All Forum Posts by: Lisa Smith

I wanted to deeply apologize for not replying to all the helpful information I was provided.

SO much more has happened since my original post, that it is literally giving me anxiety.

i Did serve her a 5 day notice on March 4th, 2019.

This lady is unreal! She kept trying to play “let’s make a deal” and offering to give me $174.00 for Feb and March rent. That is HER decucting this $700.00 she feels she is owed, from 2012, and what the difference would be.

She continuesd, and continued to do things like this, she even told me that it would be I’m my best interest to take her offer! There has been so many  threats and manipulations from her, I finally told her (  asked her respectively ) to stop texting me, unless  emergency at the building, repair requests, or if she was going to pay the full amount due, during the 5 day notice. She even went so far to  threaten me that she was going to call the police, to make a report for her heater not working! 

She tells us the heat is not working, but low and behold (we live hour and 1/2 away) 5 min before we got there she texts me to say “oh, the heat it working now! It’s 74 in the apartment.

But yet another example of my darn heart sting about the heat,  The ordinance is 66 during day, 68 at night. She said she cold, so what do I do? I change it where she can set it at 75 ( we pay heat).

After I asked her to  respectively stop texting me , not only did/is she continuing  but she also brought her granddaughter into it! And she was texting me  nonstop . With a “poor me” I’m going to be homeless,don’t take my grandmas mistakes out on me” gosh I could go on and on and on.

But now I’m back to the what do I do. 5 days up, non pay ( as mentioned, now 3 days later past, she is still trying to scam me to stop the eviction! She now wants to meet face to face, to “show me her canceled checks, from 2012...now she’s bringing up checks from 2013 as well, in addition to changing her org amount she claimed she over paid to $720.00.  ( ok, sorry bit of venting there again)

She even tried to offer to pay the full amount past due, the day after the 5day ran out.

She knows she has no legal leg to stand on. And I did not accept it. No way no how, we just want her out!

And to collect our money the proper way through court.

Now, putting my heart sting aside, why should I allowed her to even do that? She had her 5 days, I mean why should I now allow her  The assurance  She can pull all this, and stay.

To make it more complicated, (she is well aware of our heartstrings also) she is trying to put the  voucher in her granddaughter name! So she can continue to live there after she moves out. 

She even tried the “ I’m pregnant card” with me uggggggg

Do I continue with the eviction process? She has already given her 30 day move out of April 15, well she gave it to me, conveniently , Feb 16th.

Or can I give her a date to move out by? With a month to month lease?

And I’m also running into the problem of trying to figure out how to fill out the paperwork to continue eviction, if we take that route,in cook county, IL.

I’m getting some results saying you have to e file it cook county, and other sites say no, you have to file at courthouse.

It seems in this situation, I wast  aware of my poor management,after the fact,  being to kind,letting the late rent slip countless time among other things, until I actually typed it out in my question, and read it back to myself did I really realize it.

I really appreciate, and accept the  constructive criticism that was brought to my attention. I really needed to hear that.

I will, without question, be doing some long and hard thinking moving forward, to be sure I’m not losing site on the investment, and also to avoid situations like these. Or if I should remove myself all together.

Looking back again, I believe my thinking was, it would be easier to let the late rent payments slide  (she is our only tenant out of 8 total)  that does this, and what distorted me again was being faced with going through the eviction process, having to paint-get the apartment,get it  move in ready again and things of that nature.

lessened learned thanks to everyone’s feedback, look what I’m going though now.

Sorry, one other question, she got a dog last year, of course withought asking us. Are we allowed to tell her she has to remove the dog now, so we can show the apartment?

It’s one of those small dogs, that barks NON stop, and she doesn’t take it out, she lets it one and poop on a pad IN the apartment.

I do t want that smell,  or the dog causing problems when we try to show it.

any additional advice anyone may have about this new information would again, be so much appreciated.

I know it’s a lot, I am really sorry for that. I could have never forseen all this new stuff she is pulling.

Lisa

We purchased a two flat investment building in Chicago, Cook County. Both are section 8 rentals.

I’m having a lot of trouble with a tenant, withholding rent, and  giving 30 day notice (which would work out as 2 and a half months  rent she would be withholding the way she planned it out.)

I didn’t see this coming as she has lived there 7 years and we had a very close relationship. But looking back now, I guess I should have.

She has a history of being very late with rent, I’ve never charged her late fees, nor did we raise the rent on the unit the entire time she was there. My big heart got in the way. She is in her 70’s and we lost site on investment vs heart strings. In 2016, she went three months without paying rent, and again, heart strings. I did end up giving her a 5 day notice at the three month point, and she did pay.

My problems is: She is withholding rent because she claims we owe her money for an overpayment ($700.00) she claims she made...in 2012! It is not true, but she’s going with it. She clearly planned this out,k owing she was going to give her 30 notice, in addition to the fact that she will no longer be needing the section 8 voucher as she is moving in a nursing home. So she has nothing to lose in her mind.

I’ve gone through all the steps with her, telling her she cannot withhold rent based off something she “feels” is owed to her. And she would have to go through the proper steps if she feels this money is owed to her, it’s not legal! It has all gotten me no where.

I mean if her claims where true, why would she wait 7 years to bring it up. The story pretty much explains it self.

I do plan on giving her a 5 day notice tomorrow, and I have notified CHA. She also had her granddaughter move in May of last year, and she told me she reported it to CHA, come to find out she didn’t. They said she made a phone call  inquiring If her granddaughter could move in with her, as her caretaker, but she never followed up. So now CHA enforcerment is also involved. Found out her son was also living there for the better part of 2018 AND paying the rent.

But I don’t know what to do, or how to get her portion of the rent from her. We also believe she is moving to Florida, to be close to her sister (she’s mentioned this in the past few years)

If I give her a 5 day, it’s not going to make a difference,like I was explaining above, because of the fact she’s moving anyway.

And even after those 5 days are up with non payment, I could start the eviction process, but again, where’s that going to get me with her moving out anyway. I mentioned her possibility moving to Florida because I fear if we do take it to court to sue her, how would we track her down. And even if we did, how does that work if she’s out of state.

To make it more confusing for us is She sent me a text 2 days ago to tell me she broke The attic door. She said she would have her son fix it, I told her not to have him touch it (it’s an older home in Chicago,and it’s not a standard size attic door)

She sent me a text today asking me if I wanted her to pay for replacing the door. I have not replied yet because I remember another situation I was in,helping a friend. It’s a long story, but what always  stuck with me was when the detective said “if someone owes you money, and you take ANY form of payment for something unrelated, it would void out the bigger issue”

Like, I think, in this situation if we where to take money from her for replacing the door, we would be accepting the fact she’s not going to be paying rent. In addition these type of things are usually dealt with when we do final walk through with her.

She told me she has been talking to an attorney, I don’t know if it’s true. But if she is getting legal advice, it sure sounds to me like she may have been advised to do this, as a set up. I guess all of what she is doing.

I truly apologize that my question(s) are a lot,and long, I hope I  conveyed them in a way that is understandable.

I was just wondering if anyone else has been in this type of situation, and any advice how to handle it.

We’ve been lucky with our other rentals that we’ve never had to deal with something like this, so I’m at a total loss.

I will say though, it’s been a very good/tough lesson for us moving forward as to loosing site of the investment in the first place.

Thank you in advance for all that may have been in a similar situation and can offer any  advice.

Lisa

Hi Everyone. I am new to the website, am looking forward to get to know other rental investors, get tips, and  be a part of the discussions.

A lot of my Google search results would bring me to this site, on many topics, so I thought I would join!

I have not set my profile up yet as I have an active situation going on that’s time  sensitive . I wanted to start a discussion about it first, and will work on completing my profile during and after. Thanks for the understanding.

I’m really Looking forward to meting other members, and joining Bigger Pockets