Need advice. Tenant arrested. (sigh)
I have a couple who has been renting one of my investment properties for the past few years. They've been excellent tenants; always paid the rent on time, kept the place in good condition, etc.
A couple of weeks ago they apparently had some kind of violent falling out. She left. He was subsequently arrested, but not before he changed the locks (in violation of the lease) in response to the wife leaving.
I have been in communication with his nephew for the past couple of weeks who has been keeping me abreast of the situation with his uncle, but over the past week has gone radio silent on me and my patience has run out on waiting for news on my tenant. The nephew has been ignoring my repeated requests to obtain a copy of the key so that I can at least get into the unit and of course the estranged wife doesn't have one.
Any advice as to how to go about next steps? I can't serve him a Notice to Quit if he is in jail, nor can I serve any other eviction paperwork. Any advice on how to take control of my property again short of breaking in? What about the personal belongings inside? My guess based on what I've heard about the altercation from the wife is that he won't be getting out anytime soon.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts/advice.
--Sam