RE: The day the courts forced my parents to stop being kind....
I've managed to find myself in a landlord position, and I agree with every word of this. It was bad before covid, now it's much much worse. Any regulations meant to rein in large abusers presents extreme hardship to small landlords. The paperwork I have to file every year includes having tenants sign and return certifications that they know the dangers of lead paint, there have been no bedbugs, they know they are not allowed to smoke in the halls, they know to call the gas company if they smell gas. I am required to both post these notices every year, to keep the signed notices for TEN YEARS, and to be able to produce them, if asked by the city.
I've only had one troublesome tenant though, and managed to get her out, even though it was during covid.
My kindness is exercised in that I never raise the rent on good tenants, so they stay for a very long time. But other than that, my answer to any special request (may I store things in the hall, may I put a chair on the roof etc) is always no.
What a bummer your parents went through.
It's a shame that it has come to this but that is the way of the world now. It seems as though there are always going to be some people out there that try to take advantage of the kindness of strangers and this was a real heartbreaker for my parents who hate that they are no longer allowed to simply be human to their tenants. Another family member of mine ended up selling all of his properties that he was renting for the same reasons.
It seems now that there are so many regulations that it is almost mandatory to hire an estate manager just to handle the legal aspects of things.
While I am not happy that you had to go through these things it is a little bit nice to see that our experience is not unique and that others have gone through it as well.