Re: Jesse Jones: Puyallup landlord says nightmare tenants trashed late wifes house

[Burn it]

On 14 Mar 2022, Lefty Lundquist <lefty_l...@ggmail.com> posted some
news:t0o094$co$1...@dont-email.me:

> This is pure theft by government, plain and simple.

Glen Jasmer is a widower and a reluctant landlord. Dana, Glen’s late wife
owned the home when the two got married. After renting it in 2020 it’s
become a legal nightmare.

“She recently passed and I’m glad she passed so that she doesn’t have to
see what is happening to her pride and joy,” said Jasmer.

The only view he gets of the place is peeking over the fence, which
currently resembles a garbage dump.

“They don’t pay their garbage bill, which is mandatory in the city of
Puyallup,” he said.

At one point the water was cut off. Now, Neighbors complain of vermin.

“I don’t know how the city can allow this to happen,” said Jasmer.

Through all of this, he’s been attempting to evict his tenants. He claims
his total losses are nearing $50,000.

Jasmer told us almost immediately after they moved in, they stopped paying
rent.

“They would pay rent, then skip a couple of months, then pay rent again or
pay half a month rent or skip a couple of months,” he said.

Jasmer’s case highlights the difficult terrain in the new landscape of
landlord-tenant disputes.

First, he said it’s unfair that a free lawyer represented tenants and that
he - and all taxpayers - pay for this.

Sean Flynn is the director of the Washington Rental Housing Association.

“Our tax dollars are going to fund a public defense law firm, the Housing
Justice Project, that is a not-for-profit organization that provides
defense to residents who are facing eviction,” Flynn said. “So, folks who
haven’t paid their rent or are not obeying the rules - the state is paying
for their defense. If you’re a small housing provider, you can’t afford
the process to take longer. And so, the system is broken. And we know what
broke it. It’s the lawyers. "

Mark Morzol is the managing attorney for the Tacomaprobono Housing Justice
Project. He said his group is not causing delays but rather forcing
landlords’ lawyers to follow the letter of the law.

“There are protections built into the law that certain notifications have
to be given to tenants, and you have to follow those strictly,” Morzol
said. “And I don’t think enforcing that is really a technicality. It’s the
way the law is written. So, it isn’t that the defense attorneys are really
hindering or delaying this any more than the landlord has certain
responsibilities that they have to follow before they get their eviction.”

Over two years, Morzol’s group will receive $1.6 million from the state to
fund its 11 attorneys handling Pierce County cases.

“We represent 1410 tenants,” he said. “That’s an average of about $600 per
tenant. So, if we’re spending $600 and we are stopping you - when you’re
spending thousands of dollars on your attorney.”

Jasmer has spent thousands trying to get his house back - a property he
was counting on for his retirement.

“If their lawyer actually wants to help or their group wants to help, they
should find a house or apartment that they can actually afford to move
into and then help them move,” he said.

Finally, after more than three years and all the damage, the court ruled
for Jasmer to regain control of his home. Seeing the extensive damage
brought him to tears.

“I Just want to get it over with, and I never want to come back,” he said.
“This is the last time I want to be here.”

His home smelled worse than it looked. Trash and damage everywhere, from
the floor to the walls. He said what happened is criminal.

“They should be arrested for doing this,” he said. “I’m just so angry
right now. It’s. I can’t even put it into words - what they’ve done to
this house and my feelings toward them.”

Glen will not be reimbursed for these losses. He estimates it will cost
more than $30,000 to get the home back to the shape it was when Dana
purchased it.

Now it’s up for sale because nothing will ever be the same here again.

“I don’t know how their lawyer can allow this to happen,” he said. “I
don’t know how the judge can allow this to happen. I don’t know how the
governor can allow this to happen. They just don’t care.”

Jasmer said he tried to get into the home while the tenants were living
there, but they never let him in.

He did receive $36,000 from the state in 2022 to help recover his losses.

But after signing that agreement, Jasmer said the tenants did not follow
through with the payment plan.

https://news.yahoo.com/thursday-5-30pm-puyallup-landlord-000416847.html