Landlord Adventures

Hugo and Herta Peters were both schoolteachers. Shortly after their 1964 marriage however, they embarked on an additional career as landlords by purchasing an Elmwood duplex. They lived on one side and rented the other.

By 1982 they were managing thirteen side-by-side units which they leased to 118 different tenants over more than four decades. Their longest renter stayed twenty years. Their shortest-term renter disappeared after three days.

Hugo and Herta often became part of their tenant’s lives. Hugo remembers one renter appearing on their doorstep late at night worried about her husband. He hadn’t shown up at home the previous evening or at his job that day. A call to the police led to a sad discovery. The man was in his car in the garage at the back of the property. He had died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Hugo once received a panicked call from the sixteen-year-old son of a tenant. “The house is on fire!” The young man was making bacon and eggs after his Mom went to work. Leaving his breakfast on the stove, he stepped into the living room for a “couple of minutes” to watch T.V. Suddenly the fire alarm was ringing.

One memorable renter carefully overhauled his Harley Davidson motorcycle in his unit without doing any damage to the floor or walls. Hugo did need to remind him however, that it was illegal to grow marijuana in the bedroom.

Another tenant was a hoarder. When she decided to move, Hugo and Herta worked until after midnight helping pack the endless contents of her suite while incoming renters waited patiently on the street outside with their moving van.

Perhaps one of their saddest experiences was with a young woman from the Peguis First Nation determined to make a better life for herself and her children in Winnipeg. She was being threatened by a man who had forced entry into her rental unit after she rebuffed his romantic advances. She’d found a new apartment but was concerned about her existing lease. Hugo and Herta were adamant that her safety was paramount. She shouldn’t worry about her lease. A year later they read in the newspaper that the young woman had been found murdered in her apartment.

Hugo remembers the Korean couple who owned a small business. When they couldn’t make a go of it they decided abruptly to join family in Toronto. They invited Hugo and Herta over one bitterly cold winter day and apologized for not having money for their December rent. They planned to leave that night in their old vehicle and drive through northern Ontario with their two children. Hugo and Herta were so worried they gave them cash for lodging and gas and went home to pray for the family’s safety.

Overall, being landlords was a good experience for Hugo and Herta. They enjoyed all the interesting people they got to know, some of whom became good friends. Hugo says the public tends to have a negative view of landlords, but he and Herta always felt the role provided them with the opportunity to exercise their Christian values in a practical way.

This article was compiled by Bethel Storyteller MaryLou Driedger based on a much longer piece by Hugo Peters. If you’d like to hear the full story, Hugo would be happy to share it with you. Have you written a personal story you think others in our church family might like to hear? You can submit it at maryloudriedger@gmail.com.