Comments on: Hagon Rav Elyashiv Signs Letter Against Unsavory Rentals in Lakewood

By: chgoachdus

chgoachdus — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:21:12 +0000

to #43, HUD section 8 tenants, can be evicted by violating the terms of their lease (a HUD approved document) … proof of illegal behavior, even clearly documented property damage and/or a history of disturbance calls to the police can do it. It will be a court battle and if the lease-holder is “clear” then it may be that only the violator will be required to leave the premises. It’s not easy, for the very good reason that HUD wants to keep poor people in decent housing. Therefore the idea of “undesirable” is not enough to get evicted.

By: oyvey

oyvey — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:06:54 +0000

Apparently we’ve failed to imbue the message that yashrus is as important as kashrus. (surprised??)

The great financial burden of a large family/kollel lifestyle, the simultaneous emphasis placed on economic status/success, and the disdain for pursuing parnassah through secular education/employment leave heads-of-households DESPERATE for alternative/creative forms of parnassah.

Nebach! what a situation we have created!

By: nossond

nossond — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:35:33 +0000

The landlords must stop renting to the illegal mexicans.

Shop owners must stop hiring illegal mexicans.

99% of Lakewood must stop hiring illegal mexican cleaning ladies.

It’s easy to blame others until you realize that you are guilty yourself.

By: savelkwd

savelkwd — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:32:33 +0000

attention #45 this letter was specifically because of cases you mentioned including yungerlight crying that they would not be able to learn if they have to sell their investment units. An it was also for another case of a Bala Bus who claimed he will also lose and claims he was in the area first- which we reviewed the transactions and he was not. But that does not make a diffrence as the poskim state. A lanlord must be in charge of his investments and overse them. He must manage them and be sure they are civilized and law abiing citizins not creating a nusance for others.

Att: 48 The poskim disagree with you and Daas Torah prevails. It makes no diffrence who was first. Be a menche and sell your investment or fix up the situation. BE a landlord, manage your property and take action. If it means eviction then so let it be. If they are making a ruckus and there are police reports from the neighboors to back it up as well as you logging all the complaints your received – you should not have a problem with eviction.

By: humble angel

humble angel — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:23:28 +0000

The comments expressed here all have value. Of course, there are two sides to each coin. Clearly, anyone can see the side of the landlord, and the side of the tenant. I have no problem with my landlord, I am a tenant, and have been for nearly 11 years now, here in Lakewood. I have watched as my neighborhood has changed, for the worse. But with that change has come further changes. It has forced me to become involved in the affairs of the Inspection Department, and the township committee. I have had some positive experiences with the committee members, the police department and the new landlords. I have not been so lucky with the tenants. I don’t need to share my horror stories. But I do hope that perhaps together, as a community, we can work out these problems. Its tragic, to me, to see anyone attacked, stabbed, hurt, etc. I believe there should be a civil patrol allowed here in Lakewood. I believe it would help, along with some very well placed cameras. We need to work together to try and make Lakewood a nice place to live; a place where everyone’s quality of life is afforded them; peace and quiet for all our holidays; noise ordinances that are enforced; homes that are maintained, not just by the landlords, but by the tenants as well. And we need to try and make Lakewood safe for all its members. I think we all wish the same things. The economy is very hard right now; gas is ridiculous; and things are tight. Legally, you just can’t evict someone because you don’t like some of the things they do. But, if you follow the letter of the law, you can evict them if you make sure to take the proper steps. Or, you can try to convince them to better themselves, making it better on all neighbors concerned. After all, don’t we all want to be able to lay our heads down in a clean, quiet, safe home after a long day or night’s work? I do. Its a shame that many of us just don’t have that luxury here in Lakewood.

By: Abisselsaichel

Abisselsaichel — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:23:35 +0000

If you moved into an area knowing full well that your neighbors are not the element that you want, then you have a lot of nerve asking the Landlord to remove them. Do not initially move into an area expecting to pay less, on the back of someone else’s expense. Its that simple.

By: SomethingFunny

SomethingFunny — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:03:34 +0000

Put your money where your mouth is! Buy the houses and evict the tenants.

p.s you would probably do the same thing if you were in the landlord’s situation.

p.p.s. I live in Raintree and have NO problems with the renters in my neighborhood. I find them to be quite courteous and friendly.

By: chaya13

chaya13 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:33:59 +0000

Al shloshu d’vorim haolam omaid, al hagelt al hagelt v’al hagelt and as long as that is the case most landlords will not have the ability to see this subject objectivly because they have too much at stake. I would just like to see a list published to insure that none of these landlords are not leaders in our community.

By: goodpop

goodpop — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:45:58 +0000

I love all the yeshivishe grubber fingers used by all the landlords why they are right.
I went to see a house in the middle of Raintree that was owned by a yeshiva maan for investment so that he could sit and learn. All the frum neighbors have begged him to sell the house or get rid of the tenants. Just walking into the house scared the living daylights out of me.It looked like 20 people lived in the 3 bedroom house. Each room was trashed with huge barrels for the empty beer bottles and cans. The dogs scratched up all the walls and the house is a total wreck. This investment is worthless only for the fact that they are paying huge rentthat no frum person would dare match. I would like to hear the conversation that takes place with the vaad when this yunger maan will plead his case that he won’t be able to learn if he has to sell his investment. Countless yungerlite have made the same deals and once one will be excused the rest will follow.It goes without say that the askonim and choshiva yungerlite will also be exempt from the takona and nothing will be solved.

By: ilovetorah.com

ilovetorah.com — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:32:31 +0000

Shalom,
I used to live in Lakewood & purchased a home there before the price Serge. Then I sold it for a nice profit which enabled me to move to Eretz Yisrael, now in Tzfat. I know many of these Rabbanim personally & I am friends with many who bought homes & rent them out.
While living in my Lakewood home, a fellow Jew purchased a home next door to me. Knowing he wouldn’t get full rental price from a Jew as easily, he put in government placed people. There were about a half dozen adults living in this home. They drank beer late into the night & had pool parties. It was not modest & a few were recovering drug addicts. Certainly, we did not feel safe & asked the owner to rent to Jews. He said, he wouldn’t even try, he can do what he wants.
Now lets flip the coin.
It was now time for me to sell my Lakewood home. Buyers came for months with PG’s help but deals kept falling through. I always asked every buyer their intentions with the home as I didn’t want to hurt my holy neighbors I had grown to love. The last minute, mamish when my moving truck was in the driveway, a man came by who would later purchase my home. Now he was an investor of sorts. I told him, if you are doing to rent this to just anyone, I would rather loose 30grand on my house. I asked him to even sign this on a paper but instead, he gave me his word he would do everything he could to put in Jews unless he had no choice. Only since I was desperate at this point since we had to leave immediately, did I agree on just his word of month. Now if you only knew the fear in the hearts of my neighbors that I sold to an investor. My own heart was quite shaky & I repeatedly insisted his word would be kept throughout the closure. It is my understanding that 6 years later, the investor still owns my home. Almost always there was a Jew but I heard at short intervals there were some non-Jews. They didn’t make noise but the property lost its beauty. I feel I did my best to help my neighbors & only after multiple contract failings, mamish no time left to sell it as my wife was expecting, did I sell to an investor.

Part of what built up Lakewood today was these investors who rented to non-Jews. It would have been too hard to rent many of these homes as things took time to fill up with Jews. At this time though & the time of my home sale, it was also time to hear the cries of the people who day in and day out have to live next to immodest neighbors. The Rabbanim are putting their foot down because Lakewood has since grown & people are really suffering. They are 100% right on track & certainly did not act without considering the ramifications. This isn’t Kansas, majority of non-Jews living in Lakewood are not typical US citizens.
The fears of discrimination mentioned by posters are true but nobody would go to jail for this & if a situation arose, for sure the Rabbanim would say to sell to a non-Jew if you were stuck & could make a chillil Hashem. Everyone who rents homes in lakewood knows there are 1000 ways around this and you can publish your rental in the Jewish newsletters instead of goyish paper & if you want to rent to a Jew, you certainly can but the investor bought this to make $$$$’s & renting out to 5 Mexican families is more $$$ so we must feel for them as well, they also have 9 kids to marry off. But the bottom line is, if you think in anyway you will harm or cause fear to your neighbors, it is not permitted to do this. People are consciously buying homes & putting in known drug addicts or sellers. They are leaving in renters who drink & party all Shabbos. This isn’t right. This psak is simply requesting investors to think a little, care a little, put other people first when they should & to think a little with their minds instead of their wallet. At the same time, I appreciate the investor who purchased my home & helped me get on that plane to EY. I think it is great many kollel men have been able to continue to learn from renting these homes, even if sometimes to goyim in situations which were not harmful to others. Let us not forget we are Am Kidoshecha, a holy nation which must surround ourselves with Kedusha. This the first time I have ever posted on something but it is terrible for people to bash publicly the Rabbanim or make light of their wisdom in reaching a decition, thinking they did not factor in all matters. Not to mention, if you don’t live in Lakewood, you really can’t understand any of this to comment. It has always been a very complicated situation as Lakewood has grown leaps quickly. I can say that Lakewood will always have a special place in my heart even now living in EY. This place is special because of these Rabbanim & their historical Torah work in Lakewood. Two of these stated Rabbanim loaned me 20grand for a few months simply because of the pressing situation to leave right away for our Aliyah to be successful. This alone should prove their ability to understand the needs of their people & stand up to help them. The pain of the neighbors at this time, is simply too great & more important then the investors getting fast easy rentals.