All Forum Posts by: Hannah Torrey

I appreciate the opinions. My tenant has moved out--the judge told her she had to be out by the end of the March or she would be evicted. He seemed very sympathetic to my case, especially when I showed him photographs of damage to the outside of the house. She tried to press the illegal entry' issue but the judge would have none of it.

Now, my unit is absolutely filthy and every stitch of carpet will have to be removed because it is way beyond cleaning. She had removed drapery and pulled bracklets out of the wall leaving a huge hole above the window. The trim on a beautiful bevelled glass oak door (antique) is torn off and the towel bar on the bathroom is bent. The refrigerator was so toally disgusting with dried food it took hours to clean.

I am considering taking her to small claims court because she has a steady job and I think considering the damage she has done, should compensate me financially for the lost rent and the hours of time and labor and materials it will take to get the apartment back to the condition it was in when she rented it.

My question is: I purchased the house in Oct 2006 and the previous owners had thoroughly cleaned and repainted it before putting it on the market. The carpeting was older, but a very good quality wool, and in fine condition. I have heard that because it was older than 7 years, I am not able to charge her for the damage. Anyone know the rule on this? My state is Michigan.

I went to court today and the judge ruled in my favor, ordering the tenant to pay court costs, the unpaid rent for this month, and to move out by the end of the month. The tenant tried to make an issue of "illegal entry" and the judge ignored it.

Thanks everyone for all you help. I will be a lot smarter next time.

Thank you for the tip.

Yes, posting as a tenant was strange but it was an effective way to 'feel out' posters' general opinion of my tenant's argument. I do not post on forums using my real name. I happen to think that is more dangerous than posting a story that could possibly be ficticious, but in this case isn't. I have changed names and dates and location but the details of the story are accurate. That said, an eviction is fairly insignificant as far as legal proceedings go and how much weight would a judge give it even if a defendent printed out an anonymous scenario that matched there own? Anyway, I really don't have anything to hide because I am not going to go into court and fabricate a bunch of lies.

I suspect that many people here register under a fictitious name and don't identify their real location (state). The might even fudge dates and times.

I highly doubt that the FBI is monitoring a site related to eviction cases.

I am still waiting to hear from one other attorney and also get the opinion of a person who owns many rentals and does all of his own evictions. What I am hearing on this board and what I heard from the two attorneys I spoke with is not consistent. Possibly neither of these lawyers regularly handles eviction cases....most of the law offices I contacted do not and I was given these lawyer's names as people who do. Neither seemed overly concerned and the last one I spoke with said the illegal entry wasn't relevant to the lease violations or that she had defied the 30-day notice to quit. I'll keep you posted when I know more.

Yes, I called two local attorneys and they both told me they didn't think I had anything to worry about. They told me that I was within my rights. I live in a rural area and only a couple of attorneys even handle eviction cases and I called the two that were referred to me. I don't know what to do now.

So I should have an 'emergency' scenario in my back pocket?

Does anyone know of a landlord who has been penalized and what happened?

I'm curious as to what you people on this forum would do. Would you capitulate to the tenant and let her live there indefinately, knowing that your investment is dwindling and the possibiilty of major problems down the road (pest infestation, etc.) or would you cut your losses now and fess up.

At this point all I want to do is get this filthy tenant out of my house before I have a cockroach or rodent problem. Yes, I made a mistake. A big one. I will pay whatever fine the judge imposes, but this woman has to go. I live in a rural area and theser are no landlord associations. I am pretty much on my own at this point and I hope for a sympathetic judge.