The sorrows of an amateur landlord
Renting a condo unit can be stressful.
Rental Fraud in Nova Scotia
Dr. Patricia Celan
23 August 2022
I know Nova Scotia has a housing crisis, and that’s why when I became a landlord, I decided I wanted to help, especially the people who are most marginalized. When I bought my Dartmouth rental property in June this year, I made sure to advertise it as pet-friendly because I know how hard it is for pet-lovers to find rentals. I also prioritized applicants who had some kind of story of higher need. I went into this with the best intentions, yet I was targeted by people who preyed upon me.
When I met my 2 current tenants, they had 2 cats, 1 dog, and a tragic story of difficult life circumstances. When my tenants shared that they have bad credit because of mistakes they made in their 20s, and they said they’re trying to fix their credit, I decided to waive the credit check and be that person who gives people a second chance in life and the benefit of the doubt. After all, I wanted to help the marginalized people and I wanted to help them live in a rental where they could keep their pets.
They gave me a cheque for rent for June, post-dated cheques for the rest of the year, and a damage deposit cheque. In return, I gave them the keys to the unit. Five days later, the cheques bounced, and my heart dropped. I soon realized that everything was a lie. I took a closer look at the application and recognized several lies. I looked closer at paystubs and saw signs that they were likely falsified. I called their landlord references again and realized those were just friends pretending to be landlords. I questioned them about their claims of things like the tragic life circumstances and employment info, and realized they faked everything — even their sob story.
Buying a condo unit to rent out, using a credit card and a Line of Credit, is more than a little risky. Then renting to a couple, who have a history of scamming landlords, because you fell for a sob story is almost unbelievable.
As shown below, she did not get much sympathy on social media.
Comments on Twitter
This angry landlord is so funny. Everything she says is just "I had no assets, no money, no job, nothing but good credit - so I took on massive debt with the understanding that other people would pay for everything, and I'd get a free property. Why does nobody have any sympathy?"
Look, when you try to convert credit into rent-generating capital that pays for itself and ultimately becomes a lifelong source of profit, you're playing the game of capitalism in its purest form. And of course, when it doesn't work out, you do what all capitalists do...You demand the state use its monopoly on force to protect you. But that's when you find out that as a young student who over-leveraged to buy one rental unit, you're at the bottom rung of the capitalist ladder. You're just not important enough for the state to prioritize you.
You thought this was a safe way to enter the exploiter class, and now you're finding out you were just another sucker for the bigger, badder capitalists at the bank. Your anger should be directed at the people who sold you on the myth that this was risk-free and morally neutral.
—Leigh Beadon Toronto