Greetings bigger pockets. I need urgent help. I am living in an owner occupied duplex and renting out the other side. This is my first rental and I closed last December. My tenant just got shot last night. It's not clear if he got shot by himself or by someone else, though it happened inside, and the officer did not mention anything about a break-in. I hope I will be finding out more details about that later today. He had a girlfriend and they had recently broken up. They also have a child and a pet. It seems like there are a lot of implications that this has, and that I need help understanding. I also need to figure out what the next steps are for myself. Should I get new tenants? How do I approach it with his girlfriend and him if they want to stay or not? It seems like they would want to go but I'm not sure. How easy is it to even rent out again? It looks like Oregon law says that I don't have to disclose to prospective future tenants, though I think it was fairly obvious that something had happened since the police and the fire department were there for so long. Has this ever happened to anyone and what steps did you take?

Attempted suicide or domestic violence or both. Whatever the reason, I would have a sit down talk with your tenants. Check in to make sure they are okay and find out what they need at this point. If they need to move, make it easy for them to leave by releasing them from their lease obligations without penalty. Move forward as you would with the termination of any tenancy and make-ready the unit for the next tenant. If they need to stay, go over the terms of the rental agreement and re-establish understanding about the property rules regarding "peace and quiet" "safety" "crime" and "firearms on the property." It's quite likely that discharging a firearm within the city limits is a violation of a local ordinance, it is in my town, so check out that aspect. If one of your tenants or their invitee was the one who discharged the firearm, then that could easily be a violation of one of the terms in the current lease agreement and grounds for serving a Notice to Comply, or similar type notice to bring them back into compliance. Do not attempt to evict without clearing this through an attorney, as you don't want to violate laws that protect the rights of the tenants. Attempted suicide can result from mental duress and/or mental illness, so think about protected classes of people. Assault and attempted murder are crimes, so if that was the case, you could quite likely evict the perpetrator. Collect your facts first and seek legal counsel.

File this under the category of "things they don't mention at the guru boot camp."

Ok no ONE brought this up. but if your house hacking IE living in one of the units you have the right to discriminate against anyone you don't want to rent to .. this is federal law.. check the republic of Eugene law. but that is one of the great benefits of living in your one to four unit. you can totally pick who you want to co exist with. I understand you inherited this tenant.. I am just talking about once you get this figured out. And I have had 2 suicides in my homes in Orygun.. one successful gun shot but he went out in the backyard.. another pills. both were homes I bought at courthouse steps and the people simply would not move and after 6 to 12 months of letting them live for free I finally had to evict them it was on the day the cops were coming and they were both found by the cops. Account Closed and yes none of this is taught in Guru camps.. owning rentals can be rewarding for sure and can be really stressful to unrewarding LOL

Can't imagine anyone is a bad enough shot to hit themselves in the shoulder with a attempted suicide. Who is your tenant Forest Gump. I do not know your landlord tenant regs but in most cases interfering with the reasonable enjoyment of another tenant, or in your case the landlord, is just grounds for eviction.

Self inflicted? Negligence? Intentional? Though you may not know the reason, I would seriously consider talking to my attorney first and my insurance company next. I have never had this issue but there is always the possibility. Now that you have had an incident, that may be a reason you need to take certain actions in the event another issue of the same manner happens with the same tenant.

Thank you everybody for your feedback. He survived. It was a shoulder wound. No break in. Unfortunately my contract that I inherited does not have a no guns clause. It is illegal in Oregon to improperly discharge a firearm within city limits, and this might fall under that.

Did some research on this and apparently I was dead wrong. Some states have limited the owners ability to restrict the ability of the tenants to own firearms in the home, but it can be excluded in a contract.

My tenant got shot. What do I do?

Sean Carroll

Investor · San Jose, CA · Member since 2017 · 453 posts · 254 votes

9y

@Justin Harford contact the investigating authority local P.D. or Sheriffs department. Gather any and all information you can. What happened, injuries or death, when the crime scene can be released back you, also offer to help in anyone you can to expedite the process; there is a lot of red tape here. After that I would contact a local attorney who specializes in that type of law. Depending on the circumstances you may or may not be able to evict if they do not choose to leave. If you end up not being able to evict I would have the rental lease agreement memorized and look for anything that you can build a case to evict them. Documentation is key here.

My tenant got shot. What do I do?

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