All Forum Posts by: Ralph S.

Really between the rock and a hard place. If the infant is still in ICU after two months, must be serious burns, and even if mom's being investigated and the kids may be taken away from her, you can also be expected to be put under the microscope as well.

The time for you to seek a good lawyer has come. Even if it only results in an eviction, find a good one and let them handle it. This isn't a routine eviction for non-payment and you need good legal advice, like don't say anything. Right now, as they say, anything you say (or do) can be held against you. Probably not a good idea right now to offer the "I didn't know about limiters" defense.

As far as that "I'm not liable" stance, consider this: You're the landlord/owner. Chances are if you read your state's statutes, landlords are responsible for providing safe housing, and yes, that likely means protecting tenants from themselves to some degree. I imagine this has happened before and any legal beagle can cite past cases in your state. Saying "I didn't know about limiters" could be interpreted along the lines of the 5 year old saying "I didn't know it would be that hot" except they'll say "you're not a five year old, you should have known." You seriously need to talk to a lawyer, especially if you're already under the microscope, and double check that liability insurance policy, even if turns out to be nothing, protect yourself now. Good luck.

Oh, and I would recommend changing your personal settings here on BP. There is an option to only show first initial and last name, and it also doesn't show your name to the search engines. Josh recommended this to me when I didn't want my BP posts to show up in an internet search for my name. Just a suggestion.

Some time ago, a somewhat regular poster
here on BP had an avatar that asked "Why aren't you investing in Memphis?" and in his signature he listed the Investor Nation website. I just searched people/memphis and could not find him.

Max
Quit being a mechanic who's confused about how to use a wrench! Sorry man, but just know what you're getting into first!

I spend about 5 minutes to find these links:

http://www.law.siu.edu/selfhelp/info/property/Landlord-Tenant%20Rights%20in%20IL.pdf

http://ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs2.asp?ChapterID=62

Scroll down the ilga.gov page to find numerous "Acts" regarding Landlord Tenant Law.

By just glancing through, I see where there is no law that states a lease under 1 year has to be in writting in IL, but it makes the agreement hard to enforce if it is not in writting, so I think the whole copy issue is mute.

As far as your fear of him trashing the place, just keep arguing with your know-it-all tenant. Get the drift? Don't talk, don't threaten, don't try and tell him how the world works. If he asks, tell him he'll get every penny he's legally entitled to, as long as he does everything he is required to do, so he'd better make sure it's clean, undamaged and you get the keys back. Believe it or not, there have been many in court, and the laws that are enacted support both sides, so know your rights, and his, but don't think for a minute it is your responsibility to educate him.

Once he's out, you've got 30 days, according to what I read, to give him an itemized list of deductions and any remaining security deposit he's entitled to. After he's out and you have the keys is when you can argue, until then, there is no upside to any conversation about deposits, or who can, who can't do what.

Your objective, if you choose to accept it, is to get him out before tempers flare. Hammer him, legally, after he's out.

You've got plenty of time to get your ducks in a row.

Ralph

I think I know why Max, who posted the second response, didn't get it right then! LOL!

No licenses, no permits.
No permit, no inspections.

Do you really believe a single handyman has the knowledge and skills of multiple licensed trades? At one third the cost, do you really think you're not just getting it one third right?

Even if you could sneak everything in (unlikely) and get that rental license (really unlikely if not impossible if it involves an inspection), are you ready for the day you go to sell that property, and your buyer finds out it's unpermitted? Do you know what hoops building inspectors put people through when they find out after it's done illegally? Ripping open walls to inspect electrical, tearing up cement floors to inspect plumbing, requireing the whole building to come up to current code? Search BP for the word "unpermitted" and read about others (including my own) experiences (best read while listening to the song "I fought the law and the law won.")

I bought my first winterized HUD without getting the utilities turned on. Big mistake. The house is "winterized" with orange stickers on everything, anti-freeze in traps and the pipes drained. They do a great job of making it look, and you think, it's protected. It had a hot water boiler (radiant heat). Had seven burst pipes and a broken radiator. It was turn on the water, find the leak, fix the leak, repeat.
One leak was along an exterior wall in a void on the second floor. I'm squeezed in, twisted around and sweating copper pipe in a very small space. Turned on water. Next leak was coming through the downstairs kitchen ceiling, so I punched a hole to look. It was a false ceiling, there was another ceiling 6 inches above, and I could see the leak coming from about 8 feet away. Another hole, this time through two ceilings, only to find another, the original ceiling. Oh, the water is coming from along the wall, about two feet further along than my last repair. Had to punch a third hole, through three ceilings to get to the leak. Patched it, turned on the water, and that pipe, with two repairs in less than 4 feet, fed the cracked radiator another couple feet away.
Enjoy. No fun to learn how to sweat copper standing in front of a workbench.

Get your Realtor to do his/her job. The utilities, all of them, want this house sold and a paying customer again. Turning everything on (and you'll have to pay to re-winterize) for an inspection is standard operating procedure. There might also be service charges, but it's cheap insurance. Don't waste that inspection contingency.

Not sure they are related. More likely some kind of smoke or something they did in the rooms contributed to the sticky surface. As far as the picture, you need to find and stop the source of the water. What's on the other side of the wall? Bath or exterior? Then again, it could have come from a pair of tenants I once had. I called them The Piglets. Always had to stay on them to clean the place up. Finally had enough. They bailed on the fifth day of the 5 day I served, leaving the clothes. In their bedroom closet, they piled up a bunch of wet clothes, then piled more, dry clothes on top. Under the dry ones, the wet ones had "molded" themselves together and against the wall. It looked a lot like your picture after the clothes were bagged.

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, and I'll take it for granted that Joshua and the BP team put a lot of work and consideration into this new format, so I'll accept the learning curve. But, and apologies if this has already been reported, I start at My Discussions, then move to Unanswered, then to Recent discussions. I've discovered that when at Recent Discussions if I hit F5 (refresh), it refreshes then takes me back to Unanswered. I think that last part is unintended?! I'm using IE8.

Not a banker, but, I doubt it.

Really think the bank won't know you're the owner, free and clear, and that you'll be taking cash out?

For those considering stategic default, this could push many over the edge.