party atmosphere, there seem to be a higher than normal number of "deadbeats" - those people who do not seem to want to comply with the norms and rules of society.
Recently we ran across a real con man. He came into our lives as a renter for one of my son's properties. Upon meeting him, I was very impressed by his clean cut looks, and articulate manner. He had a very plausible story about why he and his wife and two children needed a place on such short notice and he agreed to do work on the rental in exchange for the first months rent. The agreement seemed perfect, because neglect of the property due to my son's absentee landlord status meant either we hired someone or this nice gentleman would do the work. I was so "conned" that we never considered doing any sort of background search. Lesson learned - it is imperative before you rent!
After the first month, Harry went to visit the property to see what had been done. Most of the promised work was incomplete and the tenant had a multitude of excuses. However, what Harry also discovered was that the tenant had 6 dogs and birds - all not mentioned on the rental contract. In fact, Matt had been repeatedly trying unsuccessfully to get that missing page of the contract from the tenant. Now we knew why. When Harry returned to place a license sticker on the mobile home, he spoke with the wife about the pets. Later that day, Matt received an email from the tenant and the story had been distorted to Harry screaming at the wife and the neighbors were witnesses to his abuse. A few days later when the rent was 5 days late with every conceivable excuse other than the birds ate the rent, Harry decided to hire an attorney to do the eviction because his gut told him this tenant was going to be trouble. And boy, was he right.
In early March, when the eviction notice was scheduled to be posted, Harry drove by the property to see if the tenant was still at the property. In fact, the tenant was outside with a moving truck. Harry drove past, turned around and went home. Later that day a police officer showed up at our door. My mean 68 year old husband had, according to the tenant and his witness wife, punched the 35 year old tenant in the jaw and the tenant had called 911. Harry had to show the police offer his knuckles! The next day, the situation got uglier when the same Sheriff showed up with a restraining order, claiming Harry had not only punched the tenant, but was stalking his wife and kids, and had last month driven by and tried to hit the tenant with our car. The County Prosecutor threw out the punching allegation (neighbors who were outside at the time corroborated that they had not seen or heard any disturbance) but the restraining order has to be addressed. As I am a witness to counter some of the lies, I am happily attending the hearing. Of course, the tenant will not appear so it will be thrown out.
In the meantime, the tenant was evicted and when we went to check out the property, found that they had literally trashed the place. We had to pay someone to haul two large truckloads of animal feces and urine stained furniture, mattresses and belongings out to the transfer station. And, found moldings, walls, floors, doors, etc. deliberately damaged. A baseball bat was lying in the living room and all flooring had been pounded and broken. It was so filthy and disturbing that our lawyer contacted children's services to check on the well being of the two children in this couple's care. Because, after the fact, we learned that the tenant had been evicted from their previous rental and that property manager said that this renter was the worse they had encountered ever, and felt the man was possibly abusive to his wife and children. And, that he had also trashed their rental to the tune of $10,000 worth of damages.
So, we will file for damages for Matt, which of course he will never see. And, we will help Matt get the rental back in shape. In fact, we have a lovely little Cuban man who has lived in the U.S. for over 30 years and refuses to speak English who is doing a wonderful job of restoration and lets us practice our Spanish. And, of course, most importantly, we will be much more careful in renting and despite many, many positive experiences, learn that we need to know the background. We should know better by now, as we have been burned quite often down here in the Keys. But, who wants to look at each potential renter as a "deadbeat"? Maybe me, from now on.
