My tenant up and left, do i still have to evict?

Question

I noticed a few weeks ago that my tenant stopped mowing the lawn, and apparently stopped paying their energy bill, because the local power company came over and took the meter and put a tag on it.  The first of this month came and she did not pay the rent. I left a 5 day notice on the door, and now- 5 days later it is still sitting there. I assume she moved in with her boyfriend.  The other renter (its a duplex) says he has not seen her in a month. I have been calling/ texting her, and she just ignores me.  I looked in the windows and she has a few things left in there, but not much.  Do I have to evict her even though shes not living there? Or can I just take back the unit, and put the couple things left behind in storage? I am in Wisconsin. thanks!

Chris Martin · Answer

Regarding "... I am pretty sure its all legal." Honestly, that is not an acceptable answer. You need to be able to defend every line in a lease, in the context of your state statute.

https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/704.pdf

Kimberly H. · Answer

I had this happen to me the beginning of July. We told the tenant that we were not renewing her 75 days before the lease was up. The lease was up end of July. July 7th I got a letter from Nicor thanking me for a service call from June 30th (on the landlord plan with Nicor). Called Nicor and Comed and found out she stopped billing in her name as of June 30th. My landlord-tenant attorney told me NOT to post a 5 day notice, and to instead give 48 hrs notice via email of a health and safety inspection. Then she said if the place was empty during the inspection, which it was, to send a registered letter to the last known address (the rental since she never told me she was leaving or give an address) saying since the property was abandon we were taking possession and changing the locks that day, and if she had a problem with it to get a hold of us.  The letter got returned to us by the post office since she never picked it up from the post office. We immediately started getting the work done needed to get it relisted and got it on the rental market Aug 1st.

Jorge Dorta · Answer

Did you get a deposit when she signed the lease? I guess she  figured you would keep that.

You show alot of scruples by actually giving the disposition of her belongings a second thought. As a landlord you should have a plan for this kind of thing A few months ago a woman walked out on her lease and left all her belongings Her money mongerie landlord threw all her stuff in the dumpster Vintage vanity $2000; Russian made side table $800; 2 Flat screen tvs $500 each; Desktop pc and network $1000; and a whole house more!

There is a not for profit thrift store with trucks two blocks away.

Kimberly H. · Answer

Here, the electric and gas follow the tenant. Water is attached to the house so the landlord gets stuck with that. For trash it depends on the city.

Matt R. · Answer

I am dealing with WE energies here in WI, and the since power was in the tenants name,  the amount owed is her responsibility.  If she would have taken her name off the account, WE energies would have notified me that I was going to be responsible for the bill from there on out.  If she did that, and still wanted to live there (me paying her power consumption) I could get WE energies to pull the meter.

Once I transfer the service back into my name- WE energies will put the meter back and I will start fresh.

Mike H. · Answer

Thats the thing I look at. Sometimes its better to take a "reasonable" approach than to go strictly by the law. And by that I mean, that if the tenant has all their furniture out and if the power is off, and if they haven't paid rent, then a "reasonable personal" would believe they probably aren't going to want to get back in the house any time soon.

The electric company doesn't take a meter when you fail to pay a month. She's probably so far behind on the electric that she has no choice but to move in with someone else. Again, one could reasonably believe that they have gone back.

The fact that she isn't responding to any messages. Reasonably believe they aren't coming back.

And what is the worst that could happen. She could come back and claim she still has the right to be in the house. Whats a judge going to fine you?  He legally cant force you to kick out the new tenants. So maybe he's going to fine you. And how much is he going to fine you? The cost of a hotel for them to stay at for a month - or however long it takes for the eviction of her to go through? :-)

And even if the judge rules in their favor, chances are he's going to be pretty lenient on any judgment given that you aren't really doing anything that obnoxious. Its not like you threw their stuff out while they were at work or something.

A reasonable person is going to believe that the house is abandoned and the tenant isn't coming back. Take the video and leave any important stuff in the basement or storage. Your risk of getting dinged might be 1% at best.  But even if you got dinged, I think you'll still come out in the end if your proceed as if she's gone instead of doing the eviction.  To me, if you do the eviction, it might just give the tenant the idea that she can move back in and throw some parties or something.

Terry Hershberger · Answer

@Matt R.

In my experiences, they are not coming back and are probably praying you don't chase them down. I would change locks, clean it up, and get a new tenant as once a day passes, you can't collect that days rent anymore.

Happy Investing!

Aly W. · Answer

My attorneys in FL and NJ write my leases, and I've had similar situations as you have. The utilities being turned off is a sign of abandonment, and nothing personal left behind such as clothing or electronics (and medications - good one!) was enough for my attorney to tell me to take photos and change the locks. It is my right to secure my property. And if food was left behind in the refrigerator with no power - take it outside and then open it.

Has first class mail been delivered to the address? If not, they likely changed their address or put in a forwarding order. I once had a tenant that was evicted ask me to forward all their mail - that was the only funny part of the eviction!

Matt R. · Answer

The lease I use is the one from a legal store- not one some landlord wrote up, it keeps up with all the new laws, so I am pretty sure its all legal.  And it does state that all I have to keep is medications for 7 days.  I am planning on just taking all the crap and sticking it in the basement.  If she want its back- fine, otherwise I'll get rid of it when I have some time.  The power has been off for over a month now

My tenant up and left, do i still have to evict?

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