In TN, it is illegal for a landlord to represent themselves if the property is held in an LLC. We found out after we were in court for the third eviction.
Hire an eviction attorney. It'll save you time, and your sanity
It seems like you have all of the info you need to prove your case.
I am not sure if there is any "gotcha's" he can say for not paying his rent. Especially if you have a signed lease, proper notices delivered after non payment, and a tenant ledger.
What was his case at the first hearing on why he did not owe rent?
Tenant offered no reasoning on why they did not owe rent.
The Hearing:
Judge: Mr. Landlord, you are filing for Unlawful detainger because the tenant owes you back rent. Is that true?
Landlord: Yes. Your Honor.
Judge: Tenant, the landlord says you owe hime back rent. Do you Agree? Or Disagree?
Tenant: Disagree.
Judge: Very well. I move this case to Trial, date set of 9:30 AM two weeks from today. Is that good for both of you?
We both agreed.
Tenant argument to me has always been, they are unable to pay rent due to PTSD suffered when they had several relatives die. So they quit their job and moved from Florida to DC. Their menial job has not paid them in over a month. They have been diagnosed ith bipolar disorder.
Here in Virginia, there is a volunteer group that sets up at the entrance of the courthouse and they coach tenant's on what to say to delay evictions, or get the case thrown out of court. So I worry about the gotchas.
Thru research I already found the one about getting signed acknowlegement of Tenant's Rights and Responsibilites. That actually went into law in Virginia July 2023. I had never heard of that. I usually point tenants to the Tenants Rights websie. But now I have to make part of the lease and get a signed form.
I maintain the property and have emails and texts with the Tenant's requests for maintenance and immediately respond and have acknowledgment from them when the maintenance flks arrive to do repairs. i,e Tenant reported HVAC was not working. Building engineer investigated and reported they did not turn on the blower fan to the convector!
So, I'm worried about other stuff. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know what I don't know.
Looking at the vast number of court cases in the public database, I find only one property our of several hundred that appears to be represented by the landlord. All the others have law firms... and those law firms only have interest in your case if you manage a big apartment complex.
Sounds like they are very pro-tenant up there! I would at least talk to a lawyer and get their opinion, I am sure there is someone who will take your case!
In TN, it is illegal for a landlord to represent themselves if the property is held in an LLC. We found out after we were in court for the third eviction.
Hire an eviction attorney. It'll save you time, and your sanity
Wow! Well, I'm not an LLC. I did see one course in the Virginia court database where a Landlord represented themselves and it looks like they got a favorable judgement easily. So, I feel a little better.
Yes! And I am required by law to point the Tenant to Legal aid resources and must have a signed affidavit by the tenant indicating they have received it. The form, does have a checkbox to indicate if the Tenant refused to acknowledge receipt of such information/resources. So, we are somewhat covered.
My employer has an Employee Assistance Program that includes some legal help.
Sounds like they are very pro-tenant up there! I would at least talk to a lawyer and get their opinion, I am sure there is someone who will take your case!
Good Luck with everything!
Thanks!
The City has an "Eviction Prevention Task Force" which includes Judges, Attorneys, the Sheriff's department and non-profit groups and churches. They stick to the letter to the letter of the law, but I see how things can be dragged out. It makes the Mayor look good I guess to reduce homelessness that way.
I wonder if the Tenant can be charged with perjury for lying? Saying they disagree maybe the way to avoid flat out lying and saying "No" when the judge framed it as, "Do you agree? Or disagree?". Rather than "is it true that you owe back rent? Yes? or No?"
I love your due diligence. I did not know about the Tenant's Rights and Responsibilities form. I'm going to be looking into whether or not I got this signed by my tenant.
I love your due diligence. I did not know about the Tenant's Rights and Responsibilities form. I'm going to be looking into whether or not I got this signed by my tenant.
...and this is the Tenants Rights information and form you have to provide to the tenant and have them sign. If they refuse to sign, there is a checkbox for the Landlord to indicate that and document the date you provided the information.
Just add the Tenant's Rights and Responsiblities to the end of your lease and have them sign both at the same time. No need to do it before. I am high volume - both landlord and PM and I use an attorney. I still go to court because at a trial, someone needs to testify on the landlord side, and an attorney cannot do that. I find attorney's win more often than landlords. Find a high volume landlord tenant attorney based on what you see in the court records. They will have the best pricing.
On another note - You do not have to have your 5 day letter served. VA law just requires US mail. If you lease allows, you can also make it electronic. We e-mail and mail ours. No tracking is required.
Given it is straightforward, non-payment you might as well do it yourself, come to the hearing with all your paperwork. it will be an education.
The overall recommendations for an attorney are still valid, down the road have on ready and have them send the notices? the fee is probably tax deductible as a business expense.
Thanks All. I got a great attorney. Signed some agreements where it looks like I should not talk about the case on public forums til it is done.
He found some things and made adjustments for what appears to be an outcome in my favor. Will discuss after the dust clears, or at the DMV REI Meetup - I just found out about this event, so I'll check it out.
When I started, I hired an attorney to handle my evictions. I then attended a couple of hearings when I had the time from my day job.
BTW: Attending a hearing meant I had to sit there for seeral hours, listening to several other cases, before my case was heard. You can learn a lot about the court systems very quickly!
Sounds like you had everything you need to for a simple case however, this case seems more complex. After COVID we have seen a lot more tenant friendly judges in Virginia. It may be best for you to contact an attorney to help you with this case. You can reach out if you need any recommendations for Virginia attorneys.
Yes. Learned a lot. Key in having a good attorney, he was very good at expediting our docket to the head of the line. Often, court started at 9AM and we were out by 9:30.
My attorney was a PRO. He would go talk to the deadbeat tenant about 10 minutes before the court hearings would start. He would negotiate her to agree to some things. Then, he went to the bailiff 5 minutes before the hearing started and ask to be put to the top of the docket and explained that the defendant had already agreed to some things.
We would be the first ones heard, and out of there 10 minutes after the hearings started.
btw. Tenant was evicted a few weeks ago. City tried to negotiate some things with rent payment, but I was out of town in Canada. They did not make an offer to pay rent/damages/legal fees before the deadline of the eviction. Then, they made an illegal move to reschedule the eviction without my knowledge by convincing a police sergeant to change the schedule to two weeks later!
My attorney was livid! I was talking to him long-distance from Toronto on a Friday Night. He suggested I call the Sheriff Deputy who was my POC. They called me back and told me they had corrected the error and would serve another notice to the Tenant within 72 hours of the eviction (Sat morning) and it would sstill go thru at the assigned date of Tuesday.
Tuesday morning 30 minutes before the eviction, I was driving to the unit as the Sheriff had instructed me to bring a locksmith the break the lock - in case the tenant had changed them, then change the lock as soon as the Deputies had cleared the unit of people. The City worker called while I was in transit and asked me if I would accept payment and let the tenant stay... <Spider Sense Tingling> I said I would have been happy to accept a reasonable payment from the city if one had been presented to me by the deadline - Sunday (48 hours before eviction by law).
She seemed smug and told me the eviction had been rescheduled to the following week. I told her that was a mistake. The eviction is still scheduled to within the hour. She grew stern and told me "Only the Sheriff can do that!! Did you talk to the Sheriff's office!?" I said YES. She was without words and I said Thank You and hung up.
The Deputies were delayed and apologized for a conflicting scheduling error, they also had 17 evictions slated for that day.
Five Deputies followed me to the elvator. My Tenant happened to be getting off. Uneasy, as we all crammed in. Nice Day! I chimed to the group as we went up.
Tenant said she was told it was rescheduled. Deputies said she had been notified Saturday. She hadn't even started packing.
Deputies gave her social service number to get a room and storage somewhere. She had until 5PM, and I was to lock the doors and re-open at 8AM the next day and give her til 10:30 AM to finally lock her out. If anyone stays beyond 10:30 AM I was authorized to call 9-1-1 and someone would be there to arrest Tresspassers.
I actually gave them til 7:30 PM the first night before locking the door, and then I even came early to open the place up at 7:30. Final lockout came at 10:36 AM as she was still trying to pack a box. I kicked a box of dishes out of the kitchen and locked the door. Total still owed $13,600 (rent, late fees, legal fees) and $550 for the locksmith.
Place reeks of pot, she had her adult son, who by the paystubs left behind only made $152 a month and spent his days laying on the couch (which reeked of pot) smoking and playing x-box (abandoned and power supply cut up). Hookahs, bongs, and roach clips everywhere. Beds disassembled and missing parts, two sofas left in the hall which did not fit the elevator (I brought a chainsaw to cut them apart and drag them down to the dump area). Closet full of clothes left behind - (now donated to Goodwill), Kitchen appliances (donated to Goodwill). Place is in general good condition other than the persistent stench of pot. Using ozone generator to remove smell. Cleaning carpet and paitning is all that is needed.
btw. My Lawer was livid when he heard they tried to entrap me by calling the morning of the eviction and getting me to some agreement. I gave him the name of the city worker and number.
Thanks for going through this entire process for Alexandria, William. Very informative for the group. I've fortunately never had to evict in Alexandria city - but it is eye opening to read about the city's attempts to keep a non-paying tenant in your property. Tenant selection is so so much important. I like to rent to people with security clearances for my properties in NOVA.
@William HooFatt your attorney sounds like a legend. Mind PMing me his info? I'd love to have someone like that handy since we own in City of Alexandria.
my wife and I both agreed that the attorney maneuvered the tenant into agreeing to a payment schedule. This was made into a court order, signed by the judge. The instructions to me, where if the tenant did not follow the payment schedule, I was to immediately contact my attorney who would file an affidavit. When we went to court again, she was found to be guilty of failing to follow a court order, and the eviction was started.
later, she got some slick city worker to contact the law firm and talk to the founder of the firm to try to circumvent my attorney on this “eviction case“. My attorney had to interject, and say this was not an eviction case that was getting her removed from the property. It was a failure to follow a lawful court order by a judge.
my wife and I appreciated that he was able to get us in and out of court quickly. Court started at nine, and we were in our car headed home by 9:30. I am surprised that no other attorney would approach the bailiff to try to get put at the top of the docket as he did. I certainly saw other landlords and tenants with their legal representation. Just sitting there waiting to be called.
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