Hello Wisconsin!!!

[Thomas Lillevold]

Help!!!   My first Eviction

I recently purchased a property for a steal and quickly found out why I got it so cheap....I just inherited the tenant from hell along with this building.   He refuses to pay rent, he has not paid his utilities, of which the county is tacking on to my taxes.   He does not play well with others at all.    Its like he is living in some sort of fantasy world where he expects to get use of this building rent free.   I am completely perplexed at the mindset of this person. 

I believe the previous owner was a big part of this problem but cannot be sure...I only met him twice before the purchase and he briefly showed up at the closing.    He did not strike me as having a very good business sense and that was confirmed when I saw his leases....they were 3/4 of a page long, didnt collect any security deposits from any of the tenants, worst leases I have ever seen in my life, so I can imagine the screening process took about 2 seconds....Luckily for me 2 out of the 3 tenants have been very good.    

Has anyone ever had a situation like this before?....I have served the PAY RENT OR VACATE notice and sat down with an attorney today to serve the official eviction to this gem of a person.    I was going to handle this myself but its my first eviction since we began 8 years ago and I didnt want to handle my first eviction on my own for fears of missing something...i figured Ill learn a ton from my lawyer during this process that may come in handy...but I hope not.

Does anyone else have anything to add or advice for a first timer at the eviction process?

[Sterling White]

I would have to say I have not ran into this exact circumstance @Thomas Lillevold. Have you tried the cash for keys approach? Offer him cash payment to move out of the unit without vandalizing the place 

If that process doesn't work then simply file the eviction

[Thomas Lillevold]

Hi Sterling,

I tried something similar in that I offered him forgiveness of his past due rent and even offered to pay his outstanding water bill to just leave nicely and quietly...He declined.

This person completely defies all logic....he  avoids all conversations about the rent and argues about the most ridiculous things to change the subject.   I've never met anyone quite like this person and hope I never do again.   

If i wasnt losing so much money on this guy, It would be hilarious.   Since I am losing money with him, its maddening.   

[Brian Dunham]

If you have your ducks in a row the process is easy. Once you go to court you will have, there will be a mediation process as well. I have been REALLY lucky in 13 years I have only had one eviction. Been to court a few time to recoup some money but only one eviction.

[Steven Wiltz]

dump him. All avenues of reset have been exhausted; some people just gotta go. You've turned it over to an attorney, let nature run its course. Be ready with vehicles and bins and a cleanout crew - when the sheriff arrives for physical eviction, they are only there to keep the peace, and usually for only an hour. You need to get in & get out & change the locks. Then work toward retreat. Good luck. 

[Thomas Lillevold]

Thanks Brian and Steve,   

I agree....still no rent as of today.   Without this individuals rent I am upside down on this property.   What should be a good cashflow property is now liability. 

[Thomas Lillevold]

Update:

I went to court and was awarded the eviction.   It was an interesting 2 weeks to say the least.  The first court date I showed up and he didnt so I was awarded the eviction, next day I received a phone call from my attorney asking me why I didnt show up...talk about instant panic.  I said i did show up, HE did not show up.   They then said later after some phone calls that he actually did show up late and convinced the judge to extend the court date to another day a week later....Talk about a bag over the head punch in the stomach.  My victory was snatched away like that.   So the next week comes and I show up again, and there in the waiting room is the tenant, ok no problem, we will have the fight, I'm ready with about 30 pages of documents and evidence to show to the judge.   The bailiff speaks to all of us and opens the door into the room, we all walk in and they call my case first.   I stand up...... He is nowhere to be found.   I won again...now Im really wondering what the heck is going on.   My attorney arrived a few minutes later and he starts storming into bathrooms yelling out the tenants name trying to find him so we cant say we didnt try to give him a chance I suppose.   I can only speculate as to why he would show up but not walk in to have his day in court and I think it is because he only showed up hoping I wouldnt so he could go in and get the automatic win by default....its the only thing that makes any sense to me.   

Anyway, just a note to say something to anyone reading this.  I considered the "cash for keys" program in dealing with this nonpayer.  Many landlord friends suggested it to me, many felt very strongly about it.   I actually thought about it a lot and it would have been pretty easy to do that and it might've worked but it never felt right to do that.   It was the principle of the whole thing that really bothered me.   He never made an effort to communicate with me.   He threatened every lawsuit he could imagine to change the subject from the rent he owed me to how I somehow owed him instead.  He never during his entire tenancy paid his water/sewer bill which was by now attached to my taxes.   Why on earth would I want to hand him money to get him out?!?   I came to the decision that the "cash for keys" idea  is very bad for the landlord community in general.   What example does this set for others and if word gets around by tenants they would be taking advantage of landlords every chance they get.    That being said, Im not totally against the "cash for keys" idea in a situation where a tenant has fallen on hard luck or they actually had good intentions.  I would do just that.   But this particular tenant had a criminal record a mile long, he had been arrested for stealing mail packages earlier in his life, he had been sued more than 5 times and evicted twice before.  He obviously has not fallen on hard times, he has brought hard times on himself and his family.   I have no sympathy for that.    In the end i won and happy for it.   It was a royal Pain in the A$$ but well worth it in the end and I would do it again.  Not only that, but now the next landlord can see that I sued him for eviction and won and they can be informed about what kind of character he is and make an informed decision prior renting to him.   Its what I would want to be able to see that matters. 

Good luck to all of you, I hope you only use the "cash for keys" program for those that actually had good intentions otherwise its bad for business for the rest of us.   

[Casandra M.]

Thomas - I'm glad you spoke on the topic of not accepting a "cash for keys" policy for tenants that display a lack of respect for a property. My husband and I just recently started purchasing rental properties in the last few years and we've debated this concept and found ourselves on either side of the fence (only in theory thankfully, as we've not had any evictions). 

While the idea of "cash for keys" can have an immediate relief to the Landlord, it does not provide a long-term value to the community as a whole. There are renters (especially in the Madison area and surrounding Madison communities) that are well-versed on that concept and will use it to their advantage at every rental that they occupy. 

On to your experience however: were you aware that the tenant was trouble-some and behind on both rent and utilities prior to purchasing the property? If so, did your attorney mention any legal ramifications that you could have taken against the property seller if it appeared that he purposefully hid this information?

[Tenzin Hayer]

Thomas Lillevold after everything is said and done. What's the total carrying cost including attorney fee, past rent, utility etc ? Just curious !

[Calvin Ozanick]

Thomas, investing in southern Wisconsin, we have dealt with a couple of evictions in our lower income areas. One of the things I came across is to not let it get out of hand. We stick by the standard of serving a 5 day notice once rent is considered late, and then following through with the eviction after the notice comes due. 

While it is never fun evicting someone, nor does it help our income, I find that making exceptions for other tenants or breaking procedure to help someone out only hurts in the long run. Tenants have an obligation to pay just like we have an obligation to take care of their unit. Once we came to this realization, it has made our development of further processes that much more important.