SAN DIEGO — Repairs are underway at Barbara Gunner's rental home on 61st Street in Encanto. She said the previous tenants did a pretty good job of tearing it up.
“They had burned the cabinets down making something and so I had to get all the cabinets replaced,” Gunner said. “All the blinds were torn down and the commode in the bathroom had to be thrown away. So, that had to be completely remodeled.”
Gunner had tried for months to evict the people living in the house. They had no written lease but stayed on after a long-term tenant died.
A judge ruled the tenants had a verbal lease agreement because Gunner had accepted rent payments before, she says, the tenants stopped paying rent altogether.
“They've been here a year and a half and didn't pay rent for ten months, a grand total of $30,000,” Gunner said.
Last month, CBS 8 aired a report on the rental property and spoke to two of the people living there.
A couple weeks later, the approximately six people who were living in the house without paying rent suddenly moved out, according to Gunner.
“I think they moved out because of the story that you aired,” Gunner told CBS 8.
The landlord said she has spent about $15,000 repairing damage to the house, which she has owned for decades.
“With Channel 8 and the help and the grace of God I've almost gotten through it,” Gunner said.
“My main lesson is to not stop being kind to people, but to go ahead and do it legally with the paperwork, sign the lease, getting information, try to find out where they were before and what their status was when they left the places that they were before,” said Gunner.
The landlord said she plans to continue repairs and then rent the house for about $3,000 per month.
WATCH RELATED: Landlord can’t evict tenants who ‘don't intend to pay a nickel’ (June 2023).
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