Well, here I am, out of the Great Frozen North and safely ensconced in sunny Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. Who would have thought eh. Arrived here 11 months ago and have started learning the tricks of living here. Have been burned a few times, most recently by someone I trusted implicitly and who had been a friend for decades. Funny what booze does to a person (him, not me).
So, what have I learned besides not to trust an alcoholic? Beware the landlords in Mexico, most especially the American ex-pat landlords.They can be a vile and deadly breed when cornered. Not all, of course, or probably not even most. But it's always the 1 rotten apple spoils the barrel eh.
Landlords here love to get a security deposit on their house rentals, and who can blame them. There are some irresponsible renters out there, even in the "snow bird" or "retired" categories. But my experience with the American landlord is quite simply this: once they have your security deposit they will do almost anything to keep it. We rented from an ex-pat American who has lived here for 40+ years. She is supposedly a well-known local artist (I never heard of her before this experience). We rented a house from her in Centro aka Gringo Gulch for 6 months. Nice house but in serious need of some repair and maintenance i.e. painting, screens, garden etc. Paid a hefty rent and, to her credit, she did reduce it after 5 months if we agreed to extend our lease. Circumstances changed for us and we had to vacate 2 months later (medical issues). We left June 1st and after months of emails, phone calls, personal visits we finally got back our security deposit - well, less than half of it actually. Landlord claims of damage were not just silly and totaly incorrect but insulting to our intelligence - we had simply been burned by the yankee landlord.
I am told by other Canadian friends living here that my story is so typical, and not just of American landlords but Mexican ones as well. Nobody says anything about Canadian landlords - I wonder why that is?
So, today's hard-earned lesson: never pay your last month's rent here. Tell the landlord you will of course but when the time comes simply tell him to apply the security deposit against it. And be nice - leave the place the way you got it, or better.
And don't get me wrong - Merida is the place I was meant to be living in. It is a beautiful, wonderful, safe city full of pleasant Yucatecans and foreigners alike. There is just so much to do and be involved in. There is something for everyone here. I love living here and wake up each morning saying thank you to whatever it was that led me here. Come and see for yourself - but beware the landlords. Deal with a reputable property management firm - there are dozens of them here.
Enjoying the 38C heat and 80%+ humidity. Snow? What's that?
