XPost: alt.home.repair, seattle.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: talk.politics.misc   
   From: burn.it@down.now   
      
   On 14 Mar 2022, Lefty Lundquist  posted some   
   news:t0o094$co$11@dont-email.me:   
      
   > This is pure theft by government, plain and simple.   
      
   Glen Jasmer is a widower and a reluctant landlord. Dana, Glen’s late wife   
   owned the home when the two got married. After renting it in 2020 it’s   
   become a legal nightmare.   
      
   “She recently passed and I’m glad she passed so that she doesn’t have to   
   see what is happening to her pride and joy,” said Jasmer.   
      
   The only view he gets of the place is peeking over the fence, which   
   currently resembles a garbage dump.   
      
   “They don’t pay their garbage bill, which is mandatory in the city of   
   Puyallup,” he said.   
      
   At one point the water was cut off. Now, Neighbors complain of vermin.   
      
   “I don’t know how the city can allow this to happen,” said Jasmer.   
      
   Through all of this, he’s been attempting to evict his tenants. He claims   
   his total losses are nearing $50,000.   
      
   Jasmer told us almost immediately after they moved in, they stopped paying   
   rent.   
      
   “They would pay rent, then skip a couple of months, then pay rent again or   
   pay half a month rent or skip a couple of months,” he said.   
      
   Jasmer’s case highlights the difficult terrain in the new landscape of   
   landlord-tenant disputes.   
      
   First, he said it’s unfair that a free lawyer represented tenants and that   
   he - and all taxpayers - pay for this.   
      
   Sean Flynn is the director of the Washington Rental Housing Association.   
      
   “Our tax dollars are going to fund a public defense law firm, the Housing   
   Justice Project, that is a not-for-profit organization that provides   
   defense to residents who are facing eviction,” Flynn said. “So, folks who   
   haven’t paid their rent or are not obeying the rules - the state is paying   
   for their defense. If you’re a small housing provider, you can’t afford   
   the process to take longer. And so, the system is broken. And we know what   
   broke it. It’s the lawyers. "   
      
   Mark Morzol is the managing attorney for the Tacomaprobono Housing Justice   
   Project. He said his group is not causing delays but rather forcing   
   landlords’ lawyers to follow the letter of the law.   
      
   “There are protections built into the law that certain notifications have   
   to be given to tenants, and you have to follow those strictly,” Morzol   
   said. “And I don’t think enforcing that is really a technicality. It’s the   
   way the law is written. So, it isn’t that the defense attorneys are really   
   hindering or delaying this any more than the landlord has certain   
   responsibilities that they have to follow before they get their eviction.”   
      
   Over two years, Morzol’s group will receive $1.6 million from the state to   
   fund its 11 attorneys handling Pierce County cases.   
      
   “We represent 1410 tenants,” he said. “That’s an average of about $600 per   
   tenant. So, if we’re spending $600 and we are stopping you - when you’re   
   spending thousands of dollars on your attorney.”   
      
   Jasmer has spent thousands trying to get his house back - a property he   
   was counting on for his retirement.   
      
   “If their lawyer actually wants to help or their group wants to help, they   
   should find a house or apartment that they can actually afford to move   
   into and then help them move,” he said.   
      
   Finally, after more than three years and all the damage, the court ruled   
   for Jasmer to regain control of his home. Seeing the extensive damage   
   brought him to tears.   
      
   “I Just want to get it over with, and I never want to come back,” he said.   
   “This is the last time I want to be here.”   
      
   His home smelled worse than it looked. Trash and damage everywhere, from   
   the floor to the walls. He said what happened is criminal.   
      
   “They should be arrested for doing this,” he said. “I’m just so angry   
   right now. It’s. I can’t even put it into words - what they’ve done to   
   this house and my feelings toward them.”   
      
   Glen will not be reimbursed for these losses. He estimates it will cost   
   more than $30,000 to get the home back to the shape it was when Dana   
   purchased it.   
      
   Now it’s up for sale because nothing will ever be the same here again.   
      
   “I don’t know how their lawyer can allow this to happen,” he said. “I   
   don’t know how the judge can allow this to happen. I don’t know how the   
   governor can allow this to happen. They just don’t care.”   
      
   Jasmer said he tried to get into the home while the tenants were living   
   there, but they never let him in.   
      
   He did receive $36,000 from the state in 2022 to help recover his losses.   
      
   But after signing that agreement, Jasmer said the tenants did not follow   
   through with the payment plan.   
      
   https://news.yahoo.com/thursday-5-30pm-puyallup-landlord-000416847.html   
      
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