San Jose, CA · Member since 2016 · 19 posts · 1 vote
I own a 4-plex in Austin, TX. Yesterday night, cops arrested one of our tenants. We came to know through another tenant that cops were on the property. Digging in to public records and calling police, we found that tenant was arrested for "manufacturing controlled substance between 4g to 200g".
Tenant was not trouble maker but here's the history: 1. He has been on month-to-month lease. 2. He has been on disability and collecting paycheck from government. 3. He has been late on rent multiple times, but would pay us with late fee. 4. He had personal troubles, but never bothered any tenant or us except for late payments.
Now, we want to evict him ASAP and make our other tenants feel safe and comfortable. He is currently locked up. We don't know what to do.
What are our options? Can someone suggest a lawyer in Austin who can help?
Yes, evict! You don't want to jeopardize your business, neither your good tenants that pay the rent. I hope that you can more advise from us. I feel you on this one, take care and hope this nightmare comes to an end!
I'm in Illinois, not Texas. Evict. He's making meth on a month-to-month and isn't a good payor. I think you can find a tenant who isn't a good payor who doesn't make meth. I think you can find a tenant that both pays on time and doesn't make meth. Both situations are preferred to yours. Evict.
You will need to site a specific clause in your lease to evict and keep in mind that evictions only happen after you go to court. If the guy shows up to court and has a good case your eviction will not fly. Assume with you hiring an attorney to evict and going to court you will spend $1000-$2000.
I would get my prop mgr to do a property inspection, get a copy of police report and go from there. With some hard evidence in pics and reports an eviction will be a lot easier depending on which lease you executed with the guy. Was the lease a Texas Promulgated Form?
@Danny Webber thanks for response. To your question: "Was the lease a Texas Promulgated Form". I don't think so.
Here's the situation.
1. The tenant (and his lease) is inherited from previous landlord.
The lease form is from "Texas Association of Realtors, Residential Lease
for Multifamily Property Unit"
2. There's a provision in lease that it'll become month-to-month
after it expires and if we do not renew the contract. We agreed to do
month-to-month until he gets his finances in order and/or end of March,
2020.
3. This incident happened before that. So, currently, tenant is on month-to-month lease.
I own a 4-plex in Austin, TX. Yesterday night, cops arrested one of our tenants. We came to know through another tenant that cops were on the property. Digging in to public records and calling police, we found that tenant was arrested for "manufacturing controlled substance between 4g to 200g".
Tenant was not trouble maker but here's the history: 1. He has been on month-to-month lease. 2. He has been on disability and collecting paycheck from government. 3. He has been late on rent multiple times, but would pay us with late fee. 4. He had personal troubles, but never bothered any tenant or us except for late payments.
Now, we want to evict him ASAP and make our other tenants feel safe and comfortable. He is currently locked up. We don't know what to do.
What are our options? Can someone suggest a lawyer in Austin who can help?
Thanks.
An additional note if he was manufacturing in the unit you may need to have it tested specially for meth residuals and may have to do a cleanup. Just an FYI
Was he manufacturing the drugs in your unit? If so, you'll need to look into mitigation as well. If you have an HVAC servicing the unit/building, meth gets everywhere and can be affecting other areas. Not sure about TX, but in some states that now has to be disclosed with property.
@Guifre Mora, @Brady Potts, thanks for input. We are aware of potential testing and cleanup costs. We asked for Police Report. It's unclear at this point if he manufactured or just distributed. Thanks for info about disclosing this with property. I'll look in to latest landlord laws.
I would not evict, just give him a notice that he has 30 days to vacate, have it served to him while he is in jail. Also give him the 24 hour notice of inspection and go into the house while he is in jail to see its condition. It may not be secured depending on how the cops came in.
Remember that you will have a major clean up if he was cooking the meth in the house. Here they often condemn houses that were meth cookouts. Google how to clean up a house that was used to cook meth.
Was he manufacturing the drugs in your unit? If so, you'll need to look into mitigation as well. If you have an HVAC servicing the unit/building, meth gets everywhere and can be affecting other areas. Not sure about TX, but in some states that now has to be disclosed with property.
There's an expedited eviction for such cases of criminal activity.
IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE A LANDLORD, READ YOUR STATE'S PROPERTY CODE. That's the only way to know your rights (and wrongs) as a landlord. If anyone else is relying on your ability to manage a property, and you don't read your code, that is gross negligence.