Is it legal to send a NON Threatening Anonymous Letter? (section 8, real estate)

[DigginHouseVibez]

We have a rental property across the street from us. First off, our neighborhood is almost five years old. When it was ONE year old the landlord purchased the home. Her attitude was apparent from day one. The wife came to put cheap blinds in the house (of course) and her two sons (neither looked older than six or seven) relieved themselves in the front yard while she looked and it LOOKED as if she could care less.

Turns out she rented it out under section 8. I am NOT bashing section 8 BUT I do have a problem with the fact that it happened so quickly. That's beside the point. We found out from the tenant that she was collecting an extra 100 from her under the table and telling her "you're lucky you have a nice home under section 8 - that's hard to find - if you want to keep it, etc etc". For those of you who are familiar with my "issues" that we had with a tenant over here - yes, it's the same one.
Come to find out through HOUSING (their investigator told me this) - her husband was banned from using their program because he was busted collecting 100.00 under the table from OTHER tenants who (good for them) would not take the abuse. SAHA allowed them to continue to rent the home out under section 8 in HER name even though they were both still on the deed and the house was financed in both of their names and they were both owners as reflected in bcad. SAD.
THEN we find out that the owner is a neurologist. MY old neurologist. Nice, right? He owns a home valued at over 600,000 elsewhere and has several homes in neighborhoods like mine that are all turning into what mine is turning into because of people like him.

Now we have tenants who refuse to abide by HOA laws (front yard barbecues, loud, obnoxious, trash all over the place, parking in their yard, etc. . ) and we can't get our HOA to do a damn thing. I talke with our hoa president about the parking issue and he said "why do you people over here care? Its their cars that get towed".
1. NO they don't get towed. We pay a towing company to do JACK - they never even drive by.
2. It takes an act of congress to even get Spectrum to send them a letter asking them to stop (that's our management company).

I've spoken with the landlord before and her exact words to me were "I don't care what goes on as long as I get my money".

I want her to be a bit more responsible with regards to her tenants. I could be total jerk and go nuts with her husbands name all over the place but I won't because I believe in Karma and I'm just not like that however it's all completely provable and the housing issue would look pretty bad for a prominent neurologist I'm sure. Instead, I just want her to do the right thing and make sure that her tenants are decent and assist when it comes to helping to get them to keep our neighborhood respectable. I don't have her 600,000 home and work as hard or harder to keep the one I have that is worth less than 1/3rd of hers. What gives them the right to muck up ours and wash their hands of it "as long as their money comes in"?

My question is, can I send her a letter anonymously? I don't want her running to the tenants and telling them "such and such neighbor said" - that's the ONLY reason. I am not afraid of her or talking to either of them. They're low. They're crooks and I'm not afraid of people like that. I AM afraid of the people they let move in. They're pretty ghetto and they're scary and they're bringing down MY property values and the safety of the area I live in. I want her to know that it won't be tolerated. Before she rented this house out again I told her that if she was going to to continue to bring section 8 into her properties and think that she could get away with taking money from people that I'd go to a news station. she has a renter who pays on their own now but I want to clarify that my biggest issue with her using section 8 was her taking advantage when she shouldn't be using their program PERIOD. That and the fact that she can't be trusted to screen her tenants. My grandmother owns several homes that are rented out under section 8. THey're good tenants and she's a good landlord. It CAN be happen.

I JUST want her to know it won't be tolerated. I'm frustrated, I feel like -there's nowhere else to go for help - the HOA is a bust - SAHA allowed them to continue even after their shady practices were discovered and I just want some consideration. We're going to move before the end of the year but our neighbors across the street just did and they're forced into renting based on the EXTREMELY low prices the homes here are fetching because of foreclosures and the level of rental properties and the very LOW quality of people moving in. ONE SOLD FOR 88,000 DOLLARS! It was worth just under 140,000

ANY suggestions would be appreciated aside from sending this woman a letter. She's stealing from everyone here who hoped they'd get some sort of small return on their investment. Moving here was the worst decision we've ever made in our lives. Unfortunately I can't afford a HUGE loss or I'd wash my hands of this place and let it go just to break even. I can't do that though.

[rd2007]

can you contact an elected official? or what about one of the local news station trouble shooters? This is obvious corruption (big shocker with saha involved) and there should be something you can do.

[Cookiemeister]

Where do you live? That sounds like a real nightmare. I would get out now before it gets any worse. Stage your home and you can fetch alot more.

[DigginHouseVibez]

We are starting to look so we can get out of here. I can't stand it here anymore but with as many foreclosures as there have been we won't get near what we need to. I DID contact troubleshooters, btw. .. NO response. I heard when it comes to SAHA that people are very hesitant to respond. Not sure why either. But yeah, corruption was the first thing that came to mind.

[rd2007]

big time corruption, but pretty much what I would expect from the location... what about the elected official? you know the squeaky wheel gets greased

[googie2525]

Available at Amazon - purely for amusement purposes of course -but I do recall a section on a-hole tenants and creep landlords in one of Hayduke's older books (he has a few books out - funny stuff...stuff that could drive the mark nuts if they have no idea who the perp is)...not that I'm condoining (sic?) "revenge," it's just a comical book for laughs, hardy har har .

[sinsativ]

You could send an anonymous letter to the homeowner, letting them know that you care about the neighborhood, even though they dont. That slumlords arent appreciated. If they choose to ignore the letter and do nothing, let them know that the next letter, will be to the media with the names disclosed of the owners and the conditions. Also the fact that a wealthy neurologist is also getting section 8 subsidy for a house that couldnt sell so they are letting it destroy the market value of the neighborhood to line their own pockets. The wealthy staying wealthy, using the tax dollars for their own gain in this economy is a very strong story in these days. Might get attention.

[shenane]

I would guess that these awful neighbors are violating some type of city ordinance (parking in yard, noise, etc..). I would try the city or the police. If all else fails, sue the homeowner for loss of quiet enjoyment of your property. She seems pretty lazy so she probably won't show up in court and you will win by default. She might not ever pay you but with a judgement on her record, she can't buy more houses and you can put a lien on any non-homestead real estate she owns.
I feel for you. I lived next door to awful homeowners (not even renters). I finally moved.

Originally Posted by DigginHouseVibez

We have a rental property across the street from us. First off, our neighborhood is almost five years old. When it was ONE year old the landlord purchased the home. Her attitude was apparent from day one. The wife came to put cheap blinds in the house (of course) and her two sons (neither looked older than six or seven) relieved themselves in the front yard while she looked and it LOOKED as if she could care less.

Turns out she rented it out under section 8. I am NOT bashing section 8 BUT I do have a problem with the fact that it happened so quickly. That's beside the point. We found out from the tenant that she was collecting an extra 100 from her under the table and telling her "you're lucky you have a nice home under section 8 - that's hard to find - if you want to keep it, etc etc". For those of you who are familiar with my "issues" that we had with a tenant over here - yes, it's the same one.
Come to find out through HOUSING (their investigator told me this) - her husband was banned from using their program because he was busted collecting 100.00 under the table from OTHER tenants who (good for them) would not take the abuse. SAHA allowed them to continue to rent the home out under section 8 in HER name even though they were both still on the deed and the house was financed in both of their names and they were both owners as reflected in bcad. SAD.
THEN we find out that the owner is a neurologist. MY old neurologist. Nice, right? He owns a home valued at over 600,000 elsewhere and has several homes in neighborhoods like mine that are all turning into what mine is turning into because of people like him.

Now we have tenants who refuse to abide by HOA laws (front yard barbecues, loud, obnoxious, trash all over the place, parking in their yard, etc. . ) and we can't get our HOA to do a damn thing. I talke with our hoa president about the parking issue and he said "why do you people over here care? Its their cars that get towed".
1. NO they don't get towed. We pay a towing company to do JACK - they never even drive by.
2. It takes an act of congress to even get Spectrum to send them a letter asking them to stop (that's our management company).

I've spoken with the landlord before and her exact words to me were "I don't care what goes on as long as I get my money".

I want her to be a bit more responsible with regards to her tenants. I could be total jerk and go nuts with her husbands name all over the place but I won't because I believe in Karma and I'm just not like that however it's all completely provable and the housing issue would look pretty bad for a prominent neurologist I'm sure. Instead, I just want her to do the right thing and make sure that her tenants are decent and assist when it comes to helping to get them to keep our neighborhood respectable. I don't have her 600,000 home and work as hard or harder to keep the one I have that is worth less than 1/3rd of hers. What gives them the right to muck up ours and wash their hands of it "as long as their money comes in"?

My question is, can I send her a letter anonymously? I don't want her running to the tenants and telling them "such and such neighbor said" - that's the ONLY reason. I am not afraid of her or talking to either of them. They're low. They're crooks and I'm not afraid of people like that. I AM afraid of the people they let move in. They're pretty ghetto and they're scary and they're bringing down MY property values and the safety of the area I live in. I want her to know that it won't be tolerated. Before she rented this house out again I told her that if she was going to to continue to bring section 8 into her properties and think that she could get away with taking money from people that I'd go to a news station. she has a renter who pays on their own now but I want to clarify that my biggest issue with her using section 8 was her taking advantage when she shouldn't be using their program PERIOD. That and the fact that she can't be trusted to screen her tenants. My grandmother owns several homes that are rented out under section 8. THey're good tenants and she's a good landlord. It CAN be happen.

I JUST want her to know it won't be tolerated. I'm frustrated, I feel like -there's nowhere else to go for help - the HOA is a bust - SAHA allowed them to continue even after their shady practices were discovered and I just want some consideration. We're going to move before the end of the year but our neighbors across the street just did and they're forced into renting based on the EXTREMELY low prices the homes here are fetching because of foreclosures and the level of rental properties and the very LOW quality of people moving in. ONE SOLD FOR 88,000 DOLLARS! It was worth just under 140,000

ANY suggestions would be appreciated aside from sending this woman a letter. She's stealing from everyone here who hoped they'd get some sort of small return on their investment. Moving here was the worst decision we've ever made in our lives. Unfortunately I can't afford a HUGE loss or I'd wash my hands of this place and let it go just to break even. I can't do that though.

[did0c]

I feel for you. We just had lousy lousy neighbors finally move out and I know exactly what you mean about that management company. I even had a guy I talked to there actually tell me that if I could get any of my other neighbors help me complain then the complaint would be taken more seriously. But if one neighbor complains it is pretty much a letter is sent to the owner and it is up to them to make the renters change. If no more additional complaints then it kinda just falls by the wayside, so it really helps if you have neighbors also complain.

So I went and talked to the neighbors on their side and I knew my neighbor across the street very well. Oh yes, they were all sick of seeing the trash littering the yard, the trashcans left out all week, cars all over, nice loud base coming from their pimpmobiles, and their pitbulls who constantly get out from the fence. So we all called constantly and I emailed too. (BTW the guy said email or a letter is treated more seriously.. Which makes no sense and with my neighbor across the street and old(er) woman who does not even own a computer and how inconvenient to write and mail when you can just call!) We called the police or dog catcher every time their pitbulls got loose after one time they came charging up on me even though I was across the street, and they did the same to my other neighbor and her son. I told their kids to stay off our driveway because I keep finding trash from them on it. (And I felt bad, those poor kids couldn't play in their own driveway because their parents had their pimpmobiles and trucks all over it and their yard but I was really worried abut them damaging our property plus the trash coming from their yard was ridiculous and we were all tired of it!!!) I wrote to the HOA constantly letting them know they had 4 pitbulls, not the 2 that is allowed hoping that would do it, especially with them getting loose so often.

The ridiculous thing is, the owner lives just a block away! I would think if he would drive by and see all the trash littering the yard, the fence that was getting busted up, the grill in the front yard (what is up with that?!) he should wonder what is going on inside and put a stop to this. The neighbor on the other side actually confronted him and all he said is to not tell him about this, why is she bothering him with this!

Sorry, got sidetracked with my situation and we are here to talk about yours. My friend rents Sec8 homes and she said that there are very strict rules or else that tenant will lose that money and if the owner isn't keeping things up then they can get in big trouble too.

When is your next homeowner's meeting? Stand up and let people know you are tired of this and you will find a room full of support I am sure. That management company needs to be confronted with this lack of "management."

Our solution is to move. I don't know if that owner will try to sell the house or just rent to whomever pays, trashy people or not. We are sick of it and can't take that chance anymore. We were prepared to loose thousands on the price because what potential buyer wants to live next to that? But luckily they moved out (oh and there is a HUGE pile of mattresses, trashbags, couch, etc on their front curb right now so I can only hope so) in time.

Put the screws on them with the rules they are breaking. Get your other neighbors involved. I am sure they are just as sick of them as you are, trust me. I wish you the very best of luck!

[SilverCreek78250]

Send the anonymous letter (although, I think it would work better if signed) and simply state the facts about how disgusted you are that a family of such prominence could be such slumlords and cheaters of the system. And then clearly courtesy copy KENS-TV Eyewitness Wants to Know, KMOL Troubleshooters, and a few Express-News columnists for good measure.

There is nothing wrong with people who try to work with the system to make money. I know folks who have Section 8 properties and they follow all the rules and occasionally get burnt, and other times get lucky to have long term good renters who just need a hand to get on their feet.

Maybe the the letter with the implication that you are serious about having the matter investigated will be enough to get the landlord to take an interest.

Also, as others have suggested, contact your city council person. I had an issue of this nature over a decade ago and my councilman, Robert Thompson assisted me greatly with resolving the issue.

Good luck.