Originally posted by @Jarrod Kohl:
Originally posted by @Michael Deering:
Have you talked to a lawyer? Because you gave SEVERAL options If they were served prior to the freeze you can get them out. As a new owner you have right to renegotiate or end lease. If they are causing property damage, they are violating the lease and are not protected by the "nonpayment" freeze. If you do not have a Fanny Freddie loan you can evict, if these tenants are not Section 8 or under some other HUD program you can evict.
File for possession. I have evicted tenants who were served prior to eviction freeze and I have evicted tenants after the freeze.
In most states you don't have the option to renegotiate a lease that is still inforce when taking over the property. (rather you could re-negotiate, but the tenant does not have to).
Cash for keys might be an option...but I would rather go for the send them to collections for back rent and then offer to forgive that if they get out now...aka if you think you can maybe pay them $5k to leave, they would maybe take it (make sure they are out before you give them any money btw) but you may be better off letting them know that they owe $12,234 (making numbers up) in back rent, and possible property damages which is getting sent to collections. You need to get an eviction lawyer working on this, let them know that even with the non-eviction protections they still have to pay the rent. A lot of renters don't understand this and will be surprised when their wages start getting garnished in the future.
There was no lease in place. The tenant was month-to-month with the previous owner and an eviction was filed prior to my taking over the property. My lawyer did offer the option to help me garnish wages, and I'm following up with her on that. Still, I really just want this woman and her 5 other cohorts out of my house. There is so much traffic in and out of that apartment day in and day out, all times of the night. I can smell their smoke from my living room, dining room, and bathroom. Her boyfriend is selling drugs out the house and I have one of his exchanges on camera. The local marshal's office is closed and I'm amazed at how landlords who actually live with their tenants have been left for dead. I'm honestly worried about getting Covid from all the smoke seeping into my apartment. I keep all my fans on, windows open, and don't even go into the front of my apartment when it gets late. The holdover tenant was caught on my security camera in the front yard yelling at her boyfriend saying all he knows how to do is smoke and roll blunts all day. The worst part is at this point, it seems like the Governor will push the ban back even further once January 1st 2021 arrives.
