Drugs found in duplex. What to do?
Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2014 · 25 posts · 8 votes
I think you're looking for trouble. It sounds like he did not confirm permission for you to enter and if he finds out you posted pictures of his condom and baby powder on the internet he may be the new owner.
If there is no change in his behavior i'd forget it. He knows you were in the apartment. I doubt the police would do anything based on your observation and could be a problem for you if you produce those pictures.
Talk to your lawyer. I'm not going to offer you legal advice. I will just note, in passing, casually, that many people who DO have a legal background would consider much of the advice you are getting on this thread to be extremely uninformed.
Talk to your lawyer. Don't talk to either the police or the tenant until you do.
As a purely practical matter, I don't know where some of the people posting live, but even in rural NH, the police aren't going to exactly drop everything they are doing to investigate a report of someone using drugs in their home.
Talk to your lawyer. Don't talk to either the police or the tenant until you do.
+1
@Joseph West, if you no longer want him as a tenant, it should be easy. Just meet him at the apartment. Tell him what you saw, and say you don't want him to live there any more. Show him the pictures and ask him to move out by the end of the month. I think he'll be glad to move away once he knows you are aware of his habit.
OMG! Do not provide him evidence that you were snooping and taking pictures in his apartment. Those pictures should not be shown to anyone outside of your attorney, not even the police. If it were me I'd delete the pictures from this post now.
Generally, I agree. Personally, as long as he paid on time and didn't damage my property, I wouldn't care about the subject. But, if the landlord wants the tenant gone, if I were the tenant I would much prefer the landlord to simply tell me (and why) rather than try to have me arrested. And if the landlord does try to have him arrested but fails for lack of evidence, where does that leave the landlord/tenant relationship if there remains a lease of however many months?
But, you're right. Just leave it all alone.
Sell 'em...it's what I call "ancillary revenue stream" :)
As a purely practical matter, I don't know where some of the people posting live, but even in rural NH, the police aren't going to exactly drop everything they are doing to investigate a report of someone using drugs in their home.
Quick, to the Batmobile! ;-o
When I received information that one of my tenants was a drug dealer I took the advice of a prominent defence lawyer here who had previously worked as a prosecutor. He advised me that failing to tell the police what I knew could be considered misprision of a felony (see google) which means in essence you become guilty through knowing about the commission of a crime and not saying anything about it.
So I went to the police, and eventually they had enough evidence to arrest my tenant. As a practical matter I gave them a set of keys to the unit. The police used a battering ram anyway and took down the door. The condo corporation is now billing us approximately $850 for labour, installation of a temporary door, new door hardware and installation of a new permanent door. No good deed goes unpunished it seems. This was however the least of our costs. With the tenant out we found that we had quite substantial damages requiring around $6,000 in repairs, plus two month's vacancy. So all in all it came to about $8,850 when all is said and done.
Having said that, I am much better off without a drug dealer in my unit. Your tenant may or may not be dealing. I would leave that for the police to decide.
Bob - Lease States:
14. ACCESS BY LANDLORD. Landlord and Landlord's agents shall have the right at all reasonable times, and by all reasonable means, without notice, during the term of this Texas Lease
Agreement and any renewal thereof to enter the Premises for the following purposes:
A. Inspect the Property for condition;
B. Make repairs;
C. Show the Property to prospective tenants, prospective purchasers, inspectors, fire marshals, lenders, appraisers, or insurance agents;
D. Exercise a contractual or statutory lien;
E. Leave written notice;
F. Seize nonexempt property after default.
Landlord may prominently display a “For Sale” or “For Lease” or similarly worded sign on the Property during the term of this Lease or any renewal period.
If Tenant fails to permit reasonable access under this Paragraph, Tenant will be in default.
Seems like I would be covered to enter at my own will at a reasonable hour..which I have done. The idea of my property being seized has my stomach turning. Thanks for your help guys.
Can you confirm that your lease conforms to TX state law. I've never seen a state law that allows you to enter without any kind of notice unless there is an emergency involving property or people. Leases usually don't override state law on such matters.
Can anybody in TX confirm that you can enter without notice for non emergency inspections or repairs? Too curious.
If it were me and the tenant were paying on time and there was no apparent evidence of dealing, I'd back the hell away. I'd terminate the tenancy, either at the lease term, or with property notice for a month to month.
@Account Closed
That is pretty standard language for Texas and is in our Texas Association of Realtor leases. Personally, I have never entered without notice as I fear looking down the barrel of a pistol
@Account Closed
That is pretty standard language for Texas and is in our Texas Association of Realtor leases. Personally, I have never entered without notice as I fear looking down the barrel of a pistol
Standard lease language that allows landlords to enter and landlord fear of gun violence. Thanks for clarifying!
Don't overeact
The police are not going to take your home away.
The picture does not appear to show any evidence that a drug dealer is living in your home.
Give the attorney a call before doing anything hasty.
@Account Closed
That is pretty standard language for Texas and is in our Texas Association of Realtor leases. Personally, I have never entered without notice as I fear looking down the barrel of a pistol
Standard lease language that allows landlords to enter and landlord fear of gun violence. Thanks for clarifying!
Lol ! I will add though that landlords are also required to have keyless deadbolts or similar device on all exterior doors so a tenant does have the ability to restrict enterance to the property while they are home
We have a 10 unit property. I got a complaint from a tenant that one of our other tenants was dealing drugs (I previously had an unconfirmed suspicion).
We use a month to month rental agreement. I simply gave the tenant a 30 day notice (Florida Law is 15 days) in writing. I called him and calmly told him that we had made a decision to make a change. No specific confrontation or antimosity.
He moved in less than a month. We had alot of cleanup and painting to do.
It was the right thing to do for us and our other tenants.
I had a similar situation when I entered a property to repair the a/c. This was my 4th attempt to gain access to the unit with a repairman, and the tenant again didn't show up. I gained access to the property and I saw drugs laying openly on a table in one bedroom along with small baggies. It was apparent they were dealing drugs. The repair man made a quick fix and left, and I locked the place up and left. I immediately drove to the DPS office (which is only 1/2 mile away) and spoke with an officer and explained what I had found. He contacted the District attorney, and again explained what I had found. They told me since I had left the property, there was nothing they could do. If I had called them immediately, they would have come over and I could have invited them in and they could have searched the place. I informed them I had to go back to check that the a/c was cooling, so they sent an officer from the sheriff's office and officer from the DPS office with me. I opened the door and invited them in. They searched the property, made the seizure, and I provided all the information to them about the tenants living there. I then called the tenant and told her I had repaired her a/c. She got angry and started threatening to have her attorney sue me, etc. When I told her that the cops had been there and confiscated her property, and if she would like to return to get the rest of her stuff, the police would be happy to speak to her, I never heard from her again. She didn't have much stuff there, the cops thought she was dealing drugs and possibly prostituting out of the property. My former business partner put her in the property, and I had nothing but headaches from her : changing locks every week, confrontational with me, complaining about neighbors, etc. I was happy to get rid of her. This happened in Baytown, just outside of Houston, and It was the Harris County DA I spoke with.
Not giving legal advice, but hoping my past experience helps.
In Michigan, you can insert this clause in your Lease:
ILLEGAL DRUG USE: Tenant must not violate, or knowingly allow another to violate, federal, state, or local laws regarding the use of controlled substances or the use of alcohol by minors in or around the premises. When aware of a violation of this provision, Landlord will file a formal police report. Landlord may recover possession of the premises by summary proceedings when Tenant holds over the premises for 24 hours after service of a written demand for possession for termination of this Lease under this provision.
As others have said, make sure you had good reason to be there, and proper notice was given. Also be ready and willing to go the distance if you start to evict, or things could get bad real fast.
to take photographs in your lease. I have a hard time believing anyone would consider it reasonable for someone to enter with barely an hours notice for a non emergency visit.
interesting point on two counts, well especially just an hours notice for a non emergency.
but on the other, does the owner NEED permission from the leaseholder to take a photograph of apparently ILLEGAL drug paraphernalia present on the owner's property??
does an owner need permission to take a photograph of any damage of his property?
if the owner went in for repairs and a bomb was ticking, would the owner need to get the tenants permission before he took a photo of the bomb from a distance if the police say it will help id it while they and SWAT are on the way?
I've talked to my Lawyer, and he is getting back to me asap. From the first conversation with him, I am ok regarding entering the property since I did him 2 hours before hand at a "reasonable" hour which was 9AM. He DID reply and stated he was in another state, and all was ok with me entering. That only worries me even more since he should know that he has left this stuff out to be seen so blatantly. He's also given me permission to enter the property "anytime" for repairs via email communication.
I'm not going to over react; I'm going to handle as my Lawyer instructs. He mentioned one recourse was to notify him this his lease would be terminated, and give him X days to leave. I think, under the circumstances, he will oblige; at least I hope so. I'll keep everyone updated.
You definitely did the right thing by contacting your lawyer. If he says everything was handled correctly then I really wouldn't worry about it anymore.
Sorry to hear about your troubles with your tenant.
Keep us updated on what happens.
I've talked to my Lawyer, and he is getting back to me asap. From the first conversation with him, I am ok regarding entering the property since I did him 2 hours before hand at a "reasonable" hour which was 9AM. He DID reply and stated he was in another state, and all was ok with me entering. That only worries me even more since he should know that he has left this stuff out to be seen so blatantly. He's also given me permission to enter the property "anytime" for repairs via email communication.
I'm not going to over react; I'm going to handle as my Lawyer instructs. He mentioned one recourse was to notify him this his lease would be terminated, and give him X days to leave. I think, under the circumstances, he will oblige; at least I hope so. I'll keep everyone updated.
I dont have a dog in this fight, just interesting reading at dinner. BUT, if it were me, I would LET IT GO! just forget you saw anything and go back to your normal daily life. IF this is coke, most likely its not the first time hes done it and you never noticed anything worrying before. They have a saying about sleeping dogs!!! I think its starts with "dont mess with texas."
Sounds like a tricky situation and there are a lot of conflicting answers on here.
But enough to narrow down the decision that is best suited for u, ur the landlord, it's ur property, u have to protect it so what sits best with u that won't bother u is ur decision...all the best!
Well, I looked up TX law, and as much as I can hardly believe it, you did have the right to enter, since your lease says you can.
http://www.housing-rights.org/entry.html
What I'm wondering is - were the drugs the daughter's? Is she old enough to be doing drugs? If dad was out of town, and didn't have a problem with you entering the unit, it seems more likely the drugs are the daughter's, who probably didn't know you'd be coming by to fix things.
I've talked to my Lawyer, and he is getting back to me asap. From the first conversation with him, I am ok regarding entering the property since I did him 2 hours before hand at a "reasonable" hour which was 9AM. He DID reply and stated he was in another state, and all was ok with me entering. That only worries me even more since he should know that he has left this stuff out to be seen so blatantly. He's also given me permission to enter the property "anytime" for repairs via email communication.
Just to be clear, you DID NOT need to notify him that you were going to enter the property. There is no issue there. It looks like you're using an older version of the standard Texas Association of Realtors lease. It complies with state law and gives you the right to enter the property with no notice.
That's not just a nit to pick - when you get involved in an argument with a tenant, it's important that you not confuse issues with all sorts of extraneous things. You have the right to enter the property at reasonable times with NO notice to simply inspect the condition of the property (or to affect repairs, post notices, etc.) Know the laws of your state and don't apologize for acting within your rights.
As for calling your lawyer, the law covers a vast amount of ground and no lawyer knows it all. Unless he specializes in landlord/tenant law, I'd wager that most knowledgeable landlords have a better immediate grasp of those areas of the law than he does. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way about the dangers of taking advice from a lawyer who was giving me his first impressions without researching that specific area of the law.
I've talked to my Lawyer, and he is getting back to me asap. From the first conversation with him, I am ok regarding entering the property since I did him 2 hours before hand at a "reasonable" hour which was 9AM. He DID reply and stated he was in another state, and all was ok with me entering. That only worries me even more since he should know that he has left this stuff out to be seen so blatantly. He's also given me permission to enter the property "anytime" for repairs via email communication.
Just to be clear, you DID NOT need to notify him that you were going to enter the property. There is no issue there. It looks like you're using an older version of the standard Texas Association of Realtors lease. It complies with state law and gives you the right to enter the property with no notice.
That's not just a nit to pick - when you get involved in an argument with a tenant, it's important that you not confuse issues with all sorts of extraneous things. You have the right to enter the property at reasonable times with NO notice to simply inspect the condition of the property (or to affect repairs, post notices, etc.) Know the laws of your state and don't apologize for acting within your rights.
As for calling your lawyer, the law covers a vast amount of ground and no lawyer knows it all. Unless he specializes in landlord/tenant law, I'd wager that most knowledgeable landlords have a better immediate grasp of those areas of the law than he does. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way about the dangers of taking advice from a lawyer who was giving me his first impressions without researching that specific area of the law.
This right to enter periodically with no notice as long as it's in the lease is SO Texas. Can't even imagine signing such a lease.
I give weeks of notice for any routine maintenance. 7 weeks for the last boiler maintenance, with a reminder the week before. People here take their privacy seriously.
That Texas law is incredible. Would never, ever fly here. Even if the Legislature ever passed such a law, any landlord actually using it would have really serious vacancy problems.