Remember When The Landlord Was Your Bitter Enemy? --- When Houses Fail to Sell, Owners Take On Tenants; It Turns Nice Folk Nasty
Last year, Barbara Aultman gave up trying to sell her Indianapolis home and rented it instead.</br></br>"I wanted to be the best landlady on the face of the earth," recalls Ms. Aultman, a community-development specialist. "All I wanted was my rent on time. I was willing to bend over backward to make them comfortable."</br></br>For the first month, she did: When her tenants -- two women recently out of the military -- demanded to be let out of the lease because of a water stain on the floor, she says she removed the stain and offered to tear up the lease. When they complained the carpet smelled of cats, she had the carpet deodorized and offered to split the cost of new carpeting.</br></br>But when they began refusing entry to brokers trying to sell the house and let the lawn reach threshing height, her patience ran out. She ordered them out.</br></br>They changed the locks.