All Forum Posts by: Maurice Davis

Thank you for the wide range of advise here.  I appreciate it.  I'm going to wait until Wednesday for the copies of everything the mom has including keys and police report of missing person and either get some legal advise ad hire an attorney or the alternative is to see a real estate agent "property manager" and tell them what's going on here. Five of all copies of the information that will be sent from the mother I will provide to the property manager and explain that I would like to rent this out as soon as possible but what do I need to do.  I really feel like just handing this over to an expert who rents out properties and letting them lead the way into clearing up this mess. I know there's lawyers, putting up 24 hour notices, claiming abandonment or a eviction , or simply going over there and changing the locks and just finding a new tenant on my own.  All of these things are great ideas but I feel an expert in real estate renting would give me a better decision and then it would be upon them to take over the situation and simply clear it up.  Again there are multiple ways of approaching this but gathering the facts and having the paperwork on hand and bringing it to the right people who can look over this and help me get a better understanding of what needs to be done.  I will give it until Wednesday and if I do not get any kind of information from the mother then getting an attorney would be best for this thsituation.  I will keep you all updated as soon as I hear anything.  

Thank you again!

Maurice

I was contacted by the mother yesterday and was updated on the situation.  She found a suicide note in the apartment with the keys to the condo.  I forgot to ask how did she get in?  But anyway that happened August 14th.  She did file a missing persons report with the police up near Deptford where she lives and hired a private investigator to call him and found out he is in Florida and did not want to speak to anyone including the mom and dad.  She feels he is mad that she contacted the police about this situation and probably won't want to talk to her again.  No one else has been able to contact him as I had left a message on his voicemail a couple of days ago to find out what is going on.  I have not entered the condo and only looked in the window to see that it looks empty as the mom stated after cleaning and clearing out some of his stuff.  She said there wasn't much stuff whic I agreed because I visited him a couple of months ago to do a routine check up on the condo and found out he had no furniture and sleeping on a air mattress.  She claims her son has been isolated and depressed.  I didn't know that.  To get to the point I told her if she could send out her son's September rent whic is past due and I would do my best to break the lease with her missing son.  I figured salvaging something at this point is better than nothing if he never reappears.  I told her to send a check along with the keys to the condo, all documentation of police reports, suicide letter and private investigator information.  Anything that she had on her son to be copied and mailed to me asap.  She said yes and would send it out Monday.  I know she can do this because she wrote out his first month's rent in April to me earlier this year.  I am trying to resolve this situation as amicable as possible with the parents and trying to be cooperative in possibly a very difficult situation for the parents and their child.  He is only 22 years old but I still want to move on from this as quickly as possible and getting someone else in the condo to rent to. My only question for you folks here is what should I do when I do get this information and where do I go from here.   I don't know what is true or not but I am trying to give them the benefit of doubt and him missing.  Washing my hands clean of this whole situation is what I  really want to do and star out fresh with a new tenant.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Thank you in advance!

Maurice

Yes, it's time to cut the losses and forget about wether this story is true or not.  Whatever I can salvage from the father will be a plus but in the meantime  I'm going find a new tenant and claim the property as abandoned.  There is no sense of trying to find him.  He's gone, the parents supposedly don't know where he is and the rent is not paid.

I just got off the phone with his dad and he said he no longer works at family dollar which he was manager there.  His wife called there and they said he no longer works there.  I asked if he had seen him and he insists that he hasn't for about a month.  The condo was cleared out the last weekend of August by his mom.  I asked if he filed a missing persons report and the dad said no.  He was in the car driving and didn't want to get a ticket so he is going to call me back Monday.  I know legally I can't go in there but have to figure out to recoup from father September's rent and just move on.   I really wanted to say if he really wants to save face and tell me where he is we can work this out with son but I'm left with the conclusion on his part that he doesn't know where he is and have to deal with that reality.   I'm going to find another tenant in the meantime and try to speed up the process of changing locks and eviction notice.   Thanks again all for your time and help on this crazy situation!

Thank you again for all the great advice!  I really appreciate it!  I'm going to call his dad right now and hopefully find some more answers.  In a perfect situation I would love for the son to just show up and work out breaking the lease with me but will try to pick the father's brain on where he is.  I don't know if this story about him missing is real or not but trying to negotiate with the father on recouping some money may work.  I'll try that out first and then look into legal matters if it doesn't.   Thanks for all the support everyone!

Maurice

Thank you all for the great advice!  I appreciate it!  I'm going to get in touch with his dad try to dig for some more information.  It's a tough situation and has to be handled correctly wether to negotiate with the dad even though he is not the tenant and his son is but if he pays the missing rent for September and I get the keys back I could probably get someone else in the meantime to rent it out for next month.  Awesome replies to this post!  

Thanks for your reply here Bill.  There are no fees for breaking the lease only late fees if rent is late.  This is my first rental and was given by referral from a friend who recommended this tenant.  It sounded like the dad did want to negotiate a way out of the lease for his son but isn't finding his son more important??   Which leads me to believe also that the son is using the father to get out of the lease and coming up with the story that he is missing.  Welcome to the world of renting!  I will call the father tomorrow just to get some more information on this matter.  

That may be the case where he got his father involved here.  I spoke with father and he did not file a missing person report yet.  But why empty out his place right away?  I asked when he did this and he said 14 days ago.  He said he is cutting off the electricity soon also.  I'm going to have to rent the place out to someone new.  I just have to find out what New Jersey law has to do about this.  I plan on calling his father back tomorrow afternoon. Any specific questions should I ask the father?

My tentant's rent was due on September 1st and have not received it.  I tried to reach through text and left a message on his cell phone with no response.  His father just called today asking me if he had seen his son.  I said no and then he asked if I knew anything of his where abouts and I said he told me he was taking a vacation at the end of August which was spoken a couple of months ago the last time I spoke to his son.  Then the father told me he cleared out the condo two weeks ago.  The father then asked me about breaking the lease rather than go the lawyer and court route.  I told him I would speak to him tomorrow because I was at work.  Something sounds fishy here.  Why did the father clear out the condo and how come he has not filed a missing persons report.  I have to call him back tomorrow to further investigate this situation or should I contact a real estate lawyer? What should I do? We live in New Jersey by the way.   Any help would be appreciated?   

Thanks,

Maurice