Landlord vs. Tenant -- Anatomy of a Trial --

[Kevin Prentice]

Went to court today. >>>> in the words of Judge Smails (from the movie Caddy Shack) "didn't want to do it...felt I owed it to them". Sorry, that just came to me. Anyway......

If you're going to be a Landlord for any length of time you're going to end up in court, some day. It's a numbers game so eventually your number will come up and you'll find yourself standing in front of a judge.  With that in mind I thought I'd share my latest court experience in hopes it may help someone. Today was my 4th time in an 8 year period. It's kind of like the Olympics only I get to go every 2 years.....rather than every 4 years. 

The Pre-Court details are:

• Tenants (a couple) moved into a SFH last summer. One year lease at $1500 per month.
• Soon after they moved into my property they turned around and rented their previous property to my office assistant.
• Within 60 days of them taking occupancy they ran across an estate sale home on Fripp Island they wanted to buy.
• (here's where it starts getting weird). In an effort to break the lease they went behind my back and tried to bribe my assistant (whom was now their tenant) to help them break the lease without penalty. The man tried to entice my assistant with offers of lowering her rent and/or giving her a longer period of time to pay her rent. That happened in August. Nothing much came of it then at that time.
• In October they tried the same strategy by employing the help of my assistant, again, to break the lease without penalty. Again, nothing much came of it at that time.
• At the end of October my homeowner decided to sell her house. She had me list it on the MLS For Sale.
• On November 2nd the tenant showed up at my office to pay rent. At that time she informed me they were breaking the lease and moving due to the fact the house was now listed For Sale. I calmly educated her on the wording in the lease, etc., etc.  As you might expect she did not get her way. She said she'd talk with her husband and get back to me.
• On November 10th she contacted me by phone and said her husband is in the hospital, very sick, the house has mold, and they were vacating. She said her husband would contact me in the morning.

To be continued...... 

[Account Closed]

Originally posted by @Nathan Gesner:

I don't know how every state or contract deals with this but I don't recall seeing any that say an owner can bring visitors through the house at any time, even if they are buyers. I don't personally find that to be ethical or a good business practice, but if it is legal in your area then go for it.

Are you actually a property manager? And you don't know these things??

If the lease states he can show the house to a buyer whenever he wants to...then that is what he can do. If the lease states he can show the house to a buyer after making appropriate notice first, then that is what he probably did. There is nothing wrong with that. Not only is it legal, its ethical, and its extremely common. In every single state.

Have you never seen a rental for sale with tenants living in it? How can you possibly be a property manager and not know these things?? This is super simple first day landlording stuff....