evicting a renter

In my state, I understand it is a real difficult deal to be the landlord. Tennants have all the rights, and free legal assistance. You cannot turn off any utilities during the 9 winter months.

Horror stories of people not leaving, and as the sherriff is coming the house is cleaned out, all lights are on, doors are open to let the furnace on full blast. Utility companie collect from the landowner if the renter doesn't pay. Court orders are fine, but it's very easy to appeal & the order is put on hold. New court dates get changed to to sick child, etc. Some renters can go 9 months or more at totally rent-free, utility-free living.

Now most counties have passed laws that land owners must pay for meth lab cleanups. But, you can't throw someone off your property...... Crazy.

It's a real mess. Sure there are many bad landlords, but the consumer protection is horribly skewed in my state. You would need a lawyer 'here' if you are dealing with a pro welfare family - they are allowed free living in my state as I understand things.

--->Paul

When I was still married, we owned rental property. I used a few different books to help me set up the lease and find info I needed. I know I still have the others, but could only find one...The Landlords Troubleshooter (second ed.).

Books helped save money, since there were things I could do on my own without needing a lawyer. We had plenty of problems, too, even though we lived right next door!!!! (duplex) One guy was carting his dirt bike into the finished basement and into a bedroom down there. Once we got him out, we had to replace all the carpeting, and never did get a dime of it back.

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Nevermore

Randy have you started the eviction process?

Read "Andy Kanes" books they will open your eyes. They did ours.

Tenant's Revenge : How To Tame Your Landlord -- by Andy Kane
&
Care And Feeding Of Tenants -- by Andy Kane

Kenneth in NC

Here in Missouri you have to write a letter giving them 30days to move.. then if they hadnt you take a copy of the letter to the judge and he will (in his/her own time) make a letter of eviction and I think this take another 30days then you can have the police or sherrif to come and take them out.

I had a rental and had a couple of these deadbeats... I have since sold the place to someone else so now I am closer to being headache free...

dale

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I Thess. 5:18 "In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

I had to hire an eviction service to evict the people living in my house. Even though they were NOT on the lease. It seems that my original tenants (who signed the lease) bailed out on me and then just let whomever they wanted to move in. Unfortunately here in CA..it seems that I have to evict these people also since they are considered to be "Tenants at will". What a load of crap. The water is off and has been for a while but only because the utilities are in their name. God forbid they were in my name then I would have had to pay that bill for them because in CA you cannot turn off any utilities or the deadbeats will sue you and win. Gotta love the law. Fully on the side of the deadbeats. Here's the best part. It seems they figured that they should be able to get FREE water so they busted through the lock that the water company put on the house meeter and literally stole another $600 worth of water. Now the water company seems to think that we are responsible for it. BULL****. We filed a police report on the tenants.. How unreal is that? I never signed anything for them to get water and yet the water co seems to think it is my liability... This has been one nightmare after another with these people. They should have been actors as they lied so well to everybody. I live in fear on how that house will look when we finally do get it back. We are awaiting the "Writ of possession" from the court that gives us back possession of OUR house.. As soon as we get that in hand we call out the sherriff to get all of them the hell out of our house. Meanwhile we are stuck with the house paymnt of $1500/mo plus the cost of eviction ($550.), plus fixing whatever damages they have caused..some of it deliberately I am sure. We are probably going to get rid of the house as there is no way I want to go through this crap again. The law is so unfair to landlord's.. It ain't right.. Anyways..sorry to vent on your thread here but I DO know what you are going through..and then some.. Best advice here..call an eviction service in your state, fork out the money to get it done right that way they can't find any loopholes to stop the eviction..and they will if something isn't done exactly right on your end.. Good luck..

My two cents worth from being a landlord in the past:

1. Demand first and last month's rent plus the equivalent of one month's rent as a security deposit. If they have trouble coming up with this then they will have trouble with making rent payment on time in the future. I can pretty well guarantee this.

2. Do not, under any circumstances, allow them to use the security deposit as rent.

3. Attach to the lease, and make them sign a copy, a specific list of what will be required to have the security deposit returned. In particular, not only in taking everything out of closets, drawers and cabinets, but they must be thoroughly washed out; the stove and refrigerator must be almost spotless (if your property) and carpets must be professionally shampooed. Include in this the cost of non-compliance, such as $25 per hour of landlord cleaning. Do not do a walk-through and hand them the deposit. Insist it be sent to a forwarding address for them. You might be surprised at how well tenants can hide significant damage.

4. Do not allow pets - period. You might not believe the damage a cat or dog can do to property. Been there, done that - don't.

5. If they are more than three days late send them a certified, returned receipt, registered letter starting the eviction process. Recind it if they pay up. For many only one may be required before they learn you really mean the rent is due on the first of the month (or whenever).

6. Do a walk-through at least once a month. Normally you have to give advance notice. Do so. If nothing else it will make them clean up the place a bit knowing you are coming. Inspect all utilities, such as flushing the commode, checking each faucet for drops, make sure tub is draining properly. Reinforces reason for visit, which is really an observation.

7. If a two-story, look up at ceilings of first floor. Tenants love to complain of noise upstairs but ramming a broom handle or such on the ceiling. Every time creates a dimple. If you have to patch, you will end up painting entire ceiling to match.

8. Do not rent on a verbal arrangement. Put it in writing tailored to give you the maximum advantage. Some provisions may not be enforceable in court, but they might not know that.

9. Demand references and check them out.

10. Do not allow subleasing. If they want to turn the rental over to someone else they must give notice to leave and let the other party apply.

11. Include a provision in the lease any property which is left behind will be held for 30-days. After that it is considered to be abandoned and will be disposed of at the landlord's discretion. Might not be enforceable, but...

12. Nice guy landlords do finish last.

Since it is your first eviction, I would suggest a lawyer. I do hope you have a MTM rental agreement. That makes things a bit easier.

Once you file it takes 30 days from them being served, if I remember correctly. We had 2 evictions come at the same time. Our first, so we got a lawyer. When the server hunted them down at their places of work and other areas, it didn't take long for them to get the heck out. They didn't want what would be next, the sheriff setting them out.

A site you might want to check out is mrlandlord.com. You can go to Q & A for you specific state. It also has free rental apps. and agreements you can copy. Lots of info there for the landlord.

Keep us informed to what happens.

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GOOD LUCK i am in missouri some laws are state some are county,in our county yes you have to get an attourney,he will send them 30 days on top of the 30 you all ready have then it will take at least another 30 days to get court day to give them their 30 days from that date get it???

they left owing us 3500 judge doubled it cause of the way they got it postponed then didnt show up, state of missouri rent debt is not jailable or enforceable at all, we can get a garnish is all.if they worked we wouldnt be in the this position now would we. funny thing the lady still used me as a reference at least twice one to get on HUD

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All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. Jefferson
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All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. Jefferson
my stores facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lexing...7930013?ref=ts

At the VERY least, find out every step of the eviction process in your state BEFORE you begin it if at all possible. Evictoins usually have specific steps that have to be taken, i.e. a Demand for Rent and Notice of Eviction served properly, etc.. Might also be worth your time/money to hire an attorney this time.

Might be a good time for you to look into your state's Property Owner's Association as membership there may very well put you in contact with other knowledgeable property owners as well as attorneys. Check to see if Landlord Connection is operating in your state as well. Two of the best moves I ever made as a landlord was joining those two organizations. Definitely well worth every penny.

well, as usual i did not do what i was supposed to do last month. i did nothing.

this month i visited a lawer. For 50 bucks he wrote me a letter (that i could of wrote)

i took it to the chief of police and he was suposed to deliver it. they didn't. i went to

check if it was delivered, not. so i had to get a witness and deliver it tonight. the guy was

like i'll pay you next week, take the letter back. no, pay and then we will talk. so if he does come up with money, great. he's still got to go. he said i have a baby, i said so do i.

so now i wait until jan 1 and if he isnt moved out. we file in court. if this doesnt work. i will take their rubber check to the prosecuting attorney.

randy

Most courthouses will have the appropriate "blank forms" available to do this. Head up to the courthouse and ask them. You should be able to fill in the blanks and "X" the appropriate options and just pay a filing fee. You shouldn't have to go to an attorney for such a routine operation.

The important thing is that you must do it right away. In Missouri it can take three months for the eviction process to go through, and during that time, they can do an incredible amount of damage to the property. By the way, here you can "expedite" an eviction if you think that the tenants will do damage to the property. So when you get the paperwork, you might ask if there is any way to expedite the process.

Best of luck. Being a landlord ain't fun.

donsgal

Should I Be Filing Now. My Lawer Said Wait Until Jan 1st, If They Are Not Out, Then File. An It Would Take 15 Days From There.?

Ken, wow, I would NOT rent from you, no offense. A visual inspection of the property every month? That is a little excessive, don't you think? As a tenant, I would consider that a little too invasive and annoying. I could understand maybe every 6 months, but really.

I used to work at a barn who's landlord lived next door. Keep in mind here that most people rent with the idea that it is (to a point) THEIR property to use within limits and should be allowed privacy on it? This guy would pop over all the time if he saw someone in the driveway....including when I was working there alone. He would just all of a sudden be there. Too creepy. It was like he was afraid people were going to pull the barnboard down and take it home or something. And to me, it was an invasion of privacy---he had no right to be there without reason. The man that rented this property finally got fed up and found a more lenient (and respectful) landlord.

Ken, while I understand you've probably had some bad experiences, you might also want to keep in mind that being too strict will also drive away good tenants? People like some privacy and you are treating prospective tenants like they're guilty before they've even committed a crime. We rented from two different locations over the years, and have a written complimentary note from our landlords on what great tenants we were. While I'm sure you would have been impressed with our resume, we would have ran out the door if you said you were going to inspect every month! And to expect the apartment to be cleaned (washed, etc) when we moved out? Too much....that is normal wear and tear, and is to be expected.....and if it's excessive damage, that is what the security deposit is for.

We always cleaned our places when we moved; it was not expected, it's just what we did out of respect. We even polyfilled the nail holes from our pictures....but it was also not expected. You can't expect to be paid for fixing this stuff, and good luck trying to collect on it.

On the other hand, I have also been a landlord. There are some people out there that put on a good impression and you think they are neat, clean people....until they move off and you see spaghetti sauce on the ceiling, mouldy walls from their aquarium that they never cleaned behind, or a fridge with black walls.

My opinion is that you should always get a few references....and I don't mean from the place they are presently renting from. THOSE owners WILL give a good reference, because they want to get rid of the bad tenants. Get a reference from the place that they rented from previously, if they have one. THOSE owners will be more honest since they have nothing to lose by being truthful. Ask where they have lived in the past 6 years or so, and get references if you can. Someone who moves every year, well, that is a tip-off that they might be running from the bill collector. And (I know I will get blasted for this) don't rent to anyone under 30 or so unless you know their history personally. Chances are, they have a lower paying job and will be more inclined to spent it on their stereo and car.....rent will be low on the list. At least, that has been my experience; way too many times did I have to ask for rent and they 'didn't have it' and yet there were boxes in their blue box in the driveway with new computer logos, stereos, etc.

Another place to get references: their job. And again, not just their present job. If they're leery of this, run away fast. That job reference gives you a hint on how reliable they are, if they're a job-hopper, etc. Again, previous employers is a good choice for references.

ALWAYS have a contract and be specific! And always write in the consequences of failure to abide by that contract. Say something to the effect that rent is due on THIS DATE and if it is late by ANOTER DATE then you will take THIS specific legal action (so have rent due maybe a few days before you really want it, then it's not really late, see?). Be specific on pets, smoking, sub-leasing, etc....and again, quote the consequences. And do it if you have to.

I think you're always going to get a few bad weeds, but if you do enough checking first, the chance of it happening it way less. It is way better to have an empty apartment for an extra month, than to fill it with undesirables right away.

Use your instinct!

DD

Oh dear, Randy, I do feel for you! We have two apartments in our barn (very large barn) so we try to scan potiential renters very closely since they are living right next door to us.....plus....ITS A BARN! We are very up front with people - if you want pizza delivery and all the amenities of a city apartment - don't live here! Unfortunately, we have still made some bad decisions and had *one* really bad experience. A copy of a cease and desist noticed attached to the door did the trick - as much as we hated to play hardball. We had to fix up quite a few things after they moved out, but I guess you just have to chock it up to a learning experience - and call it a loss and move on.

We have a policy where if they pay their rent early, that we'll take $25 off the rent (usually gets the rent checks in on time. )

Best of luck to you, Randy. Please keep us posted.

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The less I seek my source for some definitive - The closer I am to fine.

http://williampalmerhomestead.weebly.com/

I pretty much agree wtih Kens suggestions. The only thing I would add is to take "before" pictures of the property and "After" pictures as well. I might even go a little further and have the tenent sign or initial the back of the "before" pictures to show that both parties agree on the condition of the property at move-in.

Mike

I had a psycho renter deliberately burn down my house when he found out I was selling it. He got away with it, too. Luckily it was insured.

Would I be a landlord again? I would rather pull my fingernails out.

Oh wow, that's a great idea---knocking money off the rent for early payment. If you can get away with that. Not sure if we could do that in this area, though, but it IS incentive for some tenants, I'm sure!

And yes, having a tenant sign the back of pictures! That's terrific! Then they know they can't say it was like that before.

There used to be a law here (not sure if it's still in existence) that you COULD force a tenant to move if you yourself or a close relative needed the house to move into.

The landlords of the last place we rented wanted the previous tenants out, and so they put the house up for sale. The tenants knew they might have only a month to get out if it sold (and they certainly couldn't afford to buy it themselves), so they went looking for another rental before that happened. The owner also made sure that the house had tons of viewing times, so the tenants were disrupted a lot by them. Voila, the tenants moved and the owners took the house off the market after the three month period (keep in mind, just 'cause an offer is made on a house, doesn't mean that the owner HAS to take it, he can always refuse EVERY offer for whatever reason....or even just let an offer expire).

The tenants could never say anything about the house ending up being rented again because it was on the market for the required time and the owner just "didn't get offered enough for it".

A friend of mine had one burn the house down after they where evicted. The firemen found the gas and declared it arson, but not enough evidence to prosecute the renters.

If there only a month behind I am not sure what the fuss is about. I know its income to you but it shoulds like there is more.

You will need to check your local rental laws, Many states put the cards in the renters hands and make the landlords jump through hoops. MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW THE RULES or you will find yourself in civil court fighting a wrongfull eviction

some sugested turing off the water if your paying utils. That illegal in many states.

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Gary in Central Ohio