Help Evicting a Military Family
Investor · Bronx, NY · Member since 2014 · 115 posts · 37 votes
Hello BP Family,
Has anyone had to evict a military family? After two months of tenancy, I've decided to evict my tenants, a military family for non payment of rent & unfit living conditions. During a site visit of the premises, I observed hoarding conditions of my newly renovated unit. After giving them a notice to vacate premises, they have repeatedly called/texted me with which I believe are erroneous claims. For example water leaking from upstairs. I sent someone to assess the condition and they would not allow them inside. I refuse to answer any calls from them or respond to their texts.
I blame myself for not doing a better job of tenant due diligence & screening. I have filed papers for summary ejectment. I believe they are professional tenants! Someone suggested that I reached out to the JAG Millitary Headquarters about this situation and possible reimbursement for damages. Has anyone reached out to the Military regarding their difficult tenant, non payment of rent and property damages.
Thank You
Bridget
Never had to do it myself but try to get in contact with their CO. Pressure from that end may help them see the light.
Are they active duty? The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act provides special protections to active duty military. The law allows courts to postpone for up to three months and sometimes longer at the judge's discretion, some evictions for nonpayment of rent.
The law does not prohibit evictions, and the tenant is still responsible for the rent they owe, but the landlord is required to inform the court of the tenant’s active duty status. The judge would then decide if the tenant's military service affects their ability to pay the rent, and whether to stay the eviction or allow it. Landlords who do not follow the law can be hit with fines and/or jail time.
As always, don't trust the internet, seek professional advice. Good Luck!
What's sad about "protections" for military (or any group) is they tend to backfire. The harder you make it to evict someone due to X, the more likely someone is going to not rent to X. Sure you can say "Well we'll make using X illegal as a rental criteria", but guess what, apartments are rented by humans and its easy enough to get the tenants you want.
The law should treat people by their most tiny minority status: The individual. No minority group is smaller. So treat everyone *THE SAME*. If they pay and keep up their unit? Good. If they don't, bad. Who cares about anything else.
We rented to a lady (man? Who knows) who identifies as a lizard. Not kidding. She has horns and a split tongue and everything . But wtf do I care. She pays her rent so she's cool w/ me.
Like many government programs, it starts with good intentions, to protect servicemembers called to active duty which could cause them financial hardship. Unfortunately, the government didn't consider that the financial hardship would be transferred to small landlords. As usual, the government reacts and doesn't think through the unintended results.
As others have said, process the eviction through your attorney and ensure your attorney is aware they are military. If it comes down to them owing you money and it is taken to court, the judge can order an allotment come out of their paycheck to pay you back.
Military Personnel are just people, and they should be held to their contract just as everyone else. I understand some want to be more linent and nice to service members, but what is nicer:
1 Letting the service member stack up 6 months of late rent before pulling the plug and then having them be so far in the hole that their check is garnished, and then their like at work becomes problematic.
2. Be swift to fix their deficiency through proper legal action and either they get current and clean up their act, or they don't and they be come their Command/Installation's problem before it gets too far out of hand.
As a military spouse, myself I would certainly encourage you to find out more information about their Unit and get in contact with their CO. This is a matter they would take very seriously and enforce them to comply.
Go to their commander and complain before eviction. I have never had an issue with military before, if they ever were boarderline, ie be a few days late on pay or have noise complaints, just tell them to knock it off, behave themself or you will report their behavior to their commander.
I am going to take some hits by saying this. First, I am a veteran. Active Army. National guard. Police Officer, and 22,000 disability claims completed while working for the Veterans Affairs for long time. as a realistate investor, I am a frequent flyer at Home Depot. I can find things better than the managers in that store. Sometimes I am a daily shopper for months on end while fixing up a stinky. I love the 10% discount for flashing my disabled veteran card. but what bothers me is the part where each cashier is told to say, "thank you for your service".
This bothers me because like the majority of service members I just joined the military to get out of my parents house. have some fun. Chicks dig uniforms! and travel. sign, done. gone. Hired.
I spent 8 weeks listening to some sociopath yelling orders, ran for miles and did push ups. to my knowledge only 2 or 3 people failed the whole ordeal.
I am not trying put down the military! I am only saying the US political system puts veterans on the in pedestal because in this country we have a voluntary military and if being a veteran is no longer prestigious who will join?
We used to joke around at the VA, want to retire at 20? join the military, trip over the first beer can you see, piss yourself, call me. I will get you 3,200/month tax free. you will never have to work again.
I retired thousands of young men who had access to google.
Veterans are just like anyone else, they just have an amazing strong political lobby. Do what every you can to defend your property and do not fear political pressure!
as they tought us, "shoot, move, communicate" (the order is important)
"Also, in the future look to rent to NCOs (E-5 and up) or officers. This weeds out 99% of problem children, because they have matured by that point and wouldn't pull this."
Actually, NCOs are E-4 (corporal) and up, but I agree, limit one's renting to NCOs or even staff NCOs (E-6) and higher and the problem will disappear.
Depends on branch, USAF NCOs are E-5/E-6. But, to your point, usually by the time E-5 rolls around they've already proven themselves to not be complete dirtbags.
Of the base? Good lord lol. Chain of command.
BEQ allowance? What is that? Do you mean BAH? If so, being married and/or having children does no where near triple your pay. It was like a 10% increase to account for the extra space you might need when buying/renting a house.
"Contact the COMMANDING OFFICER of the base."
Yeah I am going to go with overkill on that one. The higher you start your complaint the better odds are that the issue is going to get all confused and the result you actually want is not going to happen. That is like saying "Call Jeff Bezos because you had a mistake in your order from Amazon". It will get bounced around and forgotten about for days or weeks because they all have much bigger things to deal with. Getting a hold of their next level NCO will most likely solve the issue much faster and give you access to someone who has a vested interest in that individual soldier.
For anyone saying "This branch will do something but this branch won't" has no idea what they are talking about. The core values don't change. Making sure their service member is not hurting the reputation of their unit crosses all branches and units. Counseling sessions are used just for this purpose, to keep the service member on track.
My suggestion is, contact his "supervisor"/ sergeant. When I was in the army a few years ago and a private didn't pay his landlord, the sergeant took care of making sure it got paid and it did not happen again. They are directly responsible for the soldiers and making sure they fulfill the agreements made, especially for housing.
I am going to take some hits by saying this. First, I am a veteran. Active Army. National guard. Police Officer, and 22,000 disability claims completed while working for the Veterans Affairs for long time. as a realistate investor, I am a frequent flyer at Home Depot. I can find things better than the managers in that store. Sometimes I am a daily shopper for months on end while fixing up a stinky. I love the 10% discount for flashing my disabled veteran card. but what bothers me is the part where each cashier is told to say, "thank you for your service".
This bothers me because like the majority of service members I just joined the military to get out of my parents house. have some fun. Chicks dig uniforms! and travel. sign, done. gone. Hired.
I spent 8 weeks listening to some sociopath yelling orders, ran for miles and did push ups. to my knowledge only 2 or 3 people failed the whole ordeal.
I am not trying put down the military! I am only saying the US political system puts veterans on the in pedestal because in this country we have a voluntary military and if being a veteran is no longer prestigious who will join?
We used to joke around at the VA, want to retire at 20? join the military, trip over the first beer can you see, piss yourself, call me. I will get you 3,200/month tax free. you will never have to work again.
I retired thousands of young men who had access to google.
Veterans are just like anyone else, they just have an amazing strong political lobby. Do what every you can to defend your property and do not fear political pressure!
as they tought us, "shoot, move, communicate" (the order is important)
Yeah, I think the volunteer aspect has a lot to do with it.
I’ve realized over the years that a lot of government (and I worked for the government) and military jobs are there...for the sake of employment and nothing more. Imagine if we didn’t piss away so much on defense and the beauracracy.
How would all these people survive? Middle America would probably crumble as these states tend to be the biggest supplier of servicemembers, and it’s often generational.
Homelessness would skyrocket if we truly “drained the swamp” and eliminated the jobs that really don’t need to exist.
My crazy high taxes likely help pay for some servicemembers to retire on a yearly basis, but on that money you can’t comfortably live in a HCOL. It’s all a trade-off.
That being said, I don’t think I’ll ever be renting to anyone in the military or a lawyer. Just too much hassle.
Reaching out to the base Ombudsman would be a good start. There is clearly something going on in this Service Member's life that is having significant impact on him. Which IS of concern to the Military / Chain of Command. Whether or not it helps you out as the landlord (indirectly, it probably will), it will get someone aware/involved in this individuals problems and likely will help them out more than you will ever know in the long run. Financial issues are possibly the single biggest issue the Military as a whole has to deal with that affects readiness. And yes, sometimes (more than there should be) there are pay issues, the #1 reason people leave the military. However, in this case, it sounds like this individual's life might be starting to spiral, and you are caught in the path. Reaching out in a way that might get them the support they need, may also help you out as well.
Never had to do it myself but try to get in contact with their CO. Pressure from that end may help them see the light.
Yes thats the best way. Their CO will make them pay.
I am going to take some hits by saying this. First, I am a veteran. Active Army. National guard. Police Officer, and 22,000 disability claims completed while working for the Veterans Affairs for long time. as a realistate investor, I am a frequent flyer at Home Depot. I can find things better than the managers in that store. Sometimes I am a daily shopper for months on end while fixing up a stinky. I love the 10% discount for flashing my disabled veteran card. but what bothers me is the part where each cashier is told to say, "thank you for your service".
This bothers me because like the majority of service members I just joined the military to get out of my parents house. have some fun. Chicks dig uniforms! and travel. sign, done. gone. Hired.
I spent 8 weeks listening to some sociopath yelling orders, ran for miles and did push ups. to my knowledge only 2 or 3 people failed the whole ordeal.
I am not trying put down the military! I am only saying the US political system puts veterans on the in pedestal because in this country we have a voluntary military and if being a veteran is no longer prestigious who will join?
We used to joke around at the VA, want to retire at 20? join the military, trip over the first beer can you see, piss yourself, call me. I will get you 3,200/month tax free. you will never have to work again.
I retired thousands of young men who had access to google.
Veterans are just like anyone else, they just have an amazing strong political lobby. Do what every you can to defend your property and do not fear political pressure!
as they tought us, "shoot, move, communicate" (the order is important)
Damn @Account Closed. Didn’t know you had it so easy in the Army brother!
@Carmen Futrell.... Thanks for the feedback. I've been in contact with tenant's 1SG and she reported issue to SSG. I am in the process of getting in contact with tenant commander.
@John Clark......my tenant grade is E5 This is what is stated on his Defense Finance & Accting Service Millitary Leave and Earning Statement
@Rafael Rosario.... no I have not. I am so disgusted with their behavior I can not find in in my heart to give them money to leave. I definitely want them out as I am more so concerned about the condition of my newly renovated unit.
I would like to thank everyone for their feedback, you've all been a tremendous help. I feel I am beginning to get some traction since reaching out to his job. One thing I can say....... is that tenant & his wife have stopped inundating me with crazy text messages and phone calls since reaching out to his job. Hopefully it will remain this way.
His SSG wants to work something out with me to help family remain in their home but frankly I am not interested in them as a tenant base.