11/18/2023
We have been through this before. Tough situation.
I just want to warn everyone about our horrible (thankfully) former tenant, Jaymee-Lynne Dowell of Middleton, NS. She and her 3 children, and former boyfriend (Rodney Halliday) moved into our home on January 15th, 2023, after a career change forced us to move from the valley to the HRM and begin renting again ourselves. What followed was nothing short of a nightmare.
Within a week of moving in, she began complaining about the cost of oil and recovering from Christmas debt, so we agreed to lower the rent from $1500 to $1200 for the winter months. As first time landlords, we did not see the red flag in this, and wanted to start off on a positive note to avoid any issues. Little did we know, this was the only rent we would ever see from her, and March would be the last month she paid. After holding us off from pursuing eviction for over a month with her lies and manipulation, we decided to pursue eviction in early May. The months that followed, could only be described as hell.
She and her family became spiteful, and would purposely throw garbage around the property, which lead to an unsightly property complaint. It took until mid July for an officer to order her eviction. Despite this, she still would not leave, and did not until mid august. When we did gain access to our home again, what she and her family left behind for us to clean can only be described as disturbing. Pictures are worth a thousand words, but a few things to note:
-Holes in the walls of nearly every room
-A shattered window
-F***s smeared on walls
-Drug bags left in every room
-Dirty diapers scattered throughout the house
-Rotting food (chicken and fish) tossed in the flower garden
-A flea infestation that took weeks to take care of
-Basement filled with garbage which led to water buildup and mold
-Left over 2,000 lbs worth of garbage for us to dispose of on our own dime
To be honest, I had no idea it was possible for anyone to live in such filth, and cause so much damage in 6 months. However, after speaking to former landlords, I realize that we were lucky to have only experienced this damage. In addition to the mess, they made of our home, we also had personal property of ours go missing during the time that they lived there and heard from multiple sources that she was responsible for the theft. Because we had only received 2 full months rent, we did not have the emergency funds prepared to shoulder the cost of a tenant missing 4 months rent, let alone the damage that was caused. We still have not recovered from this, and likely will not for a long time.
Looking back, itโs clear to us now that this is a person who understands the system, and its holes. She knew from the beginning that she could take advantage of our inexperience, and manipulated us from start to finish. She misrepresented her employment status and former references and played us for fools. I would just like to save anyone from going through what we did with her. She is quite honestly the worst person we have ever encountered in our time on earth.
