Need some eviction help for the tenant from hell
bethel, CT · Member since 2015 · 335 posts · 57 votes
This is going to sound a little off the wall, but if it didn't, it wouldn't come from me. LOL.
This is something I would recommend every REI do before they buy into a market for a rental(s):
1 - Find out the day the court is doing evictions (usually it's an all day thing...and the same day(s) every week/month.
2 - Clear your schedule for the day
3 - Go to the court, bright and early that day
4 - Bring a pad of paper and pen (remember how those worked...they still do), because most courts won't let you bring your tablet, laptop, phone...into court.
5 - Sit in the middle of the room
6 - Watch and listen
7 - Take notes (see #4)
8 - Learn.
Depends on how landlord friendly your township/county is. Usually when I evict someone who is behind in rent the judge gives them a week to move out.. Any other reason the judge may allow them to remand for another 2 weeks. This is in central Ohio.. Make sure you and your attorney have a game plan in court. You need to tell the magistrate that you gave them chances and you are behind on your bills as a result.. your attorney should know to say this if he is good..
Good luck.. I hate bad tenants..
Ugh this is my first real bad one, thanks for the insight!
I would recommend consulting with an eviction lawyer regarding this case.
However on a general basis you can look into your state's statues concerning rent collection, and in which cases you can give them a shorter notice to vacate. There should exist a 24-Hour-Notice-To-Vacate procedure for special cases such as: imminent threats, reckless endangerment (causing serious risk of injury to someone else on the premises other than you), inflicting substational personal injury ect. In other words, extreme but spesific situations which can occur.
The 24-hour notice should in short provide you with 24 hours to file it with the court if they remain. This may differ from state to state, so consult with an eviction lawyer. Best of luck!
Maintaine your going to follow the judgment and the lease until the move out date . Accept no money from this idiot and be sure to have any correspondence sent to your attorney . Make no deals or communicate with the tenant those days are over . It’s time to ride it out
@Ryan
@Ryan Keenan You said that you hired a lawyer. Let him handle it and do his job. Don't talk to the tenant and enjoy your weekend.
Hi Ryan,
I'm unclear about where in the process you are. Ohio, unless you are in a big city like Cleveland, is landlord friendly. With properly served notice your tenant should be out in 5-6 weeks. For example:
Default on rent per lease: 3rd day of month
Post 3-day notice to quit or pay on 4th day of month. Count 3 BUSINESS days beginning on 5th. For August 2018 that would make your first day available to file on the 9th day of the month. it takes about 2 weeks to get a hearing. You have a hearing around the 23rd. If your tenant knows the ropes they can show up and ask for one more week. That puts you at the 30th for the hearing. If it's for non-payment, and you served the notice properly then you'll probably get a judgement for a writ of restitution and in my county, your tenant will have 7-10 days before the set-out. You'll have to have another hearing if you want to try to get a judgement for your back rent and/or damages but the tenant should be out in 6 weeks even with an extension "to find counsel"
This is going to sound a little off the wall, but if it didn't, it wouldn't come from me. LOL.
This is something I would recommend every REI do before they buy into a market for a rental(s):
1 - Find out the day the court is doing evictions (usually it's an all day thing...and the same day(s) every week/month.
2 - Clear your schedule for the day
3 - Go to the court, bright and early that day
4 - Bring a pad of paper and pen (remember how those worked...they still do), because most courts won't let you bring your tablet, laptop, phone...into court.
5 - Sit in the middle of the room
6 - Watch and listen
7 - Take notes (see #4)
8 - Learn.
My friend... You haven't learned yet how to deal with these kind of people. You send the notices, you file the paperwork with the court, and you just keep it moving. Don't answer any phone calls, any texts... nothing. Someone sends you texts and harasses you, just read it and laugh. Don't even respond. You can never win an argument with these kind of people.. They are uncivilized critters, and any valid point you make, they will shout you down, or change the subject. They will use threats, coercion, fear..every kind of tactic to stay rent free. Best dialogue you can have when them is none at all.
If you can't handle this by yourself and its mentally overbearing on you, remove yourself from the equation and hire a PM.
@Ryan Keenan I can speak from experience with a tenant from hell: Chuck it to a learning experience. As many posted leave it to the lawyers, do not communicate with them. If they leave texts or messages save them. Keep your cool cause this too shall pass. Trust me it will.
@Ryan Keenan I can speak from experience with a tenant from hell: Chuck it to a learning experience. As many posted leave it to the lawyers, do not communicate with them. If they leave texts or messages save them. Keep your cool cause this too shall pass. Trust me it will.
Thank you!
My friend... You haven't learned yet how to deal with these kind of people. You send the notices, you file the paperwork with the court, and you just keep it moving. Don't answer any phone calls, any texts... nothing. Someone sends you texts and harasses you, just read it and laugh. Don't even respond. You can never win an argument with these kind of people.. They are uncivilized critters, and any valid point you make, they will shout you down, or change the subject. They will use threats, coercion, fear..every kind of tactic to stay rent free. Best dialogue you can have when them is none at all.
If you can't handle this by yourself and its mentally overbearing on you, remove yourself from the equation and hire a PM.
Thank you for your response ! I do have some learning to do . I did get a lawyer and the court said which she agreed to be out by the 30th of September. Now she wants to go month to month.. I thought I was in the clear but I guess not. If it goes back to court do I have the upper hand here? Will the judge finally side with me?
My friend... You haven't learned yet how to deal with these kind of people. You send the notices, you file the paperwork with the court, and you just keep it moving. Don't answer any phone calls, any texts... nothing. Someone sends you texts and harasses you, just read it and laugh. Don't even respond. You can never win an argument with these kind of people.. They are uncivilized critters, and any valid point you make, they will shout you down, or change the subject. They will use threats, coercion, fear..every kind of tactic to stay rent free. Best dialogue you can have when them is none at all.
If you can't handle this by yourself and its mentally overbearing on you, remove yourself from the equation and hire a PM.
Thank you for your response ! I do have some learning to do . I did get a lawyer and the court said which she agreed to be out by the 30th of September. Now she wants to go month to month.. I thought I was in the clear but I guess not. If it goes back to court do I have the upper hand here? Will the judge finally side with me?
Not following you here.. What do you mean by "and the court said..which she agreed to". Did the judge give judgement in your favor? When the judge gives a judgement, the paperwork goes to the sheriff's department, and the sheriff will come and evict her. You will end up changing locks at this point. Who cares what she wants.. Are you trying to handle this eviction without sheriff's department being involved?
My friend... You haven't learned yet how to deal with these kind of people. You send the notices, you file the paperwork with the court, and you just keep it moving. Don't answer any phone calls, any texts... nothing. Someone sends you texts and harasses you, just read it and laugh. Don't even respond. You can never win an argument with these kind of people.. They are uncivilized critters, and any valid point you make, they will shout you down, or change the subject. They will use threats, coercion, fear..every kind of tactic to stay rent free. Best dialogue you can have when them is none at all.
If you can't handle this by yourself and its mentally overbearing on you, remove yourself from the equation and hire a PM.
Thank you for your response ! I do have some learning to do . I did get a lawyer and the court said which she agreed to be out by the 30th of September. Now she wants to go month to month.. I thought I was in the clear but I guess not. If it goes back to court do I have the upper hand here? Will the judge finally side with me?
Not following you here.. What do you mean by "and the court said..which she agreed to". Did the judge give judgement in your favor? When the judge gives a judgement, the paperwork goes to the sheriff's department, and the sheriff will come and evict her. You will end up changing locks at this point. Who cares what she wants.. Are you trying to handle this eviction without sheriff's department being involved?
We went to court and the judgement was she could stay 3 more months and had to pay each month and the days she picked. It's now third month, the month she is supposed to leave. Now she wants to stay and has a social worker fighting for her because she has kids.
I guess what I'm missing here is, if she is still there on the 30th what will happen?
My friend... You haven't learned yet how to deal with these kind of people. You send the notices, you file the paperwork with the court, and you just keep it moving. Don't answer any phone calls, any texts... nothing. Someone sends you texts and harasses you, just read it and laugh. Don't even respond. You can never win an argument with these kind of people.. They are uncivilized critters, and any valid point you make, they will shout you down, or change the subject. They will use threats, coercion, fear..every kind of tactic to stay rent free. Best dialogue you can have when them is none at all.
If you can't handle this by yourself and its mentally overbearing on you, remove yourself from the equation and hire a PM.
Thank you for your response ! I do have some learning to do . I did get a lawyer and the court said which she agreed to be out by the 30th of September. Now she wants to go month to month.. I thought I was in the clear but I guess not. If it goes back to court do I have the upper hand here? Will the judge finally side with me?
Not following you here.. What do you mean by "and the court said..which she agreed to". Did the judge give judgement in your favor? When the judge gives a judgement, the paperwork goes to the sheriff's department, and the sheriff will come and evict her. You will end up changing locks at this point. Who cares what she wants.. Are you trying to handle this eviction without sheriff's department being involved?
We went to court and the judgement was she could stay 3 more months and had to pay each month and the days she picked. It's now third month, the month she is supposed to leave. Now she wants to stay and has a social worker fighting for her because she has kids.
I guess what I'm missing here is, if she is still there on the 30th what will happen?
Perhaps what you already have from the courts is enough for the sheriff's dept to proceed if she is still there after 3 months, perhaps not.. You really need a good PM or lawyer in your state to assist you in get the possession of the property.
Hi Ryan. I'm sorry to hear this is happening - this is the ugly part of our business, but one we can't always avoid. I'm an attorney myself, and have a close friend who has been a very successful landlord attorney here in Los Angeles. His advice, and I completely agree with it, is make sure that you know the rules around evicting non-paying tenants, and have a very good landlord attorney on call. Sounds like you've done that here, so let the court process play itself out (not sure where it is at the moment)? I would avoid all communication with the tenant if possible, focus on getting them out of there.
There are a class of tenants who don't want to pay, and wish to live rent free. They are often backed up by well-meaning but misguided housing attorney advocates, and courts which seem to think every landlord is a deep-pocket Scrooge. Having knowledge of how the court process works, as well as access to an attorney who can help, is the key, and you seem to be doing that. Don't let this throw you off your investing journey - get them out, you'll find a new tenant, and on to the next deal my friend!
Have you obtained a writ of restitution from the court? IE are the bailiffs coming out on Sept 30th to physically remove these people? If that is not the case and you just have a signed agreement with these tenants you've got nothing. You need a writ issued by the court. Once you get that ignore all contact from the tenant. On move out day everything that is left in the home (including the people) can be removed.
Have you obtained a writ of restitution from the court? IE are the bailiffs coming out on Sept 30th to physically remove these people? If that is not the case and you just have a signed agreement with these tenants you've got nothing. You need a writ issued by the court. Once you get that ignore all contact from the tenant. On move out day everything that is left in the home (including the people) can be removed.
Thanks for your reply. Yes the court said she was to be out on the 30th. But her social worker is pressing for more time. Unbelievable!
Have you obtained a writ of restitution from the court? IE are the bailiffs coming out on Sept 30th to physically remove these people? If that is not the case and you just have a signed agreement with these tenants you've got nothing. You need a writ issued by the court. Once you get that ignore all contact from the tenant. On move out day everything that is left in the home (including the people) can be removed.
Thanks for your reply. Yes the court said she was to be out on the 30th. But her social worker is pressing for more time. Unbelievable!
Ignore her social worker. So long as she doesn't convince the court to give the tenant more time whatever she has to say is irrelevant.