Tenant not responding to new lease

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Tenant not responding to new lease

Todd Kozak
Investor · Saint Louis · Member since 2020 · 55 posts · 20 votes

The tenant hasn't signed the new lease and hasn't responded to my texts!

Background:

1. Bought a house a little over 2 months ago. Got a decent deal which is because there is already a tenant living there. She is a hoarder. She's been there 12 years and won't want to move. I took the risk to get the good deal.

2. Due to backlog of evictions, I'd rather keep her another year, give her ample time to find a new place, then in a year I can update the house and turn it into a nicer rental property which is the goal in the first place.

2. She did pay rent the first 2 months. September rent is late and it's the last month of the lease.

3. I mailed her a new lease 3 weeks ago and asked for a response by 9/01. We text but can't get the doc to transfer via text and do not have her email address.

4. Lease is $50/M more which is still under market value

5. No response. Texted her last weekend and nothing. Also no September rent yet.

Is there anything else I should do to prepare myself for 10/01 to come and I have no rent, no new lease signed and she still lives there? I know once it's October I can have a lawyer help with starting an eviction process if necessary.

What documentation should I be doing right now? What can I legally do since the old lease isn't up yet?

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Catherine Emert
Realtor · Bend, OR · Member since 2018 · 323 posts · 224 votes
5y

I would post notice to enter rather than just stopping by. If she gets the notice and calls you to say no you can discuss. If she doesn't say no then you can go to the property with the notice and have legal documentation that it was posted and that you informed her that you were coming. 

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  • Todd Kozak
    OP
    Investor · Saint Louis · Member since 2020 · 55 posts · 20 votes
    4y

    Giving an update

    I wrote a note stating that since she didn't respond I expect her out by end of September, when the lease ends. I also said since her rent is late, I would be forced to start the eviction process if she didn't respond. I taped it to the door, took a picture and texted it to her.

    Magically she responded (after 3 weeks of no respjnse) with all kinds of excuses but ultimately said she isn't paying September and is trying to move out.

    I said if you are out by end of September you don't owe me Sept rent, have a nice day, consider it a gift.

    End of Sept comes and house is still full and she still has excuses. I said I'll take care of all your stuff on one day and have it all moved where you want. No response.

    October comes and lawyer files eviction. Before she was served, 3 weeks later at end of October she says she is out and I can take over. Though a ton of her crap is still there. A ton.

    I am following through with the eviction since she did get served in November at her work. She is out and my rehab is close to complete. She owes me for the cost to remove her stuff, 2 months rent and lawyer fees. Will I get anything? Don't know. She is already served so I am going to go ahead and let the court date go on and I'll update again later.

    1Reply
  • Carini Rochester
    Investor · Rochester, NY · Member since 2016 · 576 posts · 358 votes
    4y

    You said,

    "Got a decent deal which is because there is already a tenant living there. She is a hoarder."

    Still think you got a decent deal?

    This was a very interesting thread to follow. Thanks for the update on how this is going. I'm glad for you that she's out and the repairs are progressing.

    Wishing you all the best.

    0Reply
  • Todd Kozak
    OP
    Investor · Saint Louis · Member since 2020 · 55 posts · 20 votes
    4y

    @Carini Rochester

    When I figured my numbers for this house I added in $5,000 for costs associated with an eviction, removing her stuff, missed rent, etc. she missed about $2k rent, it was a little over $1k to remove her stuff, and current legal fees are about $1k. So I pretty much got what I expected so yes I consider it a good deal. If I recoup any money than even better. What I want to avoid is paying another $1k or more in legal fees and getting nothing back. The court date is mid January and I will have all kinds of stuff documented for my lawyer (detailed narrative of all that happened with dates listed, pictures of text messages, pictures inside the house on different dates, etc). So I'm willing to pay lawyer costs to show up to court and at that point I'll decide what to do afterwards, based on how it goes.

    0Reply
  • Carini Rochester
    Investor · Rochester, NY · Member since 2016 · 576 posts · 358 votes
    4y

    I'm glad you had these costs figured in. It's a tough scenario. It's not just the money. It's stress and worry and the human element. Some people aren't willing to go through it.

    0Reply
  • Edward Tamayo
    Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2021 · 20 posts · 34 votes
    4y

    @Todd Kozak

    Very interesting post. The deal was great for a reason.

    Any seasoned landlord/property owner/manager will eventually go through something like this, more or less (hopefully less). So what did we learn here?

    1. When the deal is that good, there’s gotta be a catch somewhere. (That’s why we’re in RE, because it’s still the safest investment. We’ve already fallen for all the other scams & we’re tired of it! We are believers in the value of real estate investments regardless)

    2. Stop listening to the tenant. She managed to drag you out several months b4 u actually started the eviction she knowing she wasn’t going to pay or move. Why? Because she pulled it off w the last owner & she figured she could keep getting away with it, she mistaked your kindness for stupidity.

    3. She’s not your tenant. You inherited her from the previous owner who obviously gave up & dumped his problem on you. Sellers &/or their agents aren’t ever willing to disclose how bad the tenant is that u are about to inherit. (we landlords are the blind optimists. Always thinking we can fix broken)

    4. PAPERWORK. She was never gonna sign an agreement with you because she already knew that it was gonna be that much more complicated 4 u to evict her without a written agreement specifying that she owes rent to you. Unless you hire a lawyer or professional evictions service, it’s gonna be difficult getting her out. She knew that.

    It isn’t the extra thousand it’s gonna cost to get her out, it’s the extra $10,000 it’s gonna cost to get that place back to rentable condition after all her sh#% is finally outta there…. Much luck going forward. Sounds like after this big bump you’re gonna make this work out for the best!

    0Reply
  • Theresa HarrisPro Member
    Member since 2019 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
    4y

    I'm glad it worked out and you're realistic about not getting any of that money from her.  Hopefully you are able to get more rent for it and over time you get back some of the money that you 'lost'.  I learned that you can't always trust people, especially when they are behind in rent.  Once they stop responding or start making up stories, you are headed for an eviction.

    0Reply
  • Todd Kozak
    OP
    Investor · Saint Louis · Member since 2020 · 55 posts · 20 votes
    4y

    Update:  Court was cancelled due to a snow storm in January and then I left tbe country for a month.   Finally went to court a month ago.   It was a slam dunk, the judge awarded everything I asked for to me.  
    now the next part - will I actually get paid?the lawyer submitted garnishing her wages.   Waiting on that.  She still has a job so I am cautiously optimistic.   

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