All Forum Posts by: Jim Bryant

@Steve K.  Up near the Quad Cities in Mercer County.

@Bud Gaffney You really think I need one?   I'd hate to add more expense to this whole deal.  

So, here's how it turned out:

He showed up completely unprepared to back up any of his claims.  He was asked why he filed no answer to the complaint and if he had any witnesses or evidence to back up him claims.   The tenant replied that he had evidence and witnesses, but not with him.  So, after 30 minutes of going over the information of the case, the judge decided he should have a chance to defend himself, and I have to go to court again in 3 weeks. 

So, I drove three hours and he gets three more weeks of my hospitality.

I think the judge felt sorry for him, as he is young and seems like a lost puppy.  It's also really cold outside as well, which he mentioned that "we don't want anyone dying of exposure".  The judge asked if we had negotiated and I said I had offered him the opportunity to just leave, which he declined.

Anyway, he has set aside a whole hour for the hearing, so I can only imagine what a pain it will be.  I was hoping that the tenant would reach out wanting to negotiate, since I only really want him out and don't think I'll actually get money from him.

Haha, no I wasn't that slack in my screening.  He is a younger guy and didn't have bad credit or any evictions that he needed to explain away.  

Very early in the tenancy he made reference to a divorce that made money tight, when talking about an electric bill.  He never referred to it again.  After we gave him additional time to come up with the money (a mistake I know), he said he COULD pay, but that it would only be in cash (not in the lease) and we would have to come pick it up.  

I'm looking forward to a real show in the courtroom with this guy.  He's got all sorts of calculations and reasons.  

Appreciate the help folks, I'll be going to court on Thursday.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

So, I've got a difficult tenant.

The main point is that he hasn't paid rent since September.  When he missed his rent payment we gave him a notice to quit, he accused us of "entering his property without 24-hour notice", although I only knocked on his door and when he answered, handed him the notice.  He said he would have the rent for the next two months on 27 Sep, stupidly, I told him I would give him this time.  When the date came he said he wasn't going to submit it by the online app (stipulated in the lease) but would have it in cash and that we could come pick it up (we live 3 hours away).  We said this was unacceptable and he said it was on us.

We then had the sheriff serve him the eviction complaint.  The court date was set or 5 December.

That's all the main stuff, this is some of the examples of issues we've had with him:

He has been difficult for most of the 10 months we rented to him.  Getting a dog (against the lease), saying it was an ESA, dragged his feet getting the paperwork to us.  We refunded his 200 dollar pet deposit (Illinois has put ESAs on par with working animals, so we had to refund it), although he says we did not (we do have proof of this).   We gave him an old lease that said he didn't have to pay water (we newly split the utilities in the unit) and he noticed we charged him for water and then we refunded him (although he continued to send us pics of his napkin math that says we didn't refund him enough).   He doesn't pick up his dog waste and when we told him about it (before we evicted him) he said the grass is too long (I cut it every two weeks).  

//End extra details

I say all that to illustrate how much he seems to thrive on conflict.  Obviously, he was in the right with the utilities and we refunded him everything he was owed (plus an additional 57 dollars for his inconvenience and to shut him up).  

So, what usually happens in an eviction case?  I've got him dead to rights for non-payment, but I know he's going to make it extra annoying.  What's the worst case scenario?  What's the most likely scenario?  

I am bringing print outs of the payment website as well as both leases, with the troublesome excerpts highlighted in case the judge is interested in that episode.  I also have the text logs, since I stopped talking to him on the phone so that we would have a record of his communication with us concerning the rent.  

Thanks for all the advice!  In the end they worked it out amongst themselves.  Of course, there is a good chance this will flare up again and I'll need to put your advice into practice!

I have a couple renting one of my units.  They are both on the lease and have been together for years but are now breaking up.  The female wants the guy to leave and to be kicked off the lease (the lease is now month to month).  She says that he isn't paying his share anymore.  

We can't prove anything from our angle and she is always the one who calls us.  The guy seems to have some sort of anxiety, as he got really upset when we moved them out for two days to fix something with the house to satisfy the county (at our expense, of course).  She said that he won't talk to us on the phone, but since she's the conduit, she could be full of it.  

The couple have been good renters and have not caused any problems.  I was reading up on what to do with a roommate who refuses to pay their share and one of the steps is to go to the landlord.  But, I don't feel like we should get involved in any of this and simply continue to collect rent and tell them to work it out amongst themselves, since we can't prove anything one way or the other.

Anyone have any thoughts on the subject, or experience?

Everything is pretty normal for me in the Valley.  I haven't really increased my rents, just when I've had turnover.  

Wow a two bed-two bath for 1350?!  I might have to think about increasing some of my rents.  

One of my houses caught on fire (you can see it in the local news) at the beginning of April.  It was Arson!  My tenant's crazy adult daughter decided to set the couch on fire and that pretty much totaled the house.  The good news is it's insured and although the insurance won't cover the full repairs, I am able to sell the burned house for exactly what I bought it for in 2015 (19k).  

So good enough I suppose!

I'm looking to retire in a few years and when I look at houses in the Illinois Valley, they always seem disproportionately high compared to other rural areas in Illinois. I wonder why that is.

So we had a crappy tenant who didn't pay rent and we began eviction paperwork.  According to our other tenants, he's gone.  However his wife, an occupant on the lease, remains.  She swears up and down that she is merely moving her stuff out and will be  gone, but her full departure date keeps slipping. 

My question is, since  she is  not the lease-holder and is not paying, do I even need to legally evict her (along with her husband)?  Can I just call the cops and say she is trespassing.  I'm pretty sure she is just milking the situation, at least that is what experience tells me.  

Hope everything is going well with you guys!  We bought a 4-plex outside of the Quad Cities.  It's not too bad and was the best of the multi-unit homes at the time.

We also bought a home in Champaign that we plan on living in, at least for the  next few years.

We had a tenant go silent on us for a month or two and did not pay his utility bills either.  So anyway we went in and it looks like they abandoned the  property, leaving a mess of course!

So there's a new member of our Sierra List, do not rent to Micah Cole. You'll be glad you did(n't).