SERIAL RENTER MEETS HIS MATCH There was something fishy about that home on Shady Canyon, Amber Rogers found out. She gave a $2500 deposit to Jonathan Soto, but it turns out he was renting out the same property to other people too. Cut to dual-renter ambush in Stone Gate subdivision: “Rogers says she hid in the garage and called 911. She came out right when Soto was giving his sales pitch. ‘When he turned around and saw me, I could have sworn he thought he saw a ghost. It almost knocked him off his feet. It was hilarious,’ Rogers said. Rogers says he tried to escape through a window. ‘I was the closest one to him. I grabbed him and I threw him into the wall,’ Rogers said. . . . Rogers says it was a good thing the police arrived when they did. Soto was carrying a gun, and according to her, he appeared to be reaching for it.” [11 News]
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All I can say is, “DAMN!”
I commented to my wife the other day that, in light of foreclosures on rentals, if we decide to rent a house instead of an apartment we will have to demand the right to a credit report on the landlord. I guess we’ll want a criminal background check also :)
I definitely want a notarized contract. I choose the notary also.
The best way to ensure a proper contract would be to use the standardized Texas rental form that apartments use.
It helps the renter and rentee
Security deposits are dangerous things in Texas and they should only be provided along with the first month’s rent when you pick up the keys. Otherwise you may be spending a long time in our court system and even then may not get it back.
Of course in this case you would have to sue to get the rent and the deposit back and even then you might not. It would depend on whether the landlord’s attorney convinced the court that you and the “other tenants” had agreed to live in a commune. If you thnk that is impossible you obviously have not “enjoyed the pleasure” of our court system in Texas. He who has the most convincing attorney wins. And the sleaziest landlords usually have the sleaziest attorneys who are in the courtrooms every day and so they have some “standing” that you don’t. Not to mention that they, or their law firm PAC, have usually written a nice check or two to the judge’s campaign fund.
Texas has always been a “buyer beware” state. As well as a “renter beware” state.
This guy used to be my neighbor. He is a low-life loser, and I hope he serves lots of time. He used to rip people off for car stereo installation all the time, and run insurance scams.