RENTAL HOUSING AND OTHER SCAMS DURING COVID-19

In this post, I hope to bring to light just a few of the rental scams that are taking place during the COVID virus. Low-Income, Government, Affordable, or Workforce housing (whatever name they are running it under now) is littered with scams from the private property managing companies, the landlord(s), to the government housing agencies designed to protect and help the financially challenged to obtain sanitary, up-to-code, reasonable priced shelter allowing all the conveniences of electricity, running water, heat in the winter and free of vermin, and other health risks.

They want the windows to be of a size that a full-grown adult can crawl through in case of a fire, and can be reached from the floor. There are to be doors that lock, windows that prevent the weather from coming in, adequate hot water, and heat. This is all to be provided when you rent, plus the environment is to be free of health and physical bodily risk of injury.

Many of the apartments, and houses, that I have rented on and off of the Home Choice Section 8 Voucher program have rarely met all of these simple criteria. I have rented a duplex, the entire two-story duplex for two years until I realized that the house shook every time a train came through town. The train tracks were half a mile from the house. One month after leaving the house, the current tenant told me that the upstairs toilet fell into the basement. No wonder the house shook, yet I paid rent for two years faithfully.

I rented a trailer house in Southwestern Montana, only to have the Landlord enter and exit the home as he felt, make passes at me, and try to control who my visitors were. When I reported this to the local police department, they would not do anything, housing only gave him a slap on the wrist and I got my deposit back. Overlooking the fact that I was forced to help complete repairs such as replacing the sceptic tank, snow plowing during the winter when he was not on the property, tearing up an old deck, cleaning out past tenants debris from the shed I was paying rent on. I won't mention the fact that I did not have a working bathroom or kitchen that month, and driving to a gas station two miles away to utilize the toilet was not the best option.

I have had to fight to correct a mathematical error made by the Montana Department of Commerce, Housing Division that cost me seven hundred and fifty dollars, instead of returning the money to me, they had the property management put a credit on the books for me, forcing me to remain in an apartment with broken sewer lines under the concrete floor, with a smell so putrid that it permeated my clothing and still after four months of sitting in boxes in a shed, smell of mold, mildew and something else remains, despite the year and five months of washing before being put in a box. I moved from this apartment at the beginning of the Covid-19 Montana Stay at Home Order.

I was forced into that, Montana Department of Commerce, Housing Division Inspected twice and approved apartment during the 2019 Government Shut Down in January of 2020 (one of the coldest months of winter in Montana). Many rental units are placed on Craigslist, many of the pictures you see may or may not say a picture is of a similar unit. Do not trust the pictures, your unit may not be pictured as it may not be cleaned properly, or have had repairs made that were required from the previous occupancy. 

The Housing Inspector will overlook some things as it is difficult to find a unit that meets the criteria in every way. Housing Inspectors believe they are doing the right thing so families can find homes. This is untrue as it only encourages bad landlords to allow their properties to rot down around the tenant's ears. Ask for all maintenance reports covering two years, ask for the former tenant's name so you can call and check the property manager's references as well as the owners. Run a background check on those companies and owners to find anything that they may neglect to tell you not only about their business practices, but if they are the types of individuals you want to pay your money too.

They run background checks on tenants in order to protect their investment, well you are handing over your dollars to supply the means to keep the property up so make sure your money is being used properly. Landlords blame the tenants, tenants blame the landlords and property management companies. I blame code enforcement and housing inspectors, the buck is to stop at them as they are there to make sure the unit is habitable and worth the amount of money required to rent the place. If it does not meet standards, it should be turned into code enforcement and not allowed to be rented until the landlord complies.

Code enforcement should not allow buildings with outdated electrical and plumbing continued to be rented. The landlords will never update these items, nor clean heating ducts, furnaces, air conditioners until they are forced to comply with the codes and stop splitting hairs in the courts where most tenants can not afford to bring their complaint.