Why Can’t The Landlord Try A Little Fairness?

People have the right to feel safe and comfortable in their neighborhood.

Grievances between neighbors never should get so far out of hand that someone has to sue a landlord over his tenants’ actions.

However, I now find myself on the other end of this situation, and I’m wondering how it happened.

At 5:30 on a recent Friday morning, right after my alarm clock had gone off, I saw my landlord sitting in our driveway. He had come to serve us with a 20-day notice to move.

A little background about our family: I am a full-time student at Eastern Washington University. I work part time during the school year and full time during the summer. I have excellent personal and work references, and I have a 3.5 grade point average. My husband works full time.

I don’t drink. My husband has a beer occasionally, usually not at home.

So what on earth could be the problem?

I have three children - 15, 14 and 12. The last weekend of May, we trusted our 15-year-old daughter to stay home for the weekend alone. But she had a wild party. We returned to such a disaster that we notified the police ourselves. We lost a lot in stolen belongings and damage to the house and contents. We acknowledge we are responsible and need to make the repairs or pay for damages. There also have been a couple of other incidents that caused our neighbors to call the police.

But not once did anyone come to our door, not even the police. We thought we were cooperating with neighbors, police and the owner.

Now, here is my landlord, telling me we have to move from the home where we have lived for one year and had planned to live for at least three more. We always have been on time with our rent, but our landlord is afraid he’ll be sued if he doesn’t get us out.

We have talked to our neighbors - through their screen door - and I think we have things worked out. We never leave our 15-year-old alone overnight. She either goes with us or stays somewhere else.

Having the right to be safe in your own neighborhood is an absolute must, but I have the right to feel safe in my own home, too. I feel violated. I am being harassed by my landlord and I really don’t understand. I feel so angry and hurt. I’m trying to be fair. I am trying to see his side. I am just so devastated.

MEMO: “Your turn” is a feature of the Wednesday and Saturday Opinion pages. To submit a “Your turn” column for consideration, contact Rebecca Nappi at 459-5496 or Doug Floyd at 459-5466 or write “Your turn,” The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane 99210-1615.