Archives for 2009

Ha! I just found out that our terrible renter neighbors will have to move out soon!

Earlier today I noticed that there was a washing machine and a dryer sitting on their front porch. Now, since our washing machine up and died in August we’ve been doing without and taking our laundry to a laundromat (and drying it at home).

I knew that the renters were also going to a laundromat to dry their clothes because their dryer isn’t hooked up for some reason and possibly doesn’t work. So I saw what appears to be a new looking washing machine and dryer on their porch and I thought that the home owners might have bought new appliances for the house.

So I called the home owners to ask them about it as I was hoping that if they were replacing these items that maybe we could have the old washing machine if it still worked. Hey … a used one is better than ours that doesn’t work at all, right?

What I found out is that the home owners didn’t know anything about the washer and dryer sitting on the renters porch, AND, that the renters haven’t been paying their rent!

The home owners were just over there a few days ago to ask them for the rent. They just moved in in September and I don’t know if they paid first and last rent (with the home owners history I suspect they only paid the first months rent), so it’s possible that they missed both Octobers and November’s rent.

The home owners are in the process of trying to evict them. The lady said to me – you know I think they lied about their jobs too. I asked if they’d called the employers that they’d listed and she said they called the numbers they were given and talked to people that the renters had told them to ask for. I suggested that she just call the human resources department of the workplaces that they’d listed but she said “what’s the point now since we’re trying to evict them”. Dumb, the fact that they lied about having jobs might help the home owners evict them sooner.

I guess the rent isn’t the only bill that they aren’t paying. Ever since they moved in I’ve noticed that they keep a lot of windows in their house open. I figured they’d stop doing that once it got really cold (like now!) because their heating bill would be sky high … well they haven’t … so I’d bet that they aren’t paying the heating, electricity or their other bills. It won’t be long before they’re cut off.

I’m pretty sure they aren’t paying their cable and internet bill.

I just checked my internet usage (from Rogers) and it’s way up! Rogers, my internet provider only allows us to use 60 GB per month. Prior to our scuzzy renter neighbors moving in my usage averaged about 8 to 10 GB per month. However I just checked our usage for November and it’s up to 52 GB! They’ve been stealing our bandwidth!

Now I thought that our Linksys Router was secure, but it seems that I turned it off a few months ago when we were traveling and I hooked up to another wireless service. Duh – that was dumb – or well, dumb not to make my connection secure again!

I just made our router connection secure again so they can’t steal our internet coverage! Ha, and I renamed our system “No more free internet for you!” LOL So now when they see wireless connections in their area (say when they’re wondering why they can’t connect) they’ll see my message for our wireless connection … the one they won’t be able to get into anymore! HA!

I learned my lesson! Always secure your router connection! I just hope they didn’t use the internet a lot today and push us over the 60 GB monthly limit! My usage report only goes from November 1st to 29th, so I don’t know how much they used today before I cut them off. If they did push us over I’ll have to pay extra on our internet bill.

Like I said it was really dumb of me to not make sure our internet connection was secure. That won’t happen again!

Now that they’re cut off, the scuzzy renter neighbors will have one less form of entertainment … maybe that will help them move out soon! Then the nightmare will be over – no more locking even our screen doors all the time and not leaving the house empty for long (we fear they’ll rob us if they know we’re out since the guy has apparently robbed his own parents and sister!).

I hope it doesn’t take the home owners too long to get them kicked out. I think the renters are on a monthly lease, but still .. the laws here in Toronto make it hard to evict people even if they haven’t paid their rent in months.

When I was talking with the home owner this afternoon I suggested that once they get these people out that they raise the rent. I mean, they’re renting a whole house in a great neighborhood for only $1000! That’s unbelievable … but no wonder the two renters they’ve had so far turned out bad. If they raise the rent to $1400 or $1500 (still a bargain) they’d likely get a better class of renter. Anyway, she said they’d likely just sell the house after this as the ‘renting” experience was just too stressful.