I Was Profiting from a Bordello!

I like to think of myself as a good and responsible landlord. I keep the properties in good shape, keep the rent increases affordable, and give the tenants the privacy they deserve.

But when Julio took over managing our apartments in Lake Worth, I discovered that all was not well. According to Julio, there were rumores that the tenants of one of the apartments – a mother and her adult son – were running una especie de negocio de entretenimiento. “What kind of ‘entertainment business’? I asked. “Tu sabes,” he said, with a wink.

At first, I couldn’t believe it. Then I thought, “Okay. I’m a Libertarian.” But then I thought, “What if this is part of one of those human trafficking operations? What if some of the ‘workers’ are working off debts? What if some of them are underage?”

“Well, that’s not good,” I said to Julio.

“No,” he said. “And some of the neighbors are complaining.”

We talked about what our options might be, legal and otherwise. We agreed that the way to move forward would be to file an eviction notice with the city. But since we didn’t know whether this was a two-person operation or some sort of franchise of a murderous cartel, we would explain our action with some sort of prevarication, so as not to make it seem like we were suspicious of what they were doing and, therefore, a danger to them.

About halfway through the six-week eviction process, the apartment was busted by the police. (Apparently, one of the neighbors had taken her complaint to them.) That was about a year ago.

Julio repaired and cleaned the apartment and had it rented the following month. He then moved forward, upgrading all the buildings and apartments, which allowed me to forget about what could have turned out to be a difficult and embarrassing situation.