Most of you probably know that I am married to attorney Scott Carpenter. A few years ago we owned a rental house in Gilbert. Some friends of ours were moving out of state and had planned to sell their starter house to their neighbor “as is”. At the last minute the neighbor backed out of the deal. Our friends had not prepared the house for the market and needed to move the next day. We assured our friends we would take care of it. We cleaned out our savings and came up with a down payment to buy the house. We fixed it up enough to hire a management company and rent it out.
The renter was a single mom. All was fine until we began to receive the occasional letter about weeds, a dead bush, etc. The twist was that our law firm represented this particular association. We discussed hiring a landscaper and adding it to the tenant’s rent. But then new letters arrived. The trash can sat out. An unauthorized basketball hoop went up. When I got the final letter, I asked Scott, “Can you sue yourself?” He was exasperated. “Of course not!” He snapped. “I would have to refer the case to a competitor for conflict of interest and they would sue me!”
Needless to say we declined to renew the lease at the end of the year and sold the house. We decided we were not meant to be landlords. I never want to receive another letter saying Carpenter Hazlewood might sue us! I can’t afford their fees.