{"id":30478,"date":"2023-02-22T08:46:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T13:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/?p=30478"},"modified":"2023-04-13T09:55:01","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T13:55:01","slug":"kicked-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/22\/kicked-out\/","title":{"rendered":"KICKED OUT"},"content":{"rendered":"

 
\nI kicked<\/strong> <\/span>a tenant out after 40 years. I didn\u2019t renew him — to use real estate terminology. Jim ran a beauty salon. He was a good hairstylist and low maintenance as a commercial tenant. My family \u2013 first my dad, then me \u2013 collected Jim’s rent through the years. The only time I had a problem with Jim was six years ago when he started paying his water bill late. I wrote him: \u201cIf you think I like tracking your \u2018past dues,\u2019 think again.\u201d This was the worst thing in 40 years.<\/p>\n

Jim rented on a month-to-month basis, as opposed to being on a long-term lease. This was his idea. He chose month-t0-month in 2002. Maybe he never considered the flipside of his choice; I could quit on him, with little notice, just like he could quit on me. None of my other commercial tenants elected to go on month-to-month. Jim was 82 and keeping his options open — until I shut him down.<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cIt\u2019s simply a business decision on my end, Jim. I don\u2019t think any other businessman in my position would make a different call.\u201d A store owner next door wanted to expand, and she needed more space for her furniture and knick-knacks store. The furniture store — a k a home d\u00e9cor boutique — needed to take over the beauty-parlor space, or she would move. The furniture woman was ready to sign a five-year lease and agreed to pay the build-out (remodeling) on the beauty-salon space.<\/p>\n

Jim\u2019s security deposit was $300, which my dad had collected in 1982. That\u2019s $910 today, in inflation-adjusted dollars. I planned to give Jim $910 back. Nice guy — me. In Ohio, landlords aren\u2019t obligated to pay interest on security deposits. Jim said I was making a mistake, booting him. He said, \u201cBeauty parlors and bars last forever. My salon and the bar across the street are the only old-timers on the block.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim <\/strong>left<\/strong><\/span> the store keys and a lot of junk, including four beauty parlor chairs with hair dryers attached. I didn\u2019t say anything about it. I said, \u201cThanks for all the years. My family and I appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I put one of the beauty-parlor chairs on the curb and said to the building manager, \u201cI think somebody will want this. It might be a hipster thing.\u201d Like out of Hairspray<\/em> by John Waters.<\/p>\n

The chair remained on the curb for a day. No takers. I rented a 20-yard dumpster for the junk. There was a broken refrigerator and three desks in the basement. It cost me a lot more than $910 to clean the store out. The dumpster alone was $600. A handyman and his son needed two days to fill the dumpster. I kept Jim\u2019s $300 security deposit. On the other hand, I didn\u2019t charge him $63.90 for his final water bill.<\/p>\n

Nice guy — me.\u00a0 Or schmuck? It\u2019s sometimes hard to tell in the real estate business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I kicked a tenant out after 40 years. I didn\u2019t renew him — to use real estate terminology. Jim ran a beauty salon. He was a good hairstylist and low maintenance as a commercial tenant. My family \u2013 first my dad, then me \u2013 collected Jim’s rent through the years. The only time I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-landlord-biz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30478"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30509,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30478\/revisions\/30509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}