Attorney/State Legistor delaying my Eviction till August

[John Underwood]

I sold a rental property that was generating rent. I did a 1031 exchange added some money to it and bought another property that I knew had some title issues that I believe are low risk and the risk to reward was hugely in my favor.

The house has a couple of tax deeds in the chain of title, both over 10 years old. There is a law in SC that basically says you can't challenge a tax deed after 2 years. 

I met with the occupants once and could tell they had no evidence to keep me from evicting them.

There was also a foreclosure against them from their mortgage company and an attempt to Quiet the Title. This was cancelled and a mortgage release filed. I believe once the mortgage company realized that the occupants didn't own the house anymore they threw in the towel. I am trying to contact the attorney involved to get more details on why they gave up.

So right before the eviction court date they hired an attorney who is also a SC state legislator. This attorney took the case while Legislature was in session knowing full well he had no intention of going to court till the session is over.

I received a copy of a SC Supreme court ruling that Attorney/Legislators are exempt from showing up to court while the Legislature is in session.

So now I am sitting on my hands while the occupants continue to live in my newly acquired house till at least August.

There are other attorneys at this firm so this is clearly a stalling tactic and seems unethical to me.

I may start a Quiet title to at least keep something moving in the mean time. Once it gets to the part where a court date is set they will just hire this same attorney to stall any forward motion on this also.

I am tempted to send a letter to the SC Supreme Court and the Bar association and respectfully complain about this abuse of power.

Open to any suggestions that anyone has on this one.