Text harassing me after 10 day notice was served?

Question

Hi All,

Yesterday I served my tenant for various lease breaches and unpaid rent since then he has been sending me messages every few hours, can I do something about this with the police? The last message I felt almost racial abused since he is questioning us based on our skin color???

For the record my wife is Canadian with a green card and I was born and raised in Chicago, IL.

Not sure if I have enough to engage the police.

1. See you in court2. (picture of the notice he was served)3. Glad he has my lies and dishonor in text messages 4. Do not contact Him or his realtor or his mother by text or email - all future  communication should be through his corporate attorney and we should fix the dry wall problem in the swimming pool room bathroom and he will be reporting it to city of oak brook on monday for the record4. if items are not repaired in 5 days he will fix them himself and send me a bill5. he went on facebook got a picture of me and my wife at our engagement party from 12 years ago and calls me a dishonest liar and he and his attorney wants to know if we are US Citizens - I am guess this is from our skin color since there was nothing else in the photo to indicate anything "un-american" for point 4 i have reached out to the city of oak brook with details via email and hoping to hear back soon from them monday perhaps) obviously this guy is going to lie his heart out.

2. (picture of the notice he was served)

3. Glad he has my lies and dishonor in text messages

4. Do not contact Him or his realtor or his mother by text or email - all future  communication should be through his corporate attorney and we should fix the dry wall problem in the swimming pool room bathroom and he will be reporting it to city of oak brook on monday for the record

4. if items are not repaired in 5 days he will fix them himself and send me a bill

5. he went on facebook got a picture of me and my wife at our engagement party from 12 years ago and calls me a dishonest liar and he and his attorney wants to know if we are US Citizens - I am guess this is from our skin color since there was nothing else in the photo to indicate anything "un-american"

for point 4 i have reached out to the city of oak brook with details via email and hoping to hear back soon from them monday perhaps) obviously this guy is going to lie his heart out.

Thomas S. · Answer

Save everything to submit as evidence in court, do not respond to anything he sends, do not bother wasting your time engaging the police. This is a civil case and not of any interest to the police. The guy is posturing and is likely an idiot, ignore everything.

Enjoy yourself when you get to court it will likely be a real circus. It's tenants that react like this that add some fun to being a landlord assuming of course you know what you are doing and are fully prepared for court.

Make sure you document everything. Give notice to inspect the property. Go  to the property with a witness that will be available to appear in court, Take pictures of every square inch of the property, repair anything you feel could be used against you in court.

Matthew Olszak · Answer

@Jay P. I know its easier said than done, but you've got to block toxic folks like that out of your life. You're paying your attorney decent money to handle this, so I'd outright block the tenant's number all together. Sit back and relax for a few days while the 10 days runs out and know its all being taken care of because you've paid someone to do just that. If you get a call or text from a new number, block that too and laugh to yourself that your tenant has got to be panicking now that his game is over and he's got to answer the ultimate call (eviction) for all of this nonsense. There are types of people out there who literally have nothing better to do and live off this sort of thing your tenant does - just creating these insane situations and controlling others all day - and they love it for some sick reason. You'll never get anywhere trying to reason with them or develop a response to them based on logic, because the issues you are trying to defend yourself against aren't based on reality.

Cut the strings and have faith that your attorney will have it resolved promptly.

Matthew Olszak · Answer

@Jay P. I've been following your threads - what a headache! If you've engaged the services of an attorney for the eviction, ask if they can send out a cease and desist letter to the tenant. Absolutely don't respond to any communications from your tenant; as you see everything you've ever said or done is being twisted in ways you probably never thought was possible.

You say that you served the tenant for various breaches - does that mean you have provided them notice to cure the breaches or that they were served with the summons for an eviction case?

As far as reporting you to the village building department, I would reach out to them Monday morning in person to very briefly explain that you have a deadbeat tenant who is trying to cause you problems. Don't get into explaining their arguments because that just lends credibility to the whole thing. Leave your contact info for any issues that get reported so you can get them in to inspect asap since you take care of your properties. Towns like Oak Brook are very concerned about maintaining the neighborhood image, so if they know you are on the same page with them and are able to explain where all these complaints come from it'll go a long way.

#1 throughout this, remember you are in charge here. Respond only as legally necessary. Move towards eviction asap. He's kicking and screaming and by responding, even if only to counter his points, you are engaging this behavior.  Same deal with calling the police - if they get in touch with him, he'll feel empowered that he was able to control you to that point...bothered you bad enough that you went to the police. Since texting isn't likely a required method of communication outlined in the lease, I'd just block his texts at this point.

Its definitely time for an attorney, and I'd recommend using someone who is a heavy-hitter as a landlord advocate so that any silly half-baked attorney this guy hires will get the idea that you mean business and know what they are up against. With how easily this tenant twists the facts and blatantly lies, this could turn on you very fast.

Kimberly H. · Answer

@Jay P. There is such a thing as phone harassment or phone stalking. I know this because I was screening people recently and came across someone who had a conviction on their record, I think it was in McHenry county so I would think such a thing would exist in Cook as wel. I would call the police and see if you can file a report/complaint for this. If you can get a police report written for something I would, because in court they always ask if a police report was filed, and the person always looks like a liar/idiot if they say no.

I seriously think at this point you need to hire a lawyer to handle this eviction. Find a lawyer who does evictions exclusively (not a jack of all trades lawyer) in the county the home is in, because in our area, evictions take a real long time and if its screwed up it takes even longer since you have to start over.

*I am not a lawyer this is not legal advice.*

Jay P. · Answer

thanks for the advice!

Jay P. · Answer

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the info, yes a notice to cure was sent but it will not be possible for to cure all the items for the various breaches (1 includes changing my hardwood flooring without permission) plus ,many unpaid bill and breaking local by-laws which have still not been resolved due to him missing court appointments for them. and not to mention unpaid rent.

I have an attorney now who drafted the notice letter and I got him served. I suppose the next step is to wait for the 10 tens to be up.

Its just very difficult dealing with a person like this.

Christine Kankowski · Answer

I would not respond at this time.  Maybe get a lawyer who specializes in evictions. They arent too much and they will save you any and a lot of aggravation.  They do this all day long and know how to deal with these types of people, who sound like they will do whatever to cause you problems,  You dont want your case thrown out because you didn't do some paperwork right.

Text harassing me after 10 day notice was served?

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