"jim" wrote in message
news:31ae9b9a-b53e-4b98-99dd-

stuff snipped

I owned and rented a 2 apartment home in the GTA. The basement tenants
complained of water dripping from the ceiling in the livingroom area.
This was a constant issue for him - not a one off. Upon investigation
the east indian family renting upstairs had a tarp on the floor, 2
swimming pools filled which contained rice patties. As well in one of
the bedrooms there was what I can only consider to be a commercial
deep fryer - no vent / ceiling driipping with grease. This rental
agreement indicated 3 people (wife, husband and kid). In one bedroom
there was a 3 three teir x 2 of hammocks. Soon after that I got out of
the rental business.

Is that Greater Toronto or Greater Tehran (two names suggested by Google!)?
Wait, I see CA in your email addy so it must be Toronto.

Seriously, though, when I first moved here there were 17 people in a similar
house across the road. My house had been inhabited by a family with 11 kids
(and ONE bathroom). We have strict limits on the number of occupants in the
local housing because it's a college town. The landlord across the way said
the toilet bowl kept coming loose from the floor because the tenants, from a
third world country, would stand on the rim and squat when they used the
toilet. Different cultural norms, I guess.

When I was in college, I worked for the defunct Washington Star as a police
reporter. I'd follow cops around with my scanner and camera. I got to see
plenty of very low end living situations. I've seen bathtubs used as
toilets, zoos with animal feces everywhere, needles, pools of vomit, dead
animals, shrines of all sorts, collections of anything you can think of,
refrigerators full of dead animals, newspapers stacked to the ceiling. One
hoarder that was on the news recently required 7 trucks to carry away the
possessions she had acquired over 20 years in one small house.

Yes, renting your house is not for the faint of heart and it seems obvious
now that inspections, whether monthly or more, are a necessary "smart move"
to prevent the place from turning into a slice of Southeast Asia or worse.

Thanks for your input!

--
Bobby G.