One of the tenants put in jail

[Ben Elliott]

Hello everyone!  Looking for advice from someone with landlording experience in Wisconsin...

I FINALLY got my 1st 2 duplexes, each were 1/2 occupied with long term tenants.  As my luck would have it, a month after closing on one of them, the husband & wife had an "event" that landed the Mr. in jail.  She let me know, said she's moving out, and has no real idea what's going to happen to her husband.  At least I got a couple months rent out of it (she/they were even good about paying early).

They've kept up the place decently for a "C" property, and I don't want to be a stickler on lease terms and end up getting caught up in whatever they have going on.  She needs to get out and away, he's locked up.  She has moved most of everything out already, started canceling utilities and such.

My questions are - Can she break the lease on behalf of both of them?  Is he somehow protected from losing the place while he's in in jail?  Do I need both of them to say they want to terminate the lease?  Can I give them/him notice and take control of it again since it's empty and they won't be paying?  It's a month-to-month lease.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Samantha Klein]

@Ben Elliott You are very lucky it's a M2M lease because you have the power. You need to give a 30 day notice to both of them and that's that. I've got tenants going through a "seperation" right now that both parties are on the lease, so far they are civil with each other and have remained together in the unit. You could technically take possession sooner if you can get both of their signatures on a release form giving you possession because you won't be getting rent so they need to give you possession right away so you can get it turned.

[Chinmay J.]

@Ben Elliott - As a landlord, I had do deal with similar issue a while ago. I will give you Virginia skinny on this. You need to check the laws in your state. But in VA, if there is a domestic violence, and party A is victim of it, and party A gets protective order signed by a judge against party B, then party A can be relieved from the burden of the lease agreement, and party B will be solely responsible for it - assuming both parties were on the lease agreement.

So bottom line.. You need to check with the local laws.  

If I were you, I would get in touch with husband and try and see if he wants to continue renting. Who knows.. He might have a friend of family member who wants to jump him and help him out. If he wants to break the lease as well, you can always sue him in civil court and get some compensation. 

If I were you, I would forget the whole thing of suing them and all, and start marketing the property to new tenants. Make sure you terminate the lease with proper paperwork. Even if he is in jail, he can still get mail. 

Vacancy is more expensive in landlording, and going after deadbeats is usually a fool's errand.. Good luck, and welcome to being a landlord.

[Ryan Murdock]

Jail is the easiest place for the sheriff to find hubby when serving eviction notices.

Be sure to understand the language in your lease and the local laws you must comply with. I have seen a situation where a tenant went to jail, the owner re-rented the unit without following due process to legally take possession of the unit and then found himself in a bind when the original tenant got out of jail a couple weeks later and tried to go back to "his" apartment only to find new people living there.....not good.

[Brandon McCombs]

@Chinmay J. Not sure why you mentioned suing for breaking the lease since the tenants are M2M. @Ben Elliott used the wording "breaking the lease" but technically there is nothing to break since the initial lease term has elapsed. 

All the wife has to do is to give 30 days notice if she hasn't already. But since they are both on the lease I doubt she can break the lease for both of them. She can leave but it would mean the guy in jail is now responsible for rent. So I think Ben needs to talk to the husband in case the husband plans on getting out soon and wants to continue living there, unless he just doesn't want to deal with the situation and wants them both out now. And that would simply take a 30 day notice like Samantha said.

[Chinmay J.]

@Brandon McCombs - I didn't read M2M part until my second time around reading it. It was my mistake. Still if the Feb rent has not been paid, he can sue him for that in the civil court. Not sure from @Ben Elliott's post if Feb's rent was paid or not. 

[Ben Elliott]

@ everyone - thanks for the comments & advice.  I think with the lease and local laws I can find a easily justifiable way to pin this to both their backs, but I'll trade my right to leverage terms for a clean break and ability to move on.  I just want to protect my rights along the way while not opening up my own liability.

@Chinmay J., Feb rent was paid.  And I'm not sure if this guy has income, seems that the couple times I've been there it was midday and he was playing online computer games.  Would be nice to dispatch the guy and move on.

I think I'll head over to the local Bars Hotel and see if/how I can have a chat with the Mr., make him the offer of solving his lease obligation problem so he's not stuck with this liability when he turns in the jumpsuit.  If he doesn't want to sign early cancellation, I'll hand over my 30 day termination notice.

Otherwise I'll get in touch with his lawyer and do the same.

Bad timing thing is that I have a potential lead on someone else interested in a shorter term lease that might be perfect for that unit, which would at least keep the cash flowing on that address while I work on the rehab of the other unit in that house for my BRRRR strategy here.

However this plays out, as long as he doesn't manage to tie the thing up and get in the unit after he gets out only to destroy it, it's a great learning experience.  Vacancy won't sink me financially, so now's a good time to have the lesson.

Cross some fingers for me....

[Chinmay J.]

@Ben Elliott - Wait.. wait... wait.. If the Feb rent was paid and it was only a M2M deal, then there is no financial obligation. Just make sure his stuff is moved out if he doesn't want to continue with March rent. If you say he doesn't have job, then if I were you, I would just move on to next tenant.

[Michaela G.]

If Feb rent is paid, then they would have the right to the apartment for the month of February. If your lease allows you to show the unit, then show and if the person is interested, then offer 'cash for keys' for the guy to turn over the unit before end of February. 

You'll just have to figure out what to do with his things.

[Ben Elliott]

Quick update on my situation - I sent a letter to the hubby in jail offering him the option sign the tenant-to-landlord early release as well as giving the 28 day notice landlord-to-tenant, and luckily he signed the early release.  So I have control of my apartment and am working on turning it over.

Downside is that the previous owner was not very good at keep up their property, and there's enough tenant damage that the security deposit is only going to cover about 1/3 of the repair costs.  BUT, I have the apartment back and am moving forward.

Thanks to everyone for the input!