WoW! Your Kidding - Tenant arrested 4 days before Eviction Setout
I have a tenant who was 3 and half Months behind on paying rent. We had to wait a few more weeks for a court date, had to wait another business wk to get a writ, had to wait another 2 wks to get a call from the Sheriff to schedule the setout. Finally get a date to evict that is a week away (in my mind I am thinking finally). NOT So Fast, contain that enthusiasm Mr Property Owner. My office manager gets a call from another tenant to make us aware that the tenant was arrested on property. The tenant got arrested a couple of days before the setout was to take place. Now several months into this and I will now have to pay to keep the tenants belongings in storage for a few months at my expense since they got incarcerated unless, I can get a family member to take it (which I seriously doubt at this point). I assume the tenant was aware of the pending arrest and took the consideration to take the kids across the street to a friends place just before the police arrived for the arrest.
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Aloha,
Similarly, at the time OF the eviction, with multiple Sheriffs on site, ready to drag them out, one of them faked a heart attack, falling to the ground clutching his chest, with the woman going into hysterics. Of course, EMS was called out, and took the happy couple to the hospital to be checked out medically. (they were both back at the property smoking crack the next day) Eviction on hold, subject to reschedule, about 10 days later. As they say, it ain't over until...
Quote from @Nick Sanders:
Could this be played to your advantage?
If Tenant was court-ordered to be out and isn't there to show up, does our state law allow you to place their belongings in storage? If so, can you hold their belongings until they pay everything owed and/or auction the items off?
I've done this before. Tenant owed about $1,500. I placed items in storage and held them until Tenant paid me everything they owed, including moving and storage costs. I turned it into a nice win!
Is there anything in georgia state law that says the set out can't take place as scheduled? Unlike some other states, once the property is removed from the premises under supervision of the court, there is no responsibility for those items on the part of the landlord. ie, the tenant doesn't need to be present or available to be present. The serving of the writ is after the eviction was already legally in place and a result of the tenant not complying with the requirement to vacate by a certain date.
@Richard F. Lol, I have not had any fake a heart attack yet but, i am sure that day to may come. Doesnt the tenant get stuck with a ambulance and medical charges from that.
@Nathan Gesner It can be played that way which is the route I will be taking, holding their stuff until they pay. I only plan to do that for a limited amount of time as they may not care and walk away from their belongings. Attorney says we are suppose to keep it for 3 months minimum in storage to allow chance to pay their debt and reclaim. This applies to incarceration, military departure or death a single tenant. Had death of an elderly single tenant back in early Dec 2021, luckily I was able to locate the estrange daughter/family member in California to sign off on a Death Acknowledgement and Disposal of Property letter electronically (which is required).
@John Teachout While the setout can still take place sort of speak, due to the incarceration and our being notified by another tenant that it happen it has to go in storage for a period to afford them the chance to pay and reclaim. So i will work with caution, speak with the eviction judge just to cover bases. and do the setout but into storage so i can get the unit prep and ready for renting.
Quote from @Nick Sanders:
Nice. Holding it for three months is a lot cheaper than leaving it in the house and losing on rent. If they don't pay, an auction will recover most of your moving and storage expenses, maybe more.
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Quote from @Nathan Gesner:
Quote from @Nick Sanders:
Nice. Holding it for three months is a lot cheaper than leaving it in the house and losing on rent. If they don't pay, an auction will recover most of your moving and storage expenses, maybe more.
I personally never bothered with storing anything off to dump with it.. I see in the mid west and south though on set outs the stuff is just hauled to the curb and just sits there ..
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Can they remove the items, but put them in a storage pod instead of on the curb? Might save you moving them out. then when you empty the pod, have a dumpster so you can put things in it. If there are kids involved, hopefully they can get access to their items as it isn't their fault, they have a loser for a parent.
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Wait. I thought having a PM meant you're suppose to be sipping tea in your underwear as the checks roll in.
Who selected this tenant? What lessons can we learn to avoid a nightmare tenant like this next time? How much do they smoke?
Quote from @Steve Vaughan:
Wait. I thought having a PM meant you're suppose to be sipping tea in your underwear as the checks roll in.
Who selected this tenant? What lessons can we learn to avoid a nightmare tenant like this next time? How much do they smoke?
Office manager, not property manager.
I have always felt that this business would be a great reality tv show! I have had tenants do all kinds of things that would make you scratch your head and go wow, really! At the same time, I have had a property manager friend of mine at a C property, which would be an f property if there were that sorta property grade, who was telling me a story about how she got a "professional" nuisance tenant to leave by simply taking the doors off the hinges for a few hours "to be repaired". Good luck!!
Like an episode of "COPS"...
@Steve Vaughan Nathan G. hit it correctly Office Manager not Property Manager. I manage about 45 of my units as they are within 1 hour or so of me. The other 25+ units are with a property manager as they are apartments units 4 hours away. I put a lot of repeatable process and contractors in place to minimize work required of me. It allows me to actually work about 10 to 15 hours or less a week and put more of my time focused on acquisitions and family getaways.
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Quote from @Nick Sanders:
@Steve Vaughan Nathan G. hit it correctly Office Manager not Property Manager. I manage about 45 of my units as they are within 1 hour or so of me. The other 25+ units are with a property manager as they are apartments units 4 hours away. I put a lot of repeatable process and contractors in place to minimize work required of me. It allows me to actually work about 10 to 15 hours or less a week and put more of my time focused on acquisitions and family getaways.
Great. What can be done to avoid a nightmare tenant like this going forward? Any lessons learned?
@Steve Vaughan You know Steve, I don't think there is anything that really can be done or improved from this. The tenant did not start out as a bad tenant over the year and half. Best that can be taken from this is I maybe should not have given the option for a workout repayment agreement after the 1st month of late however, That is not completely true either as that would not allow me to be me. We never know what pushed someone over the edge or what it may take to bring them back inline. Depending on the tenant and tenant history I would take the same gamble again. As for the tenant, they are responsible for what ever got them arrested and for not paying the rent. I Cannot say if they are responsible for what caused them to lose employment and no-longer be able to pay the rent in the first place. As for the courts most of us have no true idea of why some local city, state or federal courts move or not move at the speed they due. This is really just a sharing of experiences or solutions and options when I run across them.
Before you do all the work and extra cost/storage, check with a lawyer. In VA, if a tenant isn't out by the eviction date (for whatever reason), then legally the landlord is to put all the stuff on the curb, and change the locks. Putting stuff on the street ASAP is a lot easier than dealing with storage/moving!
If you have a strict screening process, and this one slipped through the cracks, just focus on getting the new tenant in. We had a tenant-- who passed all the background/credit checks (everything clean!)-- actually pull a gun on the pregnant neighbor, and we're evicting him now for non-payment, he's 4 months behind and court is on Wednesday. If you would have told me this 6-months ago, I wouldn't have believed you-- never had a problem with him prior. Stuff happens, and people change-- just make sure you follow your state law and focus on getting the unit rented ASAP!
Not sure what state the property is in but that makes a lot of difference. In Georgia, the property contents is to be moved to the edge of the property. Last set out I did I was instructed to not do anything to the stuff for three days to give the tenant/family and opportunity to get what they want. If you put stuff directly into storage, even if it's for the potential benefit of the tenant, I would make sure the local landlord/tenant law allows this. And if it's not "required" for you to store it, I certainly wouldn't bother. The tenant has already had the opportunity to remove what they wanted from the property when they were given notice of eviction.
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Quote from @Nick Sanders:
I have a tenant who was 3 and half Months behind on paying rent. We had to wait a few more weeks for a court date, had to wait another business wk to get a writ, had to wait another 2 wks to get a call from the Sheriff to schedule the setout. Finally get a date to evict that is a week away (in my mind I am thinking finally). NOT So Fast, contain that enthusiasm Mr Property Owner. My office manager gets a call from another tenant to make us aware that the tenant was arrested on property. The tenant got arrested a couple of days before the setout was to take place. Now several months into this and I will now have to pay to keep the tenants belongings in storage for a few months at my expense since they got incarcerated unless, I can get a family member to take it (which I seriously doubt at this point). I assume the tenant was aware of the pending arrest and took the consideration to take the kids across the street to a friends place just before the police arrived for the arrest.
You will never be short on entertainment or surprises in this Real Estate Biz
Is the city making you do something different because the tenant is in jail? We evict people all the time, the process is the same when we get to the property with the bailiffs, whether those getting evicted are home or not.
In Georgia, you just set it out to the curb. Are you sure you have right to store it? What if they claim theft by taking even when you were trying to do the right thing? I would personally proceed with the eviction and set out as planned.
I Checked with the Constable responsible for being onsite for setouts, and got the greenlight to go ahead as the requirement to store assets of and incarcerated person is no longer applied. However because this is a small apartment complex. Zoning enforcement will fine me as the property owner if the items are still sitting at the curb after a few days. This is inside the city limits so they only pickup the big dumpster unless specifically requested to do a special pickup. Even when anyone tries to sit a mattress, tv or furniture by the apartment dumpster within a few days my office manager or I get a call from zoning enforcement.
Quote from @Nathan Gesner:
Quote from @Steve Vaughan:
Wait. I thought having a PM meant you're suppose to be sipping tea in your underwear as the checks roll in.
Who selected this tenant? What lessons can we learn to avoid a nightmare tenant like this next time? How much do they smoke?
Office manager, not property manager.