All Forum Posts by: Brandon V.

Hi All,

I recently sent out a non-renewal lease notice to a month to month tenant on 9/29, saying their final day was 10/31.  They texted me and confirmed that they had received the notice on 10/1.  In that notice I also mentioned that rent was due for October.  The 5th came and went without any rent payments and I have posted a 5 day notice now to pay or quit.  My question now is do I go through with the eviction or just wait until they move out on 10/31 and deduct from the security deposit.  My security deposit is equal to the rent so the late fee wouldn't be included or any other deductions.

If they don't move out on 10/31, then I file immediately.  

Thanks,

Brandon

Hi Everyone,

Just had a lengthy conversation with one of my tenants who lives in an upper on a duplex.  This tenant is by far the best tenant I have had as he pays rents 100% of the time on or before the 1st, he's never had any real issues besides learning how to use the breaker box, responds to my texts immediately etc.  He called me up to discuss his problems with the lower unit.  Once him and his girlfriend moved in, they had got the lower unit a plant as a welcoming gift and in my opinion are just really great people.  However, for what ever reason, the lower tenant (according to the upper tenant) has been mean, rude, saying things like the backyard is only for the lower unit, they had a door decorating "competition" for Halloween which turned into the lower tenant yelling at the upper tenant.  The latest thing was the upper tenant was outside so they signed a parcel for the lower unit to try once again to be good neighbors, held the package for an hour and then gave it to the lower tenant, to which they really got yelled out at.  That's when the upper unit tenant called me, as he's never really had this problem before and really didn't think he needed to call me because they are all adults but felt it was a big enough issue and now he is thinking about not resigning the lease for next year.  

The lower unit tenant has always been nice to me.  She's a single mom with two kids and lived on a rough side of town before signing a lease at my rental in West Allis.  She has been late on rent once (paid on the 8th) but always pays on the 4th or 5th, sometimes in my bank, sometimes mail.  She also sometimes pays in partial payments which I've addressed several times.  She's had a couple maintenance requests like any normal tenant.  I have had to repeatedly ask her to keep up the lawn and shoveling, which she ended up paying for a $300 ticket for not shoveling.  

The lower unit tenants lease is up at the end of January, and the upper unit tenants lease is up at the end of March.  I have full confidence that the unit wouldn't go vacant very long at all since they are pretty nice units.  I believe the lower unit tenant would want to stay there for a couple more years, whereas the upper unit tenants have told me that they would like to buy a house maybe in the next year or two.  

With all of this information, do I just let it ride out?  What would you guys do in terms of resigning leases and handling the situation?  

Thanks,

Brandon

@Gail K. @Dorothy York

Update:

Last night my tenant at 9:45 pm called me twice and texted me asking where I lived.  He also texted that he had October and November rent, plus court fees, plus some of the deposit.  I think it is finally sinking in that he will actually be evicted soon and is finally acting.  But once again he is coming up short since he says only some of the deposit (we had originally agreed on 2 months of security deposit, he ended up only giving me one month on 10/23, one more mistake).

Here though I will simply ignore his texts because I want him out of the place and if he has the money, great, I'll end up with it eventually in court later. 

So it looks like it'll be a messy eviction since he will probably still be there when the eviction squad comes but at the end of the day he'll be gone and I'll start over. 

Hi Guys,

I posted about a month ago about one of my tenants who I was ready to evict and just thought I'd share my experience so far and what I learned being in Milwaukee county in West Allis, WI.

Things I have learned:

1.  Never give out keys without being fully paid a security deposit. 
This was ultimately my first and biggest mistake that I learned the day after I gave them the keys.  They said they would pay the next day, and I didn't end up getting it until three weeks later, the 23rd of that month after literally staying outside of the place and confronting the tenant who had not been responding to texts.

2.  Screen better and be more patient.
I had just bought this place and remodeled it, everything looked good and I was over excited to get a new tenant in right away.  The remodeling actually took a little longer than expected (surprise surprise) and finished around the 15th of the month.  I should've put up the ads earlier and waited a little longer to get more qualified applicants rather than just choosing the best one out of the six that I received. 

3.  Evictions hurt your profit by a lot.
So here's the list so far:

Filing Fee - $98.00
Serving Fee - $155.00
Moving Fee - $300.00
Eviction Fee - $175.00
Other Fees - $30.00
Total so far: $758.00 
Now I might recoup this in court eventually but it still hurts knowing that I won't even get the full amount in collections.  In addition, now I have lost rent for October and November and most likely December.

4.  The Process itself isn't too difficult.
There is a handy checklist for Milwaukee county and it was pretty straightforward, serve the 5 day notice properly after the 5th of the month, wait the full five days, file, appear in court.  My tenants of course didn't appear in court and I was granted a writ right away.  Now I have the sheriff coming in with the movers and hopefully I can cancel this and get refunded some of the money if they move out before then. 

I do have some questions though:

I have filed the Writ with the sheriff's office as of today and they say that the eviction will happen within ten days and I'll get 24 hours notice of when it will happen.  My last conversation with the tenant was on 10/13/2017, saying that he was going to pay rent. 
Should I attempt to contact him at all now or just let it happen? 
If he moves out early, I can get a refund.  Can I legally go into the place now since I was awarded the writ? 
What if he tries to pay rent now after judgment? 

Thanks,

Brandon

@Elaine Gee @Steve Vaughan @Deanna McCormick @Corina Eufinger

Hi Everyone,

Here's an update for everyone.  I spoke with the tenant he was able to give me the full security deposit on 9/23.  So that's the good news.

The bad news is he hasn't paid October rent as I figured would be the case.  On 10/6 I gave him the 5 day notice in person and he seemed to not mind or care but said he would give me the rent that day after picking up his check.  No rent.  I also talked to his girlfriend hoping she would take control of the situation and I thought she would but the next couple of days he continues to say he will get me the rent but never makes it to the bank after work.  After giving him the 5 day notice in person I also went to the post office and sent the same 5 day notice in certified mail.  It was of course returned to me today because he didn't set up the mailbox.  Will this be a problem in the eviction process?  Thanks.

I guess I'm hoping he pays this month and then is late next month so I can just give him a 14 day notice and get him out of the place.  We'll see how it all shakes out tomorrow...yay for first evictions.

Thanks @Corina Eufinger

@Deanna McCormick

ThAts the plan tonight and try to get him to resign things and get the security deposit and actually communicate with him. I'll let you know how it goes.

@Mike Montana @Marcia Maynard @Bettina F.

Thank you everyone for the responses.  I left a message with him on Saturday, went over to the property today and knocked on the door but it looked like he wasn't there, and left a message for him today.  Still no response as of tonight.  I guess I'm trying to be calm and firm but yet I still haven't heard anything from him and it's getting frustrating.  I've never had a tenet not contact me within 24 hours so this is definitely new (and probably won't be the last time).

I was very upfront about everything but I just wasn't thinking when I gave him the keys.   I guess my question too is since I have that paragraph that invalidates the lease, and he has paid the rent for September, would I even be able to give him a notice to perform or quit since we don't have a lease and he has paid rent for September?  

Thanks again,

Brandon

Well I'm not sure at this point because he has the keys to the unit still and I can't get ahold of him. I have tried getting a hold of him all day yesterday and today and have got no response. I would be more than willing to even give him the September rent back at this point for him to move out since now I have a bad feeling about it all but I'm not sure how I go about it since technically our lease is invalid since I put that paragraph in and didn't receive the security deposit.

Wow did I make a huge mess of things and need some advice.

Had a new tenant, filled out the application, paid the application fee passed the background check and everything was fine.  Then went into the lease signing and he of course only brings in rent for September and asks if he can bring the security deposit the next day.  I of course stupidity agree and stupidly give him the keys to the place too.  I also made a mess out of the lease as well stating on the end of it that the lease is invalid if I didn't receive the security deposit by 9/1.  So now what I have is a full signed lease, with a paragraph saying that if I didn't get the security deposit by 9/1 it is invalid, and only have money for September rent.  I have called him three times yesterday, sent him 3 texts, and have gone to the property twice but he hasn't been there.  I haven't gone in the unit but I was able to see some stuff moved in.  

What would you recommend doing?

Thanks,

Brandon

Milwaukee Wisconsin

Hi Everyone,

My brother has a rental property in Birmingham Alabama and now has a situation.  He was brand new and was the nice landlord and therefore as of today August 1st, July rent has not been paid.  There are two tenants that live there, but one moved out on July 1st and the other one is MIA.  The last text he received from the one that is still there was on July 8th stating that he would have the rent by July 10th.  Well my brother was on vacation and such and didn't get around to doing anything about it now but he is finally concerned! (do worry, I have already yelled at him about this).  So yesterday he put up the 7 days notice to pay or vacant but he noticed that there is a Vacant post from the post office, there was no car in the driveway, no lights on and it appears like the tenants are both gone.  He does have a section in the lease stating that Section 35-9A-423 allows him to take control of the property if it has been abandoned for more than 14 days.  Would this qualify him to take control again or should get post another abandonment sign up and wait another 14 days or how would you proceed.  Also with the abandonment, is an eviction necessary and how is the security deposit fit into this.  

Thanks again!

Brandon