All Forum Posts by: Jessica Hinman

Originally posted by @Arnie Guida:

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

@Rumen Mladenov 

The tenant was specifically asked before being offered the property and he lied.  It was important enough to @Jessica Hinman to ask about a daycare business, so I would absolutely evict if I were in her position. 

If it was so important, it should have been in writing specific to it, and should have been a separate document.

 Yup.  I should've got it in writing.  I did ask both him and his manager if his position would involve running a daycare out of the home and they both lied about it.  

I did contact a lawyer about this one.  His (free) advice was to mail a cease and desist, give them an adequate amount of time to shut down their business, and then call him if that doesn't work.  We mailed a cease and desist by registered mail yesterday evening giving him 10 business days to shut down before we begin eviction proceedings.  We're going to wait and call the tenant after he's signed for the mail, so he actually accepts the letter.  

From what people are saying on here, it sounds like having a daycare in the house might not be the worst thing - although previous owners ran a daycare out of the property and it was trashed when we bought it.  I guess we'll see what his response is from the cease and desist and go from there.  If we do decide to let him stay, hopefully the cease and desist and threat of eviction will at least put us in a better position to demand a new lease with increased rent (to cover whatever insurance we'll have to add) and stricter terms.

When the house was run as a daycare previously, the neighbors had lots of issues with parents turning around in their driveways early in the morning and late at night. I know they called the police about it previously, and the neighbor has stated that she will again, which I told her she should definitely do. Maybe a couple of police complaints will help my case. I did contact a lawyer and he recommended mailing a crease and desist letter and then getting back with him if that doesn't fix things. We'll be writing one tonight and sending it out tomorrow. This feels like horrible luck-we've only been landlords for 2 months!

Sounds like, from all the different opinions that a lawyer is the way to go.  Anybody know how much it typically costs to get a lawyer involved in eviction proceedings?  If I have fees in excess of the security deposit, can I sue to recover these costs?

Originally posted by @Bill Gulley:

File eviction and get you tail thrown out of court. You can also have a counter suit for loss of income, as well as other claims that you'll most likely lose.

Short answer, nothing you can do about it, if there is no zoning restriction law is not violated.

A Day Care only kicks in with a certain number of kids. A residence can be approved by the authorities, leased or owned. If she must comply with day care licensing, then she needs to do so, so long as she is in compliance, it's not up to you.

Nothing in your lease, as posted above, applies to the kids, they aren't living there, they probably aren't breaking any laws, they won't stay for more than two weeks since they don't live there.

What you can do is require an additional security deposit, so long as that is allowed by law due to the business nature of use. That has to be reasonable.

You leased the right of possession and with that goes quiet enjoyment of the property, to use that property for any lawful purpose, had you put no business operation on premises in your lease, you could have restricted that use allowed.

The only way HUD keeps babysitting out of rented properties is by the income earned that must be reported as to the tenant qualifying for any benefit, if any.

If those kids are related and you raise heck, you can also have a suit as to family status applied as their life style may well be to keep family there during the day.

Learn and live and it may not be as bad as you think after you get past the shock, if neighbors really do complain, like in writing or the cops are called or the fire marshal shows up as to over crowding, they have the right to use the property, don't jump to conclusions about damage due to sticky fingers. I assume you got a security deposit.  

 @BillG - We do have language in the lease restricting business use on the property it's outlined here in bold: 

6.USE AND OCCUPANCY:Lessee shall use the premises in such a manner as to comply with all local, county, state and federal laws, rules, ordinances, regulations and codes.Lessee shall not use the premises or permit it to be used for any disorderly or unlawful purpose or in any manner determined by Lessor to be offensive to any of the neighbors.The premises are to be used exclusively as a residence only by the persons named above and their immediate family. NO OTHER PERSONS MAY LIVE THERE WITHOUT THE LESSOR'S WRITTEN PERMISSION.Guests may stay no longer than two weeks. No business or business activity shall be conducted on the premises other than that activity that is customarily considered to be purely incidental to residential use. Lessee may not remove or install any carpet, walls, fencing or flooring without the written permission of Lessor. Red Door Rentals, LLC, reserves the right to perform a visual inspection of the property every 30 days to insure cleanliness and upkeep of home.Tenants, by signing this lease, agree to this monthly inspection. Tenant agrees to perform lawn maintenance for this property.

There's also a part in there about using the premises in a manner determined by Lessor to be offensive to the neighbors - and I've already received two phone calls about the daycare!  Surely both of these items should be enough for eviction?

Thanks for everyone's speedy replies.  After seeing the kind of a damage a daycare did to this property before we bought it, I'm definitely not interested in having our tenants run one.  I'm guessing an eviction is the way to go, which really sucks since this is our first tenant in our first property, and he's only been renting for a couple of months!  

I've got a $1000 security deposit from the tenant, he has money and so does the daycare he's working for.  At this point I'm considering just contacting a lawyer and letting them take over.  Do you think I'll be able to cover lawyer's fees with the security deposit and/or suing for damages?  Or do you think an eviction is an easy enough process that I can file it on my own?  I talked to a friend who's managed properties and he's worried that since this isn't your typical eviction for not paying rent that it might be a bit more complicated.

Hello Bigger Pockets gurus!

I've been lurking on Bigger Pockets for months as my husband and I have purchased, renovated, and rented our first two single family properties.  We thought everything was going great until we received a phone call from a neighbor saying that our tenant has started operating a daycare out of our beautifully renovated house!

The back story is a little complicated on this one - we purchased this home as a short sale in early July.  The previous owner decided to walk away from the place after her tenants operated a daycare out of the home and destroyed the place (hence our major renovations).  After advertising our home for rent we got a lot of great interest, and rented to our tenant after a background check and calling all references.  He works for Dora's Daycare (which we thought was quite coincidental) but assured us that his work had him traveling throughout the state helping other daycare centers reach different compliance levels.  I asked both him and his manager at Dora's Daycare if he would be operating a daycare out of our house, and they both said no - LIES!

After receiving the phone call from the concerned neighbor (who was not happy, since I specifically told her her daycare woes were over), I checked with the state and learned that he does have a home daycare permit filed in the county.  

This sucks!  First tenant in our first rental, and it's sure looking like eviction to me.  My question to you bright, wonderful, knowledgeable people is - what the heck do we do now?

We do have a lease, which we got from Bigger Pockets, which specifically states that no businesses may be run out of the home.  Here's the text:

6.USE AND OCCUPANCY:Lessee shall use the premises in such a manner as to comply with all local, county, state and federal laws, rules, ordinances, regulations and codes.Lessee shall not use the premises or permit it to be used for any disorderly or unlawful purpose or in any manner determined by Lessor to be offensive to any of the neighbors.The premises are to be used exclusively as a residence only by the persons named above and their immediate family. NO OTHER PERSONS MAY LIVE THERE WITHOUT THE LESSOR'S WRITTEN PERMISSION.Guests may stay no longer than two weeks. No business or business activity shall be conducted on the premises other than that activity that is customarily considered to be purely incidental to residential use. Lessee may not remove or install any carpet, walls, fencing or flooring without the written permission of Lessor.Red Door Rentals, LLC, reserves the right to perform a visual inspection of the property every 30 days to insure cleanliness and upkeep of home.Tenants, by signing this lease, agree to this monthly inspection. Tenant agrees to perform lawn maintenance for this property.