Salisbury Post Online:  Local news, weather, sports and more!
Serving historic Rowan County, North Carolina since 1905.

Tenants leave landlords looking for justice

BY MARK WINEKA
SALISBURY POST

The Elm Street house that he and his wife, Janet, rented to a mother and her three children had been turned into a three-bedroom trash pile.

Unpaid bills and scraps of paper littered the floors in every room, along with discarded clothes heaped randomly into piles.

The litter competed for space on the floor with several mattresses.

The kitchen sink was ruined. A bucket sat underneath the drain where the sink’s trap should have been.

Holes, slits and cracks ran through the kitchen linoleum. Murdock saw broken windows and noticed that storm doors were missing, along with window screens.

Food had been left behind. The junk evident in the back yard included a discarded television and shopping carts.

Words couldn’t adequately describe the mess. The whole house would have to be gutted. The smell? It came from either a disgusting bathroom or rat droppings.

“This is what he found,” his wife, Janet Murdock, said days later in another visit. “When I came, I came with a camera.

“Junk is one thing, but this is nastiness.”

While renters often have gripes about absentee landlords who refuse to make repairs to their houses, the Murdocks represent the other end of the spectrum. They are landlords who ask where’s the justice when tenants ruin their property, skip the rent and leave for parts unknown.

“They always talk about ghetto landlords,” Janet Murdock said. “What about ghetto tenants who abandon properties?”

Salisbury City Council has appointed a Neighborhood Improvement Task Force to look at ordinances, education and programs that address housing and landlord-tenant responsibilities. Meeting monthly, the task force’s next session is scheduled for noon Wednesday at City Hall.

Landlords on that task force have described their frustrations with laws that they believe give too much protection to deadbeat tenants.

When the normal eviction process is followed, tenants who are causing problems sometimes can live (usually rent-free) in a rental property for another two to three months, landlords say. They add that deposits seldom cover the damage and filth bad tenants leave behind once they are finally forced out.

The Murdocks hoped they had given themselves some protection by renting to Section 8 residents and going through a real estate agent for additional screening.

They say they have learned the hard way that it wasn’t enough. Plus, for now, they feel a bit in limbo.

The family they rented to left many personal belongings behind but, of course, no forwarding address. Janet Murdock worries about throwing anything out without a proper eviction process, though she and her husband desperately want to clean out the house.

She also asks, how can she evict someone when they’ve already gone?

A long-established Salisbury Realtor who manages many rental properties said the Murdocks should first consult a magistrate for direction on the legal process to follow.

The Realtor added that the Murdocks probably will have to store the personal belongings left behind by their departed tenants for a specified time.

M.A. “Millie” Clawson, executive director of the Rowan County Housing Authority, which administers the Section 8 program in Salisbury, told the Post the Murdocks should take good photographs of their damages. They could make the pictures part of a claim of damages that they would send to the tenants’ last known address, which would be the Murdocks’ rental property.

The couple could then go to court and ask for a judgment in the case, Clawson said, adding state law also has an abandonment clause that could fit this situation.

Since 1995, Section 8 has not assisted a landlord in paying for damages caused by a Section 8 client. The Section 8 program provides its clients rental assistance, but it’s the landlord’s responsibility to collect the rent that is owed and to have a separate lease agreement with the tenant.

The Murdocks, who live in China Grove, are paying a mortgage on the rental house that they leased for $500 a month.

“We had this house so cute,” Janet Murdock said. She originally bought the house in 1981 before marrying Marvin. They lived here until about seven years ago when they moved to China Grove to live with and take care of his mother.

The couple repainted the Salisbury house and began renting it themselves. They also borrowed money for a new roof and heating system.

With the first two tenants, the biggest problem was a late rental payment on occasion, Janet Murdock said. Two years ago, they decided to try Section 8 residents and use a real estate agent to manage their property.

Section 8 required the Murdocks to pass a yearly inspection and make certain improvements, such as providing additional fire extinguishers and window screens.

The Murdocks, who both work for the Corrections Department, don’t know if they’ll rent the house again, though they need the income to help with the remaining mortgage payment. Janet Murdock expressed frustration with the Section 8 program, because of what it requires of landlords while taking no responsibility for damages that its tenants might leave behind.

“I’m totally appalled that they actually screen these people,” she said. “They’re paying a portion of the rent that I feel I’m paying because that’s federal money. I’m paying double.”

Clawson and the experienced Salisbury real estate manager said bad Section 8 tenants are the exception, not the norm. Clients generally take care of their rental properties because they want to remain eligible for the rental assistance, Clawson said.

The renters who left the house in a shambles were the Murdocks’ first Section 8 tenants. Neighbors said they had been in the process of moving out for about six weeks, loading what they could in cars or a pickup.

The Murdocks and their real estate agent became concerned when the November rent wasn’t paid by the 10th of the month, leading to Marvin’s eye-opening visit later.

The Murdocks’ lease said they were renting to a mother and three kids. But neighbors reported that a boyfriend, brother, sister-in-law and others lived at the small house, too. The lease also prohibited pets.

Neighbors said the family had four dogs and a cat. Janet Murdock also pointed out the gerbil cage on the living room floor.

“She violated everything in her lease,” Janet Murdock said.