Nearly 20,000 renters faced eviction in the greater Tampa Bay region in the past year, according to data from the Eviction Lab.
But experts say that’s not the full picture.
Renters also lose their homes through informal evictions, when landlords push them out without using the court.
Breaking point
For Wendy Castro, that day came last October. Her landlord refused to renew her lease, following months of contention that began the day part of her ceiling collapsed.
She was renting a one-bedroom apartment with her boyfriend in Old Northeast, a historic neighborhood in St. Petersburg. The management company, Terrier Properties, advertises its prowess on social media for restoring rental properties with a “vintage vibe,” and “old-school charm.”
It wasn’t much, Castro admits, but she and her boyfriend made it work.
That was, until, the night their ceiling caved in last July.
“Me and my partner had gone out to dinner, and we had come home, and we just walked into chaos,” Castro said.
Photos from that night show insulation spilling from the section of the ceiling that had cratered and covering the bedroom in a black-brown film. The property manager, Peter Ford, said that the building, and the plaster ceiling, dated back to the 1940s.
“There was filth, insulation, random stuff from the roof, everywhere,” Castro remembered. “And our first thought was, ‘Oh my god, are the cats okay?’”
Castro was thankful to find Ronnie and Jinx, her Siamese Minx and Tomcat, cowering under the furniture, unharmed.
Though the rest of their belongings weren’t so lucky, she said.
“Because that was the biggest room — the only room in the apartment — that was where the majority of our stuff was,” Castro said. “So, we had things like an Xbox in there, a desk that was completely damaged, a desk chair, our mattress, which was a very nice mattress.”
In August, she asked the management company for nearly $4,000 to replace or repair more than a dozen items. As a new renter, Castro admits that she failed to purchase renters insurance, noting that it wasn’t required by the landlord.
Ford, the property manager, said the company was amenable to compensation for Castro’s property given that photo evidence of damages and receipts for all belongings were provided. At most, Terrier Properties offered around $1,200 and $50 in laundry credit, which Castro declined.
“She refused every offer that we put in front of her,” Ford said.
Email messages between Castro and property management show that the back-and-forth over compensation went on for months.
And as negotiations unraveled, so did the rapport between tenant and landlord.
The leasing office issued Castro a notice of non-renewal in October, which she credits as retaliation for the unmet financial demands after the ceiling collapsed.
Ford disputes this, claiming that his refusal to renew her lease was due to the “campaign of terror” she imposed on the company, including actions like speaking to the mediaand writing disparaging remarks on social media and near building property. He points to an instance when Castro spray painted “Terrier is a slum lord” on a discarded mattress by a dumpster.
The invisible toll of informal evictions
Jacob Haas, a researcher with the Eviction Lab, said that disputes like these can instigate landlords to vacate their property in ways that side-step the formal eviction process.
In what’s considered an informal eviction, these tactics can take many forms, including unlawful lockouts, threatening eviction, extreme rent increases or terminating a lease without good reason.
Despite some evidence that informal evictions are as common as formal evictions, Haas says there’s no real way to track them.
READ MORE: Evictions are climbing in the greater Tampa Bay region. One Clearwater man shares his story
“It's really, really hard to know exactly how many families are losing their homes outside of the courts in these ways,” Haas said.
In St. Petersburg, the city’s code enforcement department has a better pulse on what's happening locally.
“It felt like I was forcefully being moved out of my home that I had tried so hard to build for something that wasn’t my fault."Wendy Castro, former St. Petersburg renter
Beatriz Zafra, a community outreach specialist with the department, said it’s typical for disputes to arise after renters report building code concerns or unsafe living conditions to the city.
In the worst cases, she said this can make renters vulnerable tolandlords who retaliate with informal evictions.
“As much as I don’t like dissuading people from calling for an inspection, I try to also explain that this is a very common reality for people who call for interior inspections,” she said.
On top of hearing from those facing a formal eviction in St. Petersburg, Zafra estimates that the department fields a few calls a week from renters who are worried about informal evictions.
Though it might have felt like an eviction to Castro, cases like hers don’t get recorded that way because they don’t create a record in the court system.
“It felt like I was forcefully being moved out of my home that I had tried so hard to build for something that wasn’t my fault. It felt like they were trying to hide from their unethical wrongdoing,” Castro said.
In the end, Castro said this experience taught her how expendable renters are in the Tampa Bay region.
Ford, her former landlord, agrees.
Despite disputing Castro’s characterization of events last year, he conceded that landlords hold more power than renters in the current market.
“In general terms, the balance of power is 100 percent in the landlord's favor," he said.
Gabriella Paul covers the stories of people living paycheck to paycheck in the greater Tampa Bay region for WUSF. She's also a Report for America corps member. Here’s how you can share your story with her.
