Landlord Tneant- Eviction proceedings

[Rachel Wayne]

Hi fellow members,

  I have a tenant who started his lease about a month ago, and paid rent, security deposit and pet fee with checks that bounced.  On top of that is making requests for cosmetic repairs.  I had filed for eviction under the pretense of non payment of rent however judge sided that pet fee and security deposit are not considered rent and requested tenant to pay only one month rent owed.  In addition, in the application and lease they said the family was only five individuals, however as I was preparing the landlord registration for my city, she added one more child so total of 6 individuals in the house.  We informally requested via text message that she is to not use the ground floor storage room as a bedroom as this is a violation of city code and found that she still is illegally using this room for sleeping purposes.  Are there any good references to draft a notice to cease and a notice to hold.  She lied to the judge and complained of ant infestation and raccoons in the house to buy more time as well.  Help please!

[Marc Winter]

OK, sorry to hear of your injuries.  Self-inflicted are the worst kind.  

First--NEVER accept personal check or cash for move in--ONLY accept money order or bank issued cashier-type check.  Paper trail.

Second--the court was (in part) correct--security is not rent and cannot be sued for.  HOWEVER, a bounced check, ie theft of service, would have me filing a private criminal complaint and getting local DA involved.  In my state those are CRIMES, even if the police won't get involved you can still bring an action--and you should.

Third--what are the occupancy laws in your community?  Our standard is no more than 2 (TWO) people per bedroom.  You should know this stuff, and if the house is over-occupancy with children in bedrooms, contact children/youth.

Fourth--I'll bet you a donut you didn't do proper vetting of this tenant. Most states now have on-line free data bases to check on court actions.  Also, there are loads of screening services available for reasonable prices.  Landlords MUST screen and vet prospective tenants or sadly, face the consequences of not doing the proper homework.

Fifth--it sounds like your lease is lacking some key points.  You must act to immediately plug up those holes.  Also, STOP (informal) TEXTING and use email, and is some cases, both regular US and certified US mail.  So much easier to have that paper trail to bring to court.

Some of the above may seem harsh to some folks; that's ok--it's not their stuff in jeopardy.    It's your money, time, property and business on the line.  If the court and or police won't do what needs to be done, you have not done your homework in using the correct LEGAL measures afforded you.

Get thee to a competent eviction attorney!