All Forum Posts by: Marcia Maynard

The eviction will need to be for the person named on the lease and "all other occupants".  Then you can regain possession of your property.  All or nothing.  What does your lease say about subletting? What does it say about guests? It is fairly easy for a person to establish residency. To the police, this is civil matter, not a criminal matter. Unfortunately, you'll need to sort this out with your tenants (the one named on the lease and your accidental tenants) or take it to court.

Sorry this happened to you.

@Leah Bell

I'm sorry you are finding yourself in this predicament. Sounds like you are really new to residential real estate investing. Fortunately your can find valuable information on Bigger Pockets that will help you learn the business. Unfortunately the learning curve is significant and you jumped into the real world unprepared.

As a new landlord you must first and foremost learn and abide by the landlord-tenant laws for your jurisdiction. If there are landlord classes available in your area, sign up for the next one. Often local rental associations offer this type of opportunity as well as assist their members in keeping up to date on ever changing laws, so it is a good idea to join such. They may even offer you a local mentor.

Sounds like you prematurely committed the unit to other people before you had completed the purchase and secured a viable move-out plan for the current tenant. By immediately serving a 30-day Notice to Vacate before obtaining more knowledge about the current tenant and the terms of their tenancy, you have unintentionally escalated the situation. At this juncture, you had best seek the services of a qualified attorney who specializes in evictions for your jurisdiction. It could take 30 days or longer to successfully evict a tenant. If you don't serve legal notices correctly, it could take even longer.

Some places are "tenant friendly" and some are "landlord friendly" and some are neither. Where is the rental property located? Are you emptying both units of this duplex, or was just one side occupied? Your goal will be to obtain possession of the rental unit as soon as you can with the least amount of monetary loss and damage to the property. Don't expect the unit to be ready to rent once the tenant has moved out. Make sure you have a crew ready to do repairs and attend to deferred maintenance and cleaning. Hopefully you have set aside sufficient funds for this.

By the way, before you made this purchase, what did you learn from the previous owner about the current tenants? Did you see the rental agreements/leases? Did you see the rent register? Did you see inside both units? Were the security deposits for the current tenants transferred to you at closing?

How did you first introduce yourself to the current tenant? How did that go?

@Eli Altman

I wouldn't worry too much her past, unless she was evicted for an egregious reason. What was the reason for the eviction? How long ago was it? Was full restitution made to the previous landlord?  What was the reason behind the poor credit history?  What is she doing to improve her credit history and pay her debts?  Find out the circumstances that led to her past problems and what she has done since. It's quite possible to work with this kind of situation and save the tenancy.

1. We accept people who have had one eviction in their past, but with conditions. Conditions such as requiring a higher security deposit to cover our risk.  If a person still owes money to a previous landlord or utility company, we require the person to pay off that debt before we rent to them. You have a chance to make a former landlord happy! If she is in debt of $1000 or more, make sure she is in a payment plan with the creditor and current with it.
2. We also require a higher security deposit to cover our increased risk. Your current tenant may learn something about his new flame that he didn't know before. Don't give him any details from the confidential background check and credit report. He will need to find out about it from her. You can speak in general terms, such as "Based on the results of her background check and credit report, we would need an additional security deposit of $XXX.XX to approve her move-in."
3. Is the previous partner's name still on the lease?  It should have been removed and the terms adjusted as necessary.  It's easy to remove or add people to a rental agreement at any time if all parties agree to it. Make sure all adults who occupy the unit are listed as "jointly and severally" liable. Your "good tenant" will still be held accountable for the terms of the rental agreement, so there's no reason to believe he will suddenly stop doing anything different.

Why would you do that? It will severely limit your renter pool.  If you want to attract good tenants, then providing washer/dryer or hookups is important. 

Make sure you oversee all installations to make sure the washer water exhaust hose is properly connected. Also, make sure the appliance is properly maintained. Place water alarms near all water sources that could potentially leak. This $10 device has saved our bacon on numerous occasions. We place them near hot water heaters, washers, and under sinks.

To protect yourself from potential damage, establish clear guidelines in your rental agreement.

Here's a clause from ours:

APPLIANCES. Appliances included in the rental of the premises, as noted in the rental agreement, such as a refrigerator, range, dishwasher, clothes washer or clothes dryer, belong to Landlord. If Tenant wishes to use these appliances, Tenant agrees to use them properly in accordance with manufacturer instructions and assumes all responsibility for their care and cleaning. In the event there is a malfunction of an appliance or an appliance is in need of repair, Tenant agrees to notify Landlord in a timely manner and in writing. If Tenant wishes to use their own appliances, Tenant agrees to contact Landlord in advance to obtain prior written approval and instructions, as the removal and installation of appliances must be done with care to prevent damage to the appliance and/or building.

I'd first verify the tenant is actually incarcerated. If so, work with the father to establish a move-out plan. You can not just hand over the tenant's possessions. But if the tenant gave his father the keys and permission to do so, then the father could follow through on his son's wishes and it would save you the trouble of dealing with the stuff. 

If the father gets a POA, great, he can legally terminate the agreement for his son. If not, then find a way to reach the tenant. Inmates can get mail and the father will know the facility where his son is incarcerated and his son's DOC # and how to get mail to him. Depending on the facility, the father may be able to bring the paperwork to his son or give it to his son's attorney or pastor to relay to the tenant. The tenant most likely will be in the local jail until sentencing and then transfer to a prison. Depending on the situation, the father may or may not be able to visit his son at this point. However, attorneys and clergy are likely to have access. The tenant should be able to telephone you as well to discuss his wishes. You should be able to easily terminate the lease with the help of the son and his father. If not, then follow the abandonment laws for your jurisdiction.

Our experience:

Tenant in the local jail... we communicated via clergy.  Short term detention. Tenant was released after serving about one month and returned to his residence.

Tenant in ICE holding facility before being deported... we communicated via family and we had his mailing address. At one point we were able to have a telephone conversation with the tenant. Tenant was permanently removed from country, but his family remained living in the unit for another year. We didn't need to remove his name from the rental agreement. Eventually the family couldn't afford to pay the rent and we had to evict for non-payment of rent and the incarcerated tenant's name was still on the rental agreement and thus on the eviction order.

We have some tenants who are quite fearless and resourceful regarding pests. We also have some who get very anxious and frightened by the sight of even a few small insects or one mouse. What tenants often don't realize is that when you find the root cause and address it, it still takes awhile to rid the house/apartment of the pests. Effective treatment can take days or even weeks in some cases. If you live in an area with rodent pressure (like adjacent to a wildlife area or nearby an infested abandoned building) you can not let up on the vigilance.

A pest control expert told me rodents will run along baseboards and often pick an inside corner as their "toilet" area. That's why you often see lots of turds in corners. One of our tenants, seeing this believed mice were entering from the corners of the rooms and squeezed SOS soap steel wool pads into the corners under the baseboard. The blue soap discolored the carpet. She didn't realize steel wool is the deterrent, not the soap. I demonstrated to her that the rooms did not have holes in the corners, but she was not convinced. Three years later, she still had the SOS pads in all corners and also squeezed them in around all plumbing pipe holes.

We do thorough examination of the building and exclusion. Rodents that are already in the building can't get out, so you gotta put down traps. I agree with those you posted about the problems of poisons, hazardous to pets and also can result in rotting carcasses in inaccessible places. I also agree that the extermination companies don't do much more that what we can do. However, for tenant peace of mind and our liability, we've occasionally hired a professional for a mice problem. :-(

I agree with Jamison. The operative word is high-end or best quality. We did a few apartments with luxury vinyl plank (LVP) and luxury vinyl tile (LVT) in 2011.  Unfortunately we didn't choose the best product and have seen failure in 3 of 5 units.  Over the years the manufacturers have been improving the product and the installers are getting better at installing it correctly, so we're going to try it again. This time we're buying from a contractor supply house rather than from the big box stores. It really matters which LVP/LVT product you buy and who installs it.

Patti, thanks for the info. Unfortunately the link takes me to Facebook and I don't have a Facebook account. Would you be kind and copy the form and paste it here, or provide a different link?  Thanks!  I tried googling it to no avail, but this was in one of the documents from Virginia Fair Housing, that I thought was worthy to share: 

Q. WHAT ABOUT WEBSITES THAT CLAIM THEIR CERTIFICATES OFFER ENOUGH PROOF OF THE NEED FOR AN ASSISTIVE ANIMAL?

A. The resident’s disability is what triggers a reasonable accommodation, NOT the type of animal. Despite advertising as a way to qualify a pet as a service animal, those websites are careful to provide disclaimers about the limits of their certificates and even warn individuals registering an animal that “they may still be required to get a verification letter from an attending physician or psychiatrist.”

You don't have to accept those internet certificates. There is no certifying body. More importantly, does the person have a qualified disability? We always tell people, "We welcome legitimate service/assistance animals for those with a qualified disability." The word "qualified" stops most of the fakers in their tracks. First a person must have a qualified DISABILITY, then comes the ACCOMMODATION.

Establish a clear policy and procedure about making accommodations. We see more people trying to get their pets into housing units under false pretenses these days. Especially as the internet hustlers encourage people with false information, take their money for "certifying" their animal and vouching for their disability. We don't accept the certificates that people obtain via the internet or "doctors" that qualify a person as having a disability sight unseen. Know the laws better than your tenants do. Be cautious and don't make any statements that could have a chilling affect or discriminate against a person with a real disability and a real service/assistance animal.  Some emotional support animals (ESAs) legitimately provide for the needs people with actual disabilities.

Unfortunately for your brother, he may need to take precautions of his own when working around properties where there are animals.

I'd take this to a qualified attorney.  If the PM is in breach of the contract, or better yet never signed it, then you should easily prevail. I'd bet the PM will back down once your attorney contacts them. Consider the legal fee as a cost of doing business and take more care when you sign contracts in the future. Remember that everything's negotiable, so if the agreement is favoring the PM more than you, aim to change it. Go for a win-win with mutual respect. Good luck!