Creepy contractor sells fast evictions

Entrepreneur zeroes in on problem tenants, Toronto Star, 25 Feb 2006

A Toronto entrepreneur, [Ellen] Weiss may be blazing a trail in the most recession-proof industry of all.

She gets rid of people for a living. Landlords need only call her company, Evictions Inc., and give her a name. No more than six weeks later, Weiss delivers the keys to an empty apartment...

For anywhere from $65 to a "top-of-the-line" $1,000, she will deliver the notices, sit through hearings and pre-hearings, ride along with the sheriff for the actual eviction — and even spruce the apartment up once it's empty.

Time for an aside. How classy is Weiss' business? I can't speak to that point, but what I can tell you is that she uses craigslist and advises clients [click 'tenant selection' on the left of her page to find the following quote] to literally spy on applicants:

See if the prospective tenant takes off their shoes when entering your property. Take a look in their car if they have one. See if it is tidy or in shambles. Drive past their current residence and see how it looks, if possible find a reason to knock on their door and ask them something so that you can have a look inside.

Alright, back to the Star article. Later on, the writer balances his piece with a tenant advocate's side of the story:

Trouble is, the people don't disappear so easily into filing cabinets.

"What we do know is that the shelters are full of people," says Dan McIntyre, program co-ordinator for the Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations. "Some of them are actually on the street."

Indeed, an eviction, much like a bad credit rating, can haunt tenants for years, since most landlords research an applicant's rental history.

"If you mess around with your credit card and you don't pay it, you're going to get a very bad credit rating and you may not be able to borrow money to buy that new Ferrari," McIntyre says. "But that's it. You don't lose your home."