Amanda Wells lost a lawsuit against her former landlord in small claims court. She alleged that his rental was infested with bedbugs. “Landlord makes no warranty of habitability,” the lease stated.
Once again, Jeff unprofessionally seeks to demonize landlords. This landlord lost rent and spent thousands of dollars on an exterminator (a very responsible thing to do given the lack of evidence that there was actually an infestation) and a lawyer... all to deal with a suit by a tenant who didn't even bother to collect a single one of the bugs that supposedly bit her to demonstrate that it was a bedbug. A power imbalance indeed! The landlord refunded her money even though she hadn't proven that bedbugs were present. He didn't evade service of process and dutifully showed up in court for the trial. What could he have done better? Only one thing: he could have not gotten angry, though under the circumstances he was 100% justified in doing so.
Landlording is a heartbreaking business. You put your heart and soul into a property, and then both it and you are abused for your hard work. When all was said and done, he was out a huge amount of money due to an accusation that couldn't even be substantiated.
If the tenant really found "10-20 bugs" crawling all over her, why did she not capture even one of them? Bedbugs, if present, are easy to catch and very easy to identify. Our family found this out the hard way when a tenant brought ACTUAL bedbugs, on his belongings, into a rental unit that we owned. We wound up having to clear the building (losing more than a month's rent) and hire a contractor who filled it with poisonous gas to make sure the bugs were all dead! The tenant, who knew he was in the wrong, vanished and his deposit came nowhere near covering the expense.
We also once faced an accusation that there was toxic mold in a property when not one but two expensive professional tests showed that there was none. The tenant had poisoned HERSELF with toxic chemicals and then tried to blame it on us.
Such lawsuits raise the cost of housing in Laramie just as every other expense connected with housing - including insurance, energy, labor, maintenance, taxes, and supplies - is skyrocketing. Not to mention the new, illegal tax which the city is attempting to levy upon rental housing, which - unless the courts enjoin it, as they should - will cost Laramie tenants upward of a quarter of a million dollars per year!
In the article above, Jeff not only shows his vitriol and malice toward the hard working people who provide a vital resource - housing - to the community, but shows disrespect for the Court (which doesn't hesitate to rule against landlords who indeed do something wrong). Jeff is demonstrating that he's by no means a "reporter" - just a random blogger with some hateful axes to grind.
Once again, Jeff unprofessionally seeks to demonize landlords. This landlord lost rent and spent thousands of dollars on an exterminator (a very responsible thing to do given the lack of evidence that there was actually an infestation) and a lawyer... all to deal with a suit by a tenant who didn't even bother to collect a single one of the bugs that supposedly bit her to demonstrate that it was a bedbug. A power imbalance indeed! The landlord refunded her money even though she hadn't proven that bedbugs were present. He didn't evade service of process and dutifully showed up in court for the trial. What could he have done better? Only one thing: he could have not gotten angry, though under the circumstances he was 100% justified in doing so.
Landlording is a heartbreaking business. You put your heart and soul into a property, and then both it and you are abused for your hard work. When all was said and done, he was out a huge amount of money due to an accusation that couldn't even be substantiated.
If the tenant really found "10-20 bugs" crawling all over her, why did she not capture even one of them? Bedbugs, if present, are easy to catch and very easy to identify. Our family found this out the hard way when a tenant brought ACTUAL bedbugs, on his belongings, into a rental unit that we owned. We wound up having to clear the building (losing more than a month's rent) and hire a contractor who filled it with poisonous gas to make sure the bugs were all dead! The tenant, who knew he was in the wrong, vanished and his deposit came nowhere near covering the expense.
We also once faced an accusation that there was toxic mold in a property when not one but two expensive professional tests showed that there was none. The tenant had poisoned HERSELF with toxic chemicals and then tried to blame it on us.
Such lawsuits raise the cost of housing in Laramie just as every other expense connected with housing - including insurance, energy, labor, maintenance, taxes, and supplies - is skyrocketing. Not to mention the new, illegal tax which the city is attempting to levy upon rental housing, which - unless the courts enjoin it, as they should - will cost Laramie tenants upward of a quarter of a million dollars per year!
In the article above, Jeff not only shows his vitriol and malice toward the hard working people who provide a vital resource - housing - to the community, but shows disrespect for the Court (which doesn't hesitate to rule against landlords who indeed do something wrong). Jeff is demonstrating that he's by no means a "reporter" - just a random blogger with some hateful axes to grind.