All Forum Posts by: Scott K.

My awful tenants in Hawaii have had a last-minute drama. Over the past 4 months they have incurred numerous HOA violations, the police breaking up fights about 2-3 times a week, flooding of my kitchen causing $6,000 of damage, and general living-like-pigs.

I got them to sign a Quit & Vacate agreement to terminate the lease early and move out July 31. In a last bit of drama, a few days ago the wife ditched and left with all the money, and the deadbeat husband has said he has no money, no job, and he's not leaving my property.

So, it's eviction time.

I contacted a lawyer and he wants between $3,500 and $6,500 to represent me. I talked with the state landlord-tenant hotline and they said I can just file the eviction myself and represent myself. The form is very simple, and the procedure looks surprisingly straight-forward.

For anyone who's done an eviction, especially with a tenant who has dug in his heels and refuses to leave -- Any tips?

Oh, got a few extra questions: With the lease ended July 31 (in a few hours), I am thinking of switching off the Internet to the tenants, disabling the thermostat (no air-conditioning), and disabling DirecTV. I can do all those remotely. I know I cannot turn off water or electricity on the tenant, but how about these amenities which were included with the lease (remember, the lease expired today, July 31, and the tenant is in holdover). OK to turn those off? Bad idea?

The lawyer told me also to put both names on the check just as "Tenant" is defined in the lease, "John AND Jane Doe"

My screening process works great for Virginia, never had a bad tenant in 8 years. Renewed leases with several of the tenants.

For Hawaii, I did the same thing -- pull up credit report, look for public records, check references. References said they were great, but I'm guessing now they were all confederates trying to help out their friends.

Looks like it went from bad to worse. The tenant's wife just left today and the husband said he has no money, no place to go, and he's not leaving my property. I'm going to have to go the eviction route it looks. We're going to try and offer him some of the pre-paid rent refund to leave now, and give him the rest once he's completely out.

Thanks for all the replies, and confirming that I should write the check payable to "John AND Jane Doe", just as they are defined as "Tenant" in the lease agreement.

Sorry for that long rant about my drama issues, just something I had to unload at the time I guess.

Thanks Bob.

I don't know why I'm having so many problems with renting out property in Kona. I've had a condo and a house in Kona, and when I've rented them out with long-term leases to the local population, I've had to terminate EVERY lease agreement early with every tenant. Most stopped paying rent. Some were trouble-makers and were destroying my property. Some just abandoned the property. We're talking rent of $1300 for my condo and $3,000 for my house. I've had probably a dozen different tenants, and had to terminate the lease with EVERY single one of them. Most of the time, the property would get trashed and I'd have to do major renovations -- pulling out cabinets, re-tiling, replace carpet, drywall, etc. This last tenant cost me an estimated $6,000 in damage to my ceiling and floors because they let the water run in the kitchen sink or something and it flooded the floor and ripped out the ceiling below and molded the carpet.

The police have been dealing with my tenants on a 2-3 times a week basis -- no exaggeration, I have the surveillance video. Lot of fist fights in the driveway, kicking each other's cars, cousins and friends getting into fights with them, and at one time I think they were boarding a fugitive because about a dozen cops swarmed on the house (I was watching my surveillance cameras in horror) and grabbed some guy that was running from them and hauled him away in handcuffs.

My neighbors think my tenants are drug dealers. I wouldn't put it past them.

And of course the HOA sends me violation notices and my tenants ignore the notices. I've watched them on the surveillance camera rip down the notices taped to the front door and crumple it in a ball and toss aside, never reading the notice.

Speaking of the surveillance cameras (all outside), I've also seen their drunk friends bash and smash 2 of the cameras.

I've been pressing for them to get out without an eviction, they just signed a Quit & Vacate agreement for July 31, but by the looks of things, I don't think they're planning on going anywhere and I'll probably have to evict through the court system.

But come this January, my rental headaches in Hawaii will hopefully come to an end as I've sold my house, my last Hawaii property, and we're going to close in January.

I will never, never, never own a long-term rental property in Hawaii ever again. It has never worked for me. Ever. The only time it ever worked was as 1-3 month vacation rental to mainlanders (Canadians are the best!)

By contrast, for the same 8-year period I rented out my condo in Virginia and had excellent renters who all stayed for the term of their leases and several renewed. I never had to terminate a lease early in Virginia or withhold any security deposit funds. They were all awesome renters.

To answer your question "why all the drama"? I dunno. It's a whole different demographic of people and values I guess. When I lived in Kailua Kona for 8 years, there was definitely a lot more riff-raff and low-class behavior than I had ever been exposed to. I did credit checks and called references, but even when it all sounded good, I got horrible tenants.

For anyone else thinking of owning and renting out property in Kailua Kona (Big Island), I would only recommend doing it as a vacation rental. Otherwise, don't ever do a long-term lease, just month-to-month so you can kick out the riff-raff with 45 days notice. And get a property manager who has the demeanor of a rabid bulldog and pay the 10% fee. I'm too much of a nice guy and naively expect people to behave responsibly.

The drama with my rental in Hawaii never ends.

I just found out that the tenants, who are married, are going through a marital separation right now as the lease is coming to an early end (I got them to sign a Quit & Vacate letter to terminate the lease early, a whole other story...)

The lease names them both -- John and Jane Doe ("Tenant"), and they both signed the lease as Tenant.

When they signed the lease, they gave me a cashiers check from the credit union, but it does not name them on the cashiers check.

I know that the money came from Jane's account, as during the interview process she said she inherited a lot of money and that she would be paying me.

Considering that they are probably going to be maritally separated, who do I write the security deposit refund check (less expenses) payable to? My inclination is to write it just like the lease names the Tenant, "Payable to: John and Jane Doe" and let them figure it out.

I've e-mailed my attorney (asking him all these questions is getting ridiculously expensive), but was wondering what other landlords have done in this situation.

Regarding holdover -- the Quit and Vacate letter that they signed says that they are also agreeing to no renewal, no holdover, and no access to the property after July 31. Now, I don't know if they can sign away their holdover rights like that in Hawaii, if holdover is even a right.

I'll probably have to talk with the lawyer again. Uggh, $200 per hour.

 Thanks for the reply. My most recent post (above) says that we reached a mutual agreement to end the lease early and they signed a "Quit and Vacate" letter stating that they agree to terminate the lease on July 31 and vacate the property on July 31, four months ahead of the original lease November 30 termination date.

My most recent concern is what can/cannot I do on August 1 when they haven't moved out. Are they trespassing? Can I change the locks? Technically as of August 1, I've regained possession of the property and there is no more lease.

Good news! I'm happy to report that my tenants agreed with me that "it's just not working out" and have signed a "Quit and Vacate" letter which I wrote to terminate the lease early and vacate the property on July 31 (2 days from now).

I'm able to remotely monitor the outside of my property with security cameras (this was disclosed to the tenants on signing the lease) and have not seen any "moving" activity. This concerns me -- they signed a Quit and Vacate letter, they know it ends July 31, it clearly states that they will not have any access to the property after July 31, but I see no effort by them to move out and they have a TON of stuff -- we're talking hoarder-levels, so much that it's piled up outside. I don't see how they can get it all moved out in 2 days.

On August 1, I'm wondering what my options are. Can I call the police and say they are trespassing? Can I change the locks on the entry doors? Can I consider all their stuff on the property as "abandoned property" and throw it away?