brenda klassen, a reaaal class act.

i probably won't get my damage deposit back, but at least my crazy old (as in previous, and also as in OLD) landlord got a giant fine. ha ha. i happened to be googling her yesterday and found this article from last month:

Despite claims she would rather die than see her tenants hurt, a Calgary landlady was convicted yesterday of jeopardizing their safety.

Provincial court Judge Les Grieve fined Brenda Klassen's Sonchris Developments Ltd. $40,000, for four safety code violations involving fire security breaches.

Grieve convicted the company, which is solely owned by Klassen, of not having its fire alarms and extinguishers checked within the required 12-month period.

Klassen was also found to have not posted signage telling people to call 911 if they triggered a building alarm and had inadequate emergency lighting at her property at 312 3 Ave. N.E.

Klassen was ticketed by fire inspector Jim Heynen after he discovered the violations during an April 17, 2006, check of the property.

In testimony, Klassen said she was having trouble maintaining her equipment after the individual who did the work in all four of her Calgary buildings retired, leaving her scrambling to find someone else. She said she would never intentionally put any of her tenants at risk.

"If anybody came to any harm because of me I don't think I'd want to live," said Klassen, who has owned rental properties for five decades.

But Grieve rejected her claim, finding Klassen's only motivation for not getting the work done was to save a buck.

"Mrs. Klassen clearly longs for the days gone by when one person could do this for little cost," the judge said.

AHHHHHH.

oh my goooodness.

i knew my apartment wasn't anything SPECIAL, but i've learned some information that i can't unlearn...


when we moved we were so rushed that we hadn't even viewed the suite we ended up in. i wanted originally to rent a different suite but the landlord told me how nice this other one was and that i should take it instead, so whatever, i thought apartments are all so generic so it didn't matter much. we signed the lease and then i took off to europe.

it was mentioned it had been "a lot of work" to clean this particular place. but last night i learned the full extent of the "work" done. i got to hanging out with the ex-resident manager of my building (he quite working for her and was charged like $3000 in his move out inspection) - the previous crackheaded tenants were here for 7 years and the horrors include: barf on the floors, syringes in the cupboards and potential poop on the walls. apparently the fridge hadn't been working for about 2 years and was full of all kinds of rotten, there was a fish in the oven, ketchup on the ceiling, and they had used the screen doors roller as an ash tray. i was assured everything was pressure washed, gutted, and replaced - we have a new fridge, oven, and sink and the walls are new and the resident manager told me that he himself would live in the suite after the cleaning he gave it. but that's not comforting me quite enough. two glaring exceptions to the "everything was replaced" claim are haunting me - the carpet and the bathtub. dun dun dun.

my skin is just a crawlin'. i need to get out of here now now now now.

in addition to that mind fuck, i've ALSO heard that the $3000 charge upon moving out is to be expected, there are melting extension cords in the furnace room, and she has held tenants' shoes hostage several times! i've also learned the commotion that i have sometimes heard but never witnessed because i don't have a fucking peep hole was most likely crackheads doing cracky things in the hallways. half the "lowlifes" (as she was caught on tape calling the tenants) in the building are filing lawsuits and getting out, and they have files and files on her indiscriminate business practices.

again, i knew it wasn't the suavest building, and i definitely knew the landlord was crazy, but i couldn't have imagined all of this.

"i still have trouble with some of the drinks"

1.

fuck this guy!
tom hanks, gus van sant? wtf. i should really write a book.


2.

http://nfb.ca/
over 700 canadian movies of all types. streamin' & for free!


3.

in one week i will be in a city that is 400 years old!


4.

my landlady is famous... infamous...? forumous?
Story of a Bad Landlord