All Forum Posts by: Denise Evans

You might contact some of the larger electrical contractors in Montgomery and Dothan and ask if they will come, or if they have employees they allow to do side work outside the larger company's trade area. I bet some of their electricians live in or near Troy.

If your main complaint is a lack of responsiveness, then meet and come to an agreement about time frames. Document it in an email or something similar. If they consistently fail to live up to their commitments after that, fire them.

 The taxing official has 10 days after the auction to report the results to the probate judge of the county. It might happen almost immediately in some counties, or take the full 10 days in other counties.  Once the probate judge receives the report, the taxpayer has 5 days within which to file an appeal and say the tax sale should not have taken place. This has now pretty much become a 5-day grace period for anyone to pay their taxes and not owe any interest at all. They do not have to appeal. After that, interest will accrue until redeemed.

In Alabama, you have no legal relationship with your tenant's guest. If you had a written lease that limited number and identity of allowed occupants, you might have some rights, but you do not have that. The guest might be a tenant of your tenant, which makes him your subtenant but still no legal relationship with you, just a legal name. If the guest will not leave voluntarily, then your tenant will have to file an ejectment lawsuit or an eviction lawsuit, depending on what a court rules their legal relationship is. It's safer to file ejectment and eviction both in Circuit Court. Your tenant can file eviction in District Court, but not ejectment. So, if filed in District Court and the judge rules it is is not a landlord/tenant relationship, your tenant will have to start all over again in Circuit Court with ejectment.

Month to month leases are terminable in Alabama on 30 days written notice.  Give your tenant 30 days notice of termination. Tell them you are willing to re-rent AFTER the guest is gone. Send a copy to the guest. If necessary, you can file eviction against your own tenant and name the guest as an additional defendant whose rights are to be terminated when your tenant's rights are terminated.

Go to the District Clerk's office in Marion County and ask them for the names of two lawyers who seem to file the most eviction lawsuits. Be sure to say you are not asking for a recommendation, because they are not allowed to do that. You are just asking for a statistic, that's all. Contact those two lawyers. If you ask in advance, most lawyers will not charge for an initial consultation.

You are allowed to put them out if they appealed but did not pay all past due rent into court and pay each month's rent into court as it comes due. Here is an example of a time when that was dangerous. Landlord was Property Owner Pete. Property Manager was Property LLC, a completely independent third party company not owned or connected with Property Owner Pete. The lease described "Property LLC" as landlord, and Tim Tenant (made up names, of course) as tenant. Tim defaulted, Property LLC filed an eviction lawsuit with its name as Plaintiff, obtained a judgment, obtained a turn out order and put everything out on the street where the neighbors stole almost all of it.

Several months later Tim Tenant talked to an attorney, who said, "Property LLC was not the property owner and so not legally your landlord. The wrong party filed the eviction lawsuit. As a result, the eviction judgment was void, the turnout order was void, the landlord had no authority to put the stuff out on the street and is liable to you for damages because all your stuff was stolen."

There is a variety of reasons why a turnout order might be void. That's scary. If the lawyer recommends you do something and it turns out the order was void and you get sued, you will then sue the lawyer for malpractice.  That is REALLY scary to the lawyer. So, it's just easier to be conservative and tell you to do nothing until it's all over.

I was trained by a very good lawyer who told me, among other things, "Denise, it is your job to explain the law and the consequences of different decisions so that your CLIENT can make a decision about what they want to do. It is NOT your job to make decisions for your client by withholding possible options and making it so they have no decision to make, they just have to do what you tell them to do."  My clients always appreciated that approach. But, it is rare.

Send me a request to connect and then we can DM and exchange phone numbers

The statutes in Alabama provide for a speedy eviction process. The tenant can appeal but if they don't file a bond equal to the all the past due rent and other charges and legal fees, the landlord can proceed with the turnout. Most lawyers tell clients not to do that, just in case it turns out the eviction order was void for a technical reason, which means the landlord would be liable for damages for an illegal turnout. That's one problem with things taking a long time--tenant appeals.

Another reason that is encountered most often in Jefferson County is a lack of manpower for executing the turnout orders. Only Sheriff's deputies are allowed to execute turnout orders currently. You can win an eviction lawsuit, get a turnout order after 7 days from the court, but then a deputy can't schedule the turnout any earlier than 4-6 months in the future.

I can provide more detailed advice for you. A lot depends on the county, the type of property, and on the PM company. I'll connect with you so we can talk.  I've helped other investors with the exact same problem, so you are not alone. For almost everybody in business, any business, their first deal is always the most expensive one and filled with the most mistakes.  You grow from there.

You might have purchased deeds of trust in Alabama, but they are very rare.  I have never encountered one.  They are not illegal.  I did not mean to be condescending or underestimate your knowledge. This is an educational forum. Other people learn from your posts and my answers.

Clothing stores are allowed to refuse to carry clothing manufactured in China, or from synthetic materials, or a wide variety of other reasons. Title companies can refuse to insure certain instruments or methods of holding title.  It's a business decision. If something is so rare that it is not capable of evaluating the risk, then an insurer cannot set a premium. The prudent thing is to refuse to ensure it.  

Shop for another insurer. Probably somebody will write the insurance.

@Justin Mason, the job of the guardian ad litem is to protect the interests of the unknown people who cannot be found, served with lawsuit papers, and defend their own interests.  If there are no unknown (heirs for example) then there is usually nothing for the GAL to do.  Sometimes the court will appoint a GAL even if there do not seem to be any unknown parties. In that case, the GAL simply reports to the court that is has reviewed the title work and done some preliminary research and agrees there are no unknowns.  In such a case, if nobody demands an auction, the GAL will not demand one, either. The investor will get the deed and the quiet title order with no auction.

If, however, there are unknowns, the GAL will have to demand an auction. That is because the  unknown parties could have done it, if they'd only known about the lawsuit. So, the GAL will have to do it for them. Then there will be an action.