Another landlord has gone missing. Happens all the time. You see messages from distressed tenants posted in the Yahoo forum: “My landlord has disappeared, what do I do?” 

Chances are, there’s a logical explanation. The building is being foreclosed and the landlord skipped town. Or, he’s so wealthy he forgot to stop by and collect the rents. Or, he simply got tired of fixing all those drippy faucets. 

Still, whenever I hear about another missing landlord, my imagination spins.  Abducted by space aliens?  Hiding from hit men? And when these things happen, how do tenants cope?

Such questions are fodder for fiction like this: Mystery of the Missing Landlord >

A landlady's greatest joy is a gleeful tenant. After weeks of painting and scrubbing, nothing is more satisfying than the words, "Thank you! The apartment's beautiful!" But, despite my best efforts, there's no escaping renter's remorse.

Some landlords just collect the rents and (maybe) fix the faucets. Others change the world. A gold star goes to real estate developer John K. Freeman who transformed a seedy apartment complex into a thriving community with educational resources for struggling families.

Oh to be loved like landlord David Berry of New South Wales, Australia. While so many landlords (and landladies) are feared and scorned, Berry won the affection of tenants who erected an enormous granite monument in his honor.