The times., 1901-05-05
TRICKS or RENT DODGERS
New York Agents Forming Pre-
tectiye Association.

Much Trouble and Expense Attend
| Dfspossessing Undesirable Persons
Some New Buildings "Padded'' fe
Deceive Prospective Purchssers.
Property owners and real estate agents
of the upper West Side are about to form
a protective association, the principal OBJ
Ject of which shall be the publication at
stated intervals of a black list giving
the names of undesirable tenants. The
agents and owners OF the cheaper class
of tenement and apartment houses have
felt the necessity OF such an organization
for long time. In order to protect
themselves as much as possible. many
agents have become members of the Re
tail Merchants Protective Association. or
| the assumption that man who will not
pay bills for his household expenses Will
not pay his rent.
According to the agents, the number of
persons OF the class who find n cbeaper
10 move than pay rent is increasing com
fsensurately with the growth of the CITY
anu aithough the majority OF agents de-
hiahd tand get) excellent references. there
are le" VINO DO not find, at the end Of the
| year, some bad accounts on their books
| The safest kind Of a reference sav the
! agents. is that of the previous landlord
of the prospective tenant. But. even with
| that assurance, the agents have to take
| chsnces because, as one of them plain
nVeiy remarked today, sometimes a Ia nd
lord would rather lie than admit he had
| peen duped. Failing the landlords $ guar
ahtee' recommendation from a business
! mouse or bank is generally considered
under the head OF excellent
| Sometimes, and the agents say that it
very seldom occurs, tenant will move
into an apartment or fat without giving
any references at all. A case of this sort
is said to have happened last winter.
tenant drove up to a certain aDartrnant
house on the East Side with a load Of
furniture and began to move it into a
vacant fiat When the ianitor asked his
authority for occupying the fat the
Would-be tenant reaSSured him BY telling
him that he had arranged everything with
the agent. When the agent heard of the
transaction, the story goes, he was non
plussed. The tenant was in possession
and refused TO move. 1t would take con-
siderable time to dispossess him and the
police refused to interfere. Eventually
the agent secured the services of a car
penter, and, under the pretence of max
ing repairs, they effected an entrance To
the fiat. The carpenter then was instruct
ed to remove the front door and couple
of windows As it was winter time. the
landlord gained his end and the squat
terS moved out.
Real estate agents who have heard this
story, however, are inclined 10 DOUBT the
truth of IL. They admit that there are
persons bold enough TO acquire a resi-
deuce by the simple process of squat
ting" but they are unanimous in saving
that no 1anitor In New York could be
fooled by any such procedure. As one
agent expressed il. Such a fool janitOr
couldn't hold his job five minutes
A case somewhat similar TO that related
above happened recently on the West
Side, but in this case there were twenty
families 10 be evicted. speculator
bought a tenement house for improve
ment. The building was fully occupied
and the tenants refused to vacate. They
offered to pay their rent, but the landlord
wanted 10 get better class of tenants
and refused to accept it. He had to re-
move every window and door in the house
before the undesirable tenants would get
out Two obstinate families remained in
the upper floors, but the landlord finally
got rid of them by having the floor i'm
mediately below fumigated with sulphur
fumes
The majority of those who want 70 live
without paying rent take advantage of
the special inducements" offered by the
builders of large new apartment houses
uptown. The builders find IL hard 20 sell
the houses unless they are fully occupied
and are on a self-supporting basis. In
order TO get tenants the agents are au-
thorized TO give two. three, and sometimes
four months rent free. The tenant PAYS
one months rent in advance and receipts
are given to him for the rest. When the
stipulated time of the free rent expires A
in this manner keep putting off the agent
OF the purchaser, on one excuse or an
other. until they are finally dispossessed
and their furniture is carried out TO the
street. The tenants, having learned from
experience. the agents say. have antici-
pated this action, and al about the time
the furniture is put on the sidewalk a van
drives up and the furniture is removed
to another of the large new tenement or
apartment houses. and the same perform
ance is gone through. The tenants save
the cost of TRANSPORTING the furniture from
the fat to the street.
Agents complain that this is quite a
common practice, and certain families
have been able to live quite pretentiously
for years on an annual expenditure OF
perhaps $500 or $500
1t is said that a certain class of un-
scrupulOus builders make habit of filing
up new buildings with friends. to whom
they give monthly receipts for a fairly
large rent, receiving in reality only such
a prOpOrtlOnate sum as viii defray the
penseS. BY virtue of the apparent receipts.
the house is sold al a good figure, and
the next month the tenants move out. The
owner cannot compel them to stay, and
is left with idle property on his hands
This practice of padding is not prac-
ticed so extensively as In former years,
but il is still carried on to such an ex-
tent as to make il wise for a prospective
purchaser 10 enquire into the character
of landlord, as well as of the tenants,
before he speculates in improved real es-
tate
To such an extent has the practice OF
film -famming agents grown that one
large firm which makes a specially OF
renting flats employs a man to do nothing
else than look up the antecedents of en-
curing tenants. Immediately an aDplca-
tion is made, this man visits that portion
of the city last occupied by the applicant
and by making judicious enquiries among
the butchers and grocers of the neighbor-
hood, gets information as TO the charac-
ter and credit of the applicant. 1T is
far harder job to get rid of a bad tenant
than it is TO get hold of a good one" re-
marked an agent. our only recourse is
from s. so TO $40. and sometimes it takes
months to accomplish it.''-New York
Evening Post