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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Jul 7, 2014 4:41:01 GMT
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A woman, who asked to be identified only as Carrie, has lived in her Shadow Hills home for 21 years.
But for the last six months, she claims her tenant has her family living in fear, according to KTLA.
“My house has turned into a battleground,” Carrie said.
Two years ago, Carrie started renting a room to 26-year-old Sara Rogers for $1,500 a month. And even though Rogers filled out her application using a different last name, Carrie said her reason seemed legitimate.
“She said … ‘I’m getting divorced. I was only married for a short time, so I changed my name,’” Carrie said.
Rogers said she was a student who worked at the strip club Deja Vu in downtown Los Angeles.
Everything was fine for the first year.
But in late 2013, Carrie said Roger’s friends moved in, she got cats, installed an air conditioner and started making a lot of noise at odd hours of the night.
“The screaming, the spanking, the moaning … that would wake the dead and my 5-year-old,” Carrie said.
According to Carrie, when she tried to talk to Rogers in January about the situation she was served with a “cease and desist order for criminal stalking and harassment.”
After that, Carrie claimed a well-planned drama unfolded. She said Rogers changed the locks and put up industrial chains to keep her out.
When Carrie called police to report flooding coming from Rogers’ room, she claimed police told her she was in danger.
“Five officers came up and said to me ‘there is a loaded handgun in there … you have an unsecured door and an unsecured weapon in a house where you have a 5-year-old, you’re in trouble.’”
When Carrie hired an attorney she discovered she was not the first landlord to have issues with Rogers.
The attorney told Carrie that he had represented Rogers in other eviction cases, under her previous name, and that the young woman did this for a living.
Carrie’s attorney advised her to settle with Rogers for $4,000 instead of going to court.
Rodgers, who hasn’t paid rent in 6 months, was supposed to be out of the house by July 21, Carrie said.
When KTLA reached out to Rogers to get her side of the story, she responded with a text message stating, “It’s OK, the court settlement is enough for me. I’d prefer not to engage further with someone who doesn’t respect my privacy.”
Carrie told KTLA that the entire ordeal has cost her about $40,000.
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Post by miominmio on Jul 7, 2014 5:36:09 GMT
That's scary!
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Post by wholarmor on Jul 7, 2014 5:56:09 GMT
Yikes!
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Post by lucyg on Jul 7, 2014 6:08:04 GMT
What a freakin' nightmare.
I do question, however, whether the lawyer the homeowner hired could have represented the tenant in previous cases. I think that's a conflict of interest and no lawyer I know would take the case under those circumstances.
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Mary Kay Lady
Pearl Clutcher
PeaNut 367,913 Refupea number 1,638
Posts: 3,077
Jun 27, 2014 4:11:36 GMT
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Post by Mary Kay Lady on Jul 7, 2014 7:13:39 GMT
Well, it would seem that the moral of the story is that if you live in California don't rent out a room in your home!!
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Jul 7, 2014 10:43:56 GMT
What a freakin' nightmare. I do question, however, whether the lawyer the homeowner hired could have represented the tenant in previous cases. I think that's a conflict of interest and no lawyer I know would take the case under those circumstances. It would be a conflict here too and not allowed! His comment made me think that he was in on it-"just pay her the $4,000" along with the strippers last words about getting the $$$$ I would never rent out my home just because of reading this!!
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Post by doxielady on Jul 7, 2014 11:53:58 GMT
Scary!
Makes me wonder how common this kind of thing is. Once you are in someone's home - it is very difficult to get evicted. A lot of people might simply pay to get rid of someone. We might be hearing more and more of these now. Easy scam.
I am just way too private of a person to ever want anyone residing in my home. I just wouldn't want to deal with it. And with the laws the way they are here in California - No Way!!
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SweetieBsMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,637
Jun 25, 2014 19:55:12 GMT
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Post by SweetieBsMom on Jul 7, 2014 12:07:54 GMT
Well, it would seem that the moral of the story is that if you live in California don't rent out a room in your home!!True that! And that would infuriate me. Why should she have to pay her $4k to leave when she already owes $9k in back rent. ARRRRGHH. I have no dog in this fight but I feel like I'm hearing about things like this more and more! Why aren't people held accountable?!?!?!
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Post by magentapea on Jul 7, 2014 12:19:07 GMT
Something doesn't make sense to me. The article says that the tenant changed the locks and put up industrial chains to keep the landlord out, yet the police say there is an unsecured handgun that yhe child can access. And the lawyer says he represented the tenant previously and tells the landlord to just settle? That sounds like a conflict of interest. I don't completely buy this story.
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melissa
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,912
Jun 25, 2014 20:45:00 GMT
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Post by melissa on Jul 7, 2014 12:43:36 GMT
Actually, I wouldn't want to be a landlord of any sort in California, period.
The laws are very much on the side of the rentor, not the property owner. It took us far too long to be able to evict our tenant for non payment of rent and there was no recourse for the damages they did to the property.
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Post by deshacrafts on Jul 7, 2014 12:49:27 GMT
I wouldn't want to be a landlord in California, but I don't understand renting a room in your house to a stranger either. It just seems weird to me to be sharing your space with a complete stranger.
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swanie78
Junior Member
Posts: 79
Jun 27, 2014 4:11:24 GMT
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Post by swanie78 on Jul 7, 2014 15:01:49 GMT
Exactly why I won't have roommates or rent rooms! There are some cray cray people out there!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Post by PinkPrincess77 on Jul 7, 2014 15:16:30 GMT
What a freakin' nightmare. I do question, however, whether the lawyer the homeowner hired could have represented the tenant in previous cases. I think that's a conflict of interest and no lawyer I know would take the case under those circumstances. Also considered a conflict of interest here...
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scorpeao
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,521
Location: NorCal USA
Jun 25, 2014 21:04:54 GMT
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Post by scorpeao on Jul 7, 2014 16:06:36 GMT
I wouldn't want to be a landlord in California, but I don't understand renting a room in your house to a stranger either. It just seems weird to me to be sharing your space with a complete stranger. Well, when it comes down to losing your home or renting out a room I'm sure it's a no brainer.
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Post by hop2 on Jul 7, 2014 16:10:26 GMT
So I should just visit my SIL stay in her guest suite, get mail delivered from a bank and then refuse to move out?
Maybe I can afford to retire in CA
( and yes I'm kidding )
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Post by Dictionary on Jul 7, 2014 16:50:01 GMT
Can you say Pacific Heights..LOL that is the first thing that popped into my head when I read this article. That was such a good movie.
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Post by deshacrafts on Jul 7, 2014 17:43:32 GMT
I wouldn't want to be a landlord in California, but I don't understand renting a room in your house to a stranger either. It just seems weird to me to be sharing your space with a complete stranger. Well, when it comes down to losing your home or renting out a room I'm sure it's a no brainer. I don't doubt you are right, but it doesn't seem like that is the case here as they have spent $40K because of this person. The "stripper" was paying $1500 a month for that room. It just seems odd to me. I'm not trying to get in an argument about whether it is right or wrong, just for me it seems odd. I don't know anyone who does that in my area.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 18, 2024 14:14:07 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2014 17:59:47 GMT
Scary!
Makes me wonder how common this kind of thing is. Once you are in someone's home - it is very difficult to get evicted. A lot of people might simply pay to get rid of someone. We might be hearing more and more of these now. Easy scam. You have hit the nail on the head. The only sad thing I can add to your post is that this has already become a trend - at least in TX and CA. The holdovers are waiting for and expecting a cash offer to move out (yes - even though they have already been living rent free for months). Because the eviction process (with and without appeals) can be both long and expensive, it's often a better business decision for the landlord to pay the holdover to move (=get possession of your property back sooner and pay significantly less legal fees). The good business decision, though, purpetuates the cycle: holdovers are staying longer than ever and purposefully doing it to get both the free rent and the cash payout at the end. Uggh!
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