“It took centimeters of fat to wipe off for a week”: landlords complained about bad tenants

MK collected stories of homeowners who, in pursuit of easy money, paid the price, receiving a benefit that was not at all what they expected.

– I rented a two-room “Stalinist” apartment on Profsoyuznaya for 45 thousand rubles a month through an agency to 42-year-old Peter, who was good in all respects. Fit, neat, taking care of himself. In an official position, with a considerable salary. At that time, he separated from his wife, and I didn’t delve into his other life circumstances and love relationships,” says Muscovite Yulia.

The apartment was also good: double-glazed windows, fresh wallpaper, a large new sofa, a window in the bathroom, clean tiles. Except without air conditioning.

Yulia is a political consultant; 10 years ago she bought this home with money earned after successful elections in the region. Soon she got married, moved in with her husband, and at some point decided to rent out an empty apartment.

– In the first months, when I came to collect payment, even the slippers for guests were neatly placed, “foot to foot.” The dust had been swept away, the mirror in the hallway sparkled clean. I rejoiced – what a neat tenant! What a decent man!

Everything was fine for four years. But one day Julia arrived at the apartment and saw beautiful women’s slippers in the hallway. I went into the room and there were large bouquets of flowers in several vases.

– I am a loyal person – love is love. After that I didn’t go into the apartment at all. We met with Peter to pay rent near the metro or in a shopping center nearby,” continues the owner.

Another two years passed, and the tenant told Yulia that he was moving out. By this time, Peter had another wife and a child was born. All this time, Peter saved money and finally bought his own home.

– What I saw in my apartment was terrible. My eyes fell to the floor,” Yulia recalls. – Black, never washed, apparently, windows. Broken cables, damaged wallpaper, dirty floor. I came too late to accept housing, on the last day before Peter’s departure, since I had a high level of trust in him. But when I saw the condition of the housing, I realized that I had missed a lot. Excessive trust played a cruel joke.

Yulia offered the tenant to pay at least part of the money for the upcoming repairs.

“Dear, I left you a deposit in the amount of a month’s payment, so go ahead and repair it,” he answered.

As a result, Yulia hired guest workers from Moldova and Tajikistan and cleaned the apartment with them for two weeks:

– Behind the sofa there was a 10-centimeter layer of dust, dirt, socks, condoms. We washed each window for three hours. Moreover, the windows were not only dusty, but coated with grease. The wallpaper in the kitchen was covered in oil – we supposedly cleaned it, but in the end we still had to change it. The tubes in the vacuum cleaner were clogged – but this is already so, nonsense. I called a dry cleaner to clean the sofa. Fortunately, the craftsmen were good and honestly admitted that it was cheaper to buy a new one. I only paid them for the call and gave them a good tip. We scraped the grease off the kitchen counter with a spatula, and chips flew. And this became my biggest stress in life, I’m not kidding. I thought that such disgusting things did not happen in apartments where high-ranking officials with their wives and children lived. But it was – the fat layer was a centimeter, or even one and a half, I didn’t measure it.

Julia even went to a psychologist. She wanted, firstly, to “unsee” her filthy apartment, and secondly, to understand how people with high salaries, who had just had a son, could live in filth. After all, they are able to call a cleaning company to clean up. The psychologist just shrugged her shoulders – yes, this happens even among the rich. And she advised the woman to forget her experience like a bad dream.

…38-year-old Arthur was a respectable entrepreneur who moved to the capital from Kabardino-Balkaria. His wife Elvira is a gynecologist with a bunch of diplomas and also earns good money. The family has two children, studying at a prestigious gymnasium.

“The first months are deceiving,” says Muscovite Rita, who rented out a luxurious three-room apartment at the River Station to guests from the Caucasus. – A joyful housewife, happily married. The house is a full cup. There is always lunch and dinner on the stove.

Money, 80 thousand rubles. Arthur always paid on time, plus or minus three days from the 8th of each month, and in cash.

And three years later everything went wrong. At first, the payment was delayed for a month – they say there were problems in business. “But you know me, I won’t let you down,” Arthur assured the owner of the apartment. Rita agreed to wait. The fatal role was played by the fact that the gynecologist Elvira saw her a couple of times in her paid clinic. Of course, she didn’t take any money, she only had to pay for the tests, and even for them Rita was given a discount.

A month later, Arthur said: “Be patient a little, literally three or four weeks, and I’ll pay off the entire debt.” But not after three weeks, not after four, Arthur did not repay the debt. Rita lost patience and came to the apartment with the firm intention of evicting the unscrupulous tenant. And then it turned out that during the entire stay he did not pay a penny for housing and communal services. The debt accumulated to 200 thousand rubles. By that time, Arthur’s wife had left him, taking the children.

Rita realized that she would not see her money, and asked Arthur to move out without mutual obligations. He categorically refused. I had to use the services of specially trained people, who explained to Arthur that there was no need to offend a lonely woman. Then it became known that the Kabardian’s business was criminal and collapsed overnight.

“Twenty cars arrived in my yard, in which there were people, let’s say, of characteristic appearance,” Rita recalls. – But even this crowd could not immediately push Arthur out of the door – apparently, he and the people who arrived had mutual acquaintances, they, so to speak, came to an agreement. And only a week later the Kabardian moved out.

“As a snack,” Rita received a 500 thousand fine from the tax authorities. “Arthur and I did not enter into an agreement. Initially, everything was based on trust. And he, apparently, as gratitude for my loyalty, after leaving, he handed me over to the local police officer, who already turned to the inspectors.”

…A native of Kursk, Oksana, tells how she foolishly rented out a one-room apartment on Proletarskaya, bought with a mortgage, to a glamorous 50-year-old woman who sells things from Valentino and other world brands in her own boutique.

– At our first meeting, Tatyana gave me a branded scarf. At first I thought it was a fake. But no – experienced friends confirmed his originality, says Oksana. – In general, the handkerchief won my heart. In the first three months, Tatiana was supposed to give the money for rent (30 thousand) in cash when we met in the apartment, and then, if everything went smoothly, transfer it to my card.

To begin with, Tatyana decided to improve her home: she laid a huge white carpet in the hallway and placed a Chinese wardrobe on it, where she stored some of the things for sale. Oksana took the innovation calmly and after three months stopped going to the apartment. And two months later the cabinet could not stand it and collapsed. A terrible roar frightened the neighbors below.

“When I arrived at the request of the neighbors, I saw a monstrous sight. The entire hallway was littered with the remains of a closet, rags and plush toys. Two cats were circling around, although we initially agreed that there would be no animals in the house.

Tatyana explained that her adult son brought her the cats – “literally for a week, because he went to Egypt with his family.” The wallpaper in the room was badly scratched – probably the cats turned out to be young and angry. Entering the bathroom, Oksana discovered a leaking faucet, and the name “Tatyana” scrawled on the mirror. “I don’t know who inflicted it – a son, a lover or herself. I still have this mirror hanging there to this day, as a warning to me for my stupidity and trust,” says the owner.

Tatyana soon moved out, leaving a dirty carpet, which the janitors threw away for a modest fee, a broken wardrobe (they also threw it away), scratched wallpaper and her name imprinted on the mirror forever…