Dealing with a Slumlord

Across the street from us is a rental property, one that was mostly empty for six years, but was purchased by AMNA SALAHUDDIN in 2002 for 75,000. She promptly hired the worst workers in the world to do a series of crappy renovations. My personal favorite- splitting the heat into multiple units and billing the tenants. By doing so, particularly in a house with no storm windows, she guarantees long, hard winters.

There have been a series of interesting tenants in this home- the abusive lesbian couple whose fights spilled onto the street and led to a regular police presence- but most folks stay less than a year, with several moving out in the middle of the night. But...that's none of my business. What is my business is the crappy condition the exterior of the house is left in, and the ways in which trash is allowed to pile up on the porches, in the alleys, and in front of the home.

Having cleaned off the front porch of trash in March- a tenant had moved out and left all sorts of garbage on the porch- I asked Ms. Salahuddin if she would take care of her property. She gave me her card and said that the "tenants don't complain, so she doesn't know about any problems."

This June the trash in the alley has again grown to alarming proportions and the front yard is two feet of weeds, leading to the following exchange on Thursday, June 22nd:

Tonight: when I saw her tonight, having left several messages describing the copious trash collecting in her side yard, I approached her. She told me “not now”- she was talking to several potential tenants. Politely, I asked her if she had gotten any of my messages- she told me not. I asked if she would deal with the trash. She said she would . I asked if she would deal with the overgrown front yard. She said possibly.

At this point one of the potential tenants asked “does it always look like this?”

I replied by saying that I’d lived here for twelve years and that she was welcome to come knock on my door and I’d tell her anything she wanted to know about the property. It's not personal, but if I were about to commit to a lease with a slumlord, I'd want to know. (The tenants did come back and I gave them my take on the property.)

I left and went back to my house.

Later as I was sitting on the porch, rocking my three week old to sleep, the landlord returned, shouting from the street that she wanted my name, that she was filing “harassment” charges. I told her to do whatever she thought was right. A number of neighbors heard this exchange.

Standing on a sidewalk with a two year old asking a landlord to take care of their property = harassment.

June 23rd:

1. Contacted John Fenton at the University City District regarding a problem property.
2. Contacted neighborhood services 215 685 3097- who told me they would send someone out.

Pictures of house- June 23rd, 2006