Internet mightier than Appalachian con artist landlady

yard at 117 Wilkes St 

The pen may not be mightier than the sword anymore, or maybe it's even mightier than ever.

I just posted this notice on Craigslist about my conniving former landlady in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.  I happened to see she is advertising the same apartment I moved out of this time last year.  So I posted this ad in response to her ad, just a few moments ago:

 - $650 / 1br - 117 Wilkes St. Furnished*Gr Floor* Washer & Dryer

The landlady who rents apartments at 117 Wilkes St. performs like a thief. She cheated me out of my deposit, even though I did everything by the lease and am just a quiet, sick, CRIPPLED, senior citizen. She stole $800 from me last year, when I moved out of this very apartment that she is advertising now, so she has likely just finished finding false reasons to keep the deposit (i.e., committing fraud) with another tenant.

I'm in touch with other of her former tenants of 117 Wilkes St. All three say she cheated them as well.

I reported her to WV Attorney General Consumer Fraud, and if you also have been tricked into overpayment of rent and deposit, and then had this landlord steal your money, as I did, please also file a complaint.

She needs to be stopped. She robs people who come to Berkeley Springs by preying on tenants through Craigslist. Please take extra care, and hire a lawyer a few months before moving out, or you too will be cheated. The building is run down, overridden with rot and bugs, hundreds of neighborhood cats use the backyard as their litter box and the smell blows in the kitchen window.

All this would be tolerable, considering it's low rent. But the landlady then no matter how much you do everything right, will steal your deposit and screw with you when you give your thirty days' notice.

Take heed, you will be sorry if you rent this apartment. She is very conniving, you will be shocked at the tricks she plays on you when you try to move out. Since her rents are so low, cheating tenants out of deposits is obviously a main source of income for this landlord.

Be forewarned.

In my case, I was thousands of miles away when six weeks after moving out I got an inch-thick missive from her full of made up reasons, misquotes from her own lease, all explaining why I was not getting any of my eight hundred dollar deposit back. Since I trusted this landlady, I had not covered myself enough legally. I am a busy person, not expecting this kind of legal hassle when I am conducting business.

Other former tenants have told me how she looked them straight in the eye while she was lying to them about the terms of their move out.

This landlady is keeping the Deliverance image alive for Appalachia. She did her whole con with a smile on her face and framed quotes from the Bible decorating her rental walls.

• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Read the entire posting here at Craigslist   

Her ad for the apartment is here at Craigslist

-Kay Ebeling
(So sue me, I mean...)