tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864815735750729117.post4245555149263471606..comments2009-06-01T22:04:40.714-07:00Patrick Duffyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01418865588511944900pduffy@metrointel.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864815735750729117.post-39930879692740439672009-06-01T19:09:36.235-07:002009-06-01T19:09:36.235-07:00Have you checked out http://nopaytenants.com/Sonnyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13866859869305805044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1864815735750729117.post-34489908462004925182009-03-23T09:30:39.209-07:002009-03-23T09:30:39.209-07:00If it helps, I watched the same exact thing happen in North Texas after the oil bust in the mid-Eighties. In fact, I was at ground zero for much of it, as I had just moved out on my own in 1986, right about the time the banking industry started to collapse. In our case, it was because banks were foreclosing on whole apartment complexes, and they themselves were going under and being bought out by other baks, and the cycle continued. I lived for two years at one complex just north of Dallas, and it was owned by six different banks and property companies in the first year alone.<BR/><BR/>In the process, the same thing happened over and over at all of these complexes. My complex had a particularly corrupt manager, and she promptly took the budgeted money for complex parties and promotions and kept it for herself. The same was true about pet and roommate deposits, as she figured that nobody would catch on. The complex garbage was picked up once every two weeks, and trees went to shrub because nobody was pruning them, but she could afford to send maintenance crews into every apartment in the place looking for individuals who weren't paying "pet rent". (She was finally caught in 1989, fired and prosecuted, and those charged pet rent were refunded the money, but that's only because the property fell into the hands of a company that gave a damn. A lot of tenants in neighboring complexes weren't that lucky.)<BR/><BR/>This brings up a very serious situation for renters, because apparently nobody learned anything from the Eighties about protecting tenants. I just watched a bit complex in Dallas get torn down: the owners deliberately hid the fact that they were selling out to a buyer who wanted to raze the place and build high-rise condos on the space, and the tenants didn't discover this until they were given the 30-day eviction notices. And since the new property owner had a clause in his deed that said that he wasn't responsible for debts incurred by the previous owner? He isn't responsible for paying the tenants their deposits and advance rent payments, and nobody can find the previous owners.Texas Triffid Ranchhttp://www.txtriffidranch.comnoreply@blogger.com