Landlord Drives Hummer Into Home To Get Rent

[Family Ties Forever!]

What an idiot.

link

Landlord Drives Hummer Into Home To Get Rent Hummer Hit Home At 3 A.M., Police Say

Posted: 8:28 am CDT August 7, 2008
Updated: 8:54 am CDT August 7, 2008

Newark, Del. -- Newark police have arrested a landlord who allegedly rammed his Hummer into a renter's house, claiming the tenants were behind on their rent.

A police spokesman said 30-year-old Richard Ott crashed the SUV into a home at about 3 a.m. A 50-year-old woman and her 53-year-old husband were sleeping inside and were jolted awake by a loud crash and the house shaking.

Officers learned Ott was the landlord and went to his home. Police saw the damaged Hummer there with a pine branch stuck in the front bumper. Ott is facing reckless driving, harassment and other charges.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Nighthawk76]

This is like something you would expect to see on a sitcom.

[dawsongirl]

This man is from Delaware by way of Florida.

[dawsongirl]

Originally Posted by Crazy for Blair

This is like something you would expect to see on a sitcom.

There's even a thread about cars going through buildings on the General board.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by dawsongirl

This man is from Delaware by way of Florida.

Well almost. If he was from FLA he would have had a small pet or child riding on top. Another nut, yeeesh. His clever ploy is sure to raise the value of his property too. (Stupid and nutty is indeed a SCARY combination)

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by Crazy for Blair

This is like something you would expect to see on a sitcom.

It was! Marie & Frank, Ray's parents, crash thru a wall of his house in an ep of Everybody Loves Raymond!!!

[catlover79]

Here's a real man of action.

[BarneyFife]

Sounds like my ex g/f's father. He was crazy like that.

[USATVFAN]

Originally Posted by Family Ties Forever!

What an idiot.

You Wouldn't See Mr Roper doing that... or would he.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by Three's Company Fan

You Wouldn't See Mr Roper doing that... or would he.

That would make a funny Three's Company episode, I have to admit.

[Janice]

Our tenants drove us crazy with late rent, but never to that degree. One was always telling me that his car needed repairs, medical bills, etc. I told him that he had more stories than Shakespeare. I'm not siding with the maniac in this story, but it does get very frustrating. About 10 years ago, an owner killed a tenant with a hatchet. It was something about rent control, and the tenant only had to pay a couple of hundred dollars for rent, and it drove the owner literally insane.

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by Janice

Our tenants drove us crazy with late rent, but never to that degree. One was always telling me that his car needed repairs, medical bills, etc. I told him that he had more stories than Shakespeare. I'm not siding with the maniac in this story, but it does get very frustrating. About 10 years ago, an owner killed a tenant with a hatchet. It was something about rent control, and the tenant only had to pay a couple of hundred dollars for rent, and it drove the owner literally insane.

I'm sorry that happened to you Janice. There's nothing worse than when someone owes you money and drags their a$$ about paying it - esp. when its something like rent. I mean owners have their expenses too like mortgages taxes etc. - so they depend on their tenants to be reliable.

Personally, I'm very anal abt paying all my bills, esp. THE RENT. Thank God, I've never been in $ situation where paying it would be an issue. At least to me, my LL is #1 top of the list of creditors. I'd negotiate with everyone else before I'd go to a LL. But I think if a tenant were truly having a hard time, they should contact the LL, lay out their finances on a sheet of paper and have a clear game plan of how they were going to pay the rent (extra job, selling of possessions, trying to get a loan from relatives, etc.). And whatever $ promises they make, THEY SHOULD KEEP.


Yes the rent laws in NYC are like something out of the Twilight Zone. Some really good for tenants some bad. Like if you don't pay your rent & your landlord sues you for it, this info can be pulled from Housing Court and go on a rpt landlords get - which sort of "blacklists" the tenant. What's bad abt that if if the tenant has a legitimate beef (like a landlord who willfully refuses to make repairs, & unf. there are A LOT of LL's like this in NYC esp. Manhattan) a tenant can no longer withhold rent as a tactic. They have to sue the landlord in Housing Court which can be very cumbersome. But as for tenants who are truly "deadbeats" - I have no sympathy.

To live in Manh. below 96th st. you really need to make six figures (or close to it) to pay a market rate for an apt. - even 75% of most studios (unless you want a closet or something dumpy). Unf. with Rent Stabilization many LLs are strongly motivated to get tenants out, even illegally. like by purposely running down the bldg, trying to get phony demolition orders, harassing a tenant with frivilous lawsuits etc. Don't think this is as much as a problem in other areas of the country, but in NYC, where real estate is prime and the pop. so dense. At least the boroughs are still mostly affordable for a middle class person making somewhere's betw 35-50K. (Which may sound like a lot to those not in NYC but in NYC its not- the real estate can be astronomical here)