Got my unit back,without the sheriff!!!

Multi-Family and Apartment Investing
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Got my unit back,without the sheriff!!!

Jarrett Harris
Calumet City, IL · Member since 2014 · 312 posts · 49 votes

Well for those that don't know please see the link below.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/117232-start-eviction-porcess-or-take-tenants-word

Anyway, Yesterday I had an appointment to meet with the village inspector. He, was doing a follow up to an inspection earlier this year. I told him flat out I had not done any of the repairs because the tenants were currently getting evicted and since the last time he had been there, their electricity got shut off. I asked can you deem the apartment "no human occupancy allowed" because of no power and food rotting inside? He said yes.

The inspector and I walk in the unit and it is BLAZING HOT. They left the heat on hi with all 4 burners on the stove going. He gives me the stickers for no occupancy and leaves.

Within 3 minutes my tenants start walking in the from the building across the street. They say nothing and just start picking things up. I go out side and call 911

The police show up. I tell then what is going on and ask if I can change the locks even though the Sheriff has not show up. They say yes.

My now former tenants give me the keys but I pull the locks out of the door and drill it shut from the inside for now.

Now I get to clean up their mess.

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Joel OwensBusiness Member
Moderator
Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
12y

I wouldn't even call these people tenants. It looks like they live like a pack of wild animals.

This reminds me why I don't want to do low income tenants anymore.

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  • Kathleen Leary
    Princeton, KS · Member since 2014 · 357 posts · 169 votes
    12y

    That's not too bad - they' could've kicked in all the drywall, ripped out the light fixtures, pulled out the sinks/toilets, spray-painted all the windows, poured concrete down the drains & super-glued the doors shut. You're lucky - this time.

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  • Rob K.
    Investor · Southeast, MI · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    12y

    I would tread lightly here. The police are trained in criminal law, but are usually pretty clueless when it comes to civil law.

    I once had a judgment against a deadbeat tenant who moved out most of her things. Rather than file to have the judge throw the rest of her stuff out, I chose to change the locks and tell the tenant that if she wanted the rest of her things, she needed to arrange it with me. She then kicked in the back door and took some stuff. When I called the police, they said I could throw the rest of her stuff out and it was perfectly legal to do so. As it turns out, the court looks at this as an "illegal eviction". The tenant tried to sue me, but was unable to serve me.

    I ended up getting lucky, but it could've gone the other way. The bottom line is that the police have no authority to tell you to throw out somone's belongings. Only a judge does. I don't know the laws in your state, but I would follow them. I wish you luck on this.

    1Reply
  • Jarrett Harris
    OP
    Calumet City, IL · Member since 2014 · 312 posts · 49 votes
    12y

    @Kathleen Leary

    Yes you are right. My biggest concern was the concrete down the toilet. I'm not sure about the drywall though. It has crayon/grease, dirt and whatever else all over it in different rooms. There is also urine and feces on the ktichen floor from their dog.

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  • Richard C.
    Bedford, NH · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    12y

    Listen to Rob, please. Hate to see you get jammed up. I am more sympathetic to tenants than most, but you've got some terrible ones and my sympathies are with you. So listen to Rob and make sure you keep out of trouble.

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  • Joel OwensBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
    12y

    I wouldn't even call these people tenants. It looks like they live like a pack of wild animals.

    This reminds me why I don't want to do low income tenants anymore.

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  • Marcia Maynard
    Investor · Vancouver, WA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    12y

    If the landlord-tenant laws in your jurisdiction support your actions, you should be fine. Here is my nutshell take on what transpired.

    1. Landlord entered for emergency reasons. Suspected inhabitability issues. Knock three times - no answer - enter. Village inspector present and is witness to condition of unit - deems it unfit for human occupancy. Emergency confirmed as the unattended stove with all four burners on is a fire hazard. Landlord has a right to protect his property from further damage. Backed up by response of emergency personnel.

    2. Tenants returned possession of unit back to Landlord. Tenant already received the legal notice to quit. They did not pay rent and on this day they quit - removed the belongings they wanted and left trash, they gave the keys back to the Landlord.

    3. Landlord starts turnover of unit. Landlord followed normal procedure by changing locks after the tenant returned the keys. Preparation of the unit for the next tenant begins. Big job, but lucky... it could have been worse.

    [Whenever I start having problems with a tenant I proceed with a legal "notice to enter" and take care not to do anything that could be considered harassment. If we are in the process of eviction and the tenant is unlawfully detaining on the property, I will take extra caution for my personal safety. I won't fix things at that point, but I will do what I can to prevent damage to my property.]

    2Reply
  • Atul Mohlajee
    Oak Park, IL · Member since 2014 · 285 posts · 114 votes
    12y

    I did an eviction and got possession on May 7th and walked into a nightmare of abandoned clothes, sheets, shoes, broken furniture,food items an frifge and kitchen, garbage, etc. etc. This was a tenant with a six figure income and paid 2150 rent. He was subletting the basement and extra bedrooms after his wife left him. These are not tenants but animals. Used and unused packs of condoms were found in one of the bedrooms. Had to get the whole house repainted. It took me full weekend just to throw away all their stuff before the construction guys could get in and paint and repairs.

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  • Chris Winterhalter
    Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2009 · 566 posts · 274 votes
    12y

    @Joel Owens

    This should be a mandatory set of photos shown to every out of state investor, Californians, new investors, etc etc when getting giddy about a low price per door multi-family. The 2% rule means absolutely nothing if your turns look like this every 6-12 months. And depending on what Jarrett does he might be able to turn the unit for around $2,500. However $2,500 year in rent ready costs makes the 2% rule go from hero to ZERO.

    @Jarrett Harris

    Thanks for sharing...it's wild how some people live. Hopefully these were inherited tenants and you are filling the rest of the building with a little better grade of tenant???

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  • Patrick L.
    Real Estate Investor · Saint Petersburg, FL · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 951 votes
    12y
    Originally posted by @Jarrett Harris:

    Yes you are right. My biggest concern was the concrete down the toilet. I'm not sure about the drywall though. It has crayon/grease, dirt and whatever else all over it in different rooms. There is also urine and feces on the ktichen floor from their dog.

    I've had concrete down the toilet twice. Once by a tenant and once by a helper my maintenance guy had hired. The tenant filled the toilet with concrete but it didn't make it down the drain so I just had to buy a new toilet. The helper apparently was pissed at my maintenance guy about something and he unbolted the toilet and put approximately 2 bags down the drain directly.....we had to cut out a lot of drain line to fix that one. That was his last day and the next week he was working for a tree service instead and fell out of a tree was in the hospital for weeks, karma's a *****.

    I've gotten plenty of units back in worse condition than the pictures you showed. Just wait until you find 30 yards of trash in a 1 bedroom unit. WD40 will take the crayon off the wall and a citrus degreaser will remove the grease well enough to repaint.

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  • Jarrett Harris
    OP
    Calumet City, IL · Member since 2014 · 312 posts · 49 votes
    12y

    @Chris Winterhalter

    Yes sir, they were inherited. I found out after I filed for eviction that they had been evicted twice before going back to 2007. Seems like they get evicted every 3 years.

    Rent for this apartment should be between $800-850/month. I think I will take this opportunity to fix it up for the long term (say 7-10 years or more).

    New flooring in kitchen, maybe new cabinets, new paint, and maybe resurface the hardwood.

    My contractor actually started work today on some other things at my property. I have not shown him this unit yet. I will see what type of budget we come up with.

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  • Rick H.
    Lender · Greater LA/Orange County area, CA · Member since 2012 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    12y

    Atul Mohlajee - I wonder why they left behind perfectly good, new condoms?

    1Reply
  • Richard C.
    Bedford, NH · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    12y
    Originally posted by @Rick H.:
    Atul Mohlajee - I wonder why they left behind perfectly good, new condoms?

    They poked tiny holes in them first. If dealing with a really cheap and really unsqueamish landlord, that could be far more evil than concrete in the toilet :).

    0Reply
  • Account Closed
    Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 688 votes
    12y
    Why my units are really nice cages.
    0Reply
  • Dawn AnastasiPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2013 · 6k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    12y
    Originally posted by @Joel Owens:
    I wouldn't even call these people tenants. It looks like they live like a pack of wild animals.

    This reminds me why I don't want to do low income tenants anymore.

    Low income does not equal animals. Animals equal animals at any income level.

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  • Joel OwensBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
    12y

    The percentages greatly increase as the level of income and rent paid goes down.

    Data bears this out with statistics and not my personal opinion. There are good people at all income levels but generally speaking the lower income units come with more problems on average.

    The lower income tenants tend to have less education and more life issues and reduced budgeting and problem solving skills. Again not all are this way but on a percentage basis you run into it more often then higher end rentals with tenants having a more formal education and upbringing with stable salaried positions.

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  • Atul Mohlajee
    Oak Park, IL · Member since 2014 · 285 posts · 114 votes
    12y

    My guess is that he had bought those condoms and his wife left him. Also, these guys were far from frugal. I went thru their house for an appraisal. They were both out and each light and each TV was on in the house. They were worse than any income level people. Once, the wife was screaming and cursing on the phone while sitting on the porch. The next door neighbor looked at her and she started yelling at the neighbor , "You *****. You think only you can live in Oak Park." She sweared at the nice neighbor lady. Both neighbors said they were obnoxious, He made around 120000-130000. He was a Sales/Marketing Manager. Police was called many times for domestic disturbance.

    0Reply
  • Jarrett Harris
    OP
    Calumet City, IL · Member since 2014 · 312 posts · 49 votes
    12y

    https://beta.biggerpockets.com/forums/432-multi-family-and-apartment-investing/topics/133474-my-unit-is-finally-ready

    Take a look.

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