I have to confess the last 6 months it has been difficult for me to keep my anger under control. Last year we had some tenants who could not pay the rent due to covid. The State of Iowa set up a program where they could apply for aid and in just a few days the funds were directly deposited in our bank account. it worked great and it not only kept tenants from falling behind on their rent, it kept the owners of the property paid as well. Then the funds ran out.
The federal government allocated funds the end of last year and the beginning of this year to pay for rent of tenants who could not pay. That would have been a good thing for landlords as the CDC mandated tenants could not be evicted for not paying rent. Problem is the states who were to pay out the funds have only paid out 6% of the allocated money as of the end of July.
Then the state of Iowa in their "wisdom" began to deny applications for rent assistance. If the tenants can not provide documentation of prior wages or cannot show their loss of income is covid related, they are denied. No, as a landlord you can not evict them but we are not going to pay you either.
We had 2 tenants who were in this situation. If you look around now, you can see that it is difficult to be unemployed, as everyone seems to need employees. They couldn't find a job and when they finally did, it seemed no money was available to pay rent. Neither the present rent nor any back rent. One of the two moved out end of June. They saw that the rent moratorium was going to end so they packed up and left because I promised them I would not pursue litigation for the thousands they owed us.
That left us with one problem tenant. When the moratorium was extended through July, they were going nowhere. "But Royce, we need a home for our children." That play for sympathy was falling on deaf ears since there were two adults who "couldn't" find a job living in the house.
Last week it looked like the Feds were finally going to let us evict, so we started the process. Monday the tenants were running and hiding from the deputies trying to serve the papers. Tuesday they said we will leave by noon, Oh wait we will leave by 2pm.
Shame they handed over the keys 2 hours before the CDC lengthened the eviction moratorium till October 3. Yea, I am crying about that one for them.
Once we were inside the house we found out we could have evicted anyway.
They only took what they could pack into the trunk of their car.
Every window covering in the house was ripped to shreds.
All the flooring is destroyed. Matthew pulled it up today.
$1000.00 of flooring pushed off at the landfill.
Doors shredded. they used a closet door to attempt to corral dogs in a room.
The dogs had not been let out of the house for a month.
Holes in walls and fist size holes in doors.
Yes that pile on one of the bathroom floors is exactly what it looks like.
After 6 months of dealing with tenants who refuse to pay rent and trash the house, I was having trouble with forgiveness. We are told to forgive. Jesus makes it clear that if we do not forgive, God will not forgive us.
I'll have to admit it is easier today to forgive than it was yesterday. That is self centered on my part, because now we can put the house back together and get a decent tenant. That is not forgiveness, that is just writing off a bad experience and a bad debt. It is easier not to be angry today because it is over, they are gone.
I believe they are homeless today. Truth is I don't care. We have never done that before. We have always helped tenants in financial trouble figure out another option. I could talk to them and help them see they needed to move in with a family member or a smaller subsidized apartment. I could do that because if they didn't listen to me they could be evicted. The CDC took that option away from me. I had no threat to make any tenant look for a viable option.
I am still left with a problem. I need to forgive them for trashing our house. I need to forgive them for taking 8 months rent from us. Doesn't mean I need to let anyone continue to steal from us, because yes they stole from us, but it does mean I need to say, "I forgive. Go in peace, you owe me nothing . May you learn from this experience and change your life style."
I'm not there yet, but I am working on it.
