All Forum Posts by: Douglas Snook

Sorry to be a little late to the party. You can have a written month to month lease. It does not have to be for a year/12 months. If I read it correctly, some of the tenants have a current written lease? Can't do much until those leases expire. As for the one that has expired and no one can find it, should not be an issue. You send a 30 day notice that you are terminating the tenancy but can offer a new one at this rate and under these terms on a month to month basis. You can bump the rent and set out new terms, such as no smoking, no pets and no uninsured unregistered cars etc.

As each lease comes up for renewal you can change it over to your terms. 

In this current market why would you want to keep the tenant that has the unregistered car on the property? How much renovating does the place need? If you end his lease first and get him out is it so bad that you couldn't rent it out to someone else?

Bill Ward - My thoughts exactly. Is the mother a tenant now or is the son asking because she is going to have to live with him because of the stroke? If she is going to become a tenant then you might want to do an addendum to your lease.

An get everything in writing!

I presume the lis pendens is for a prior owner and not against you. If the foreclosure was done properly that should wipe out the lis pendens. (I am not 100% sure it does but I would think that if it did not then the foreclosure would not have been completed)

Just because it is wiped out does not mean it disappears from the title exam. When you go to sell, the buyers mortgage company will do a title search. They will see the lis pendens and they determine if it matters or not. If it does not matter, they will lend the money. If it matters they will be back in touch with you and let you know what they need to clear the title.

Speaking of title insurance, when you bought it, do you get an owner's policy? If you did and this becomes an issue when you go to sell, the title company will have to do the work to clear the title. I would think if you got title insurance this issue was already reviewed and taken care of or the company would not have issued a policy.

If you have not bought the property yet and simply doing your due diligence and noticed this, you may want to ask the auction company if there is title insurance available.

Go to a Lawyer ASAP. Not sure how it is in NY but usually if you give the tenant a 14 day notice, they have the right to cure, sometime even on the day of trial and you are stuck with them. Also there are many COVID restrictions still in place, like if they apply for government assistance, the case is stayed while the application is pending and then if you get the back rent and/or they get a stipend (or assistance) going forward you are stuck with the.

If there is no lease in place, then the thing to do is just give them notice you are terminating the tenancy, usually no reason needs to be give. If it gets to court you stating that you intend to live there could help you. Again, COVID may have impacted this route as well.

All the above is to show why you need an experienced landlord attorney who can navigate this for you.

I like the name. Not sure how many people would get the meaning of the name these days (in other words they may have heard the name but not know the story behind it). That may be your chance to explain company and what you do.

The motto is ok although I would try it without the  "distressed". I think it sounds more positive as "resurrecting neighborhoods one home at a time"

Just my two cents.

Best of luck!

You have a few issues going on here and you didn't do yourself any favors.

If both parties are on the lease, as long as the rent was paid, why would it matter that the boyfriend moved out? If the rent stopped getting paid, you just evict for non-payment. 

What kind of lease was it? Was it for a year or month to month?

What is a "lease termination letter"? Unless it is month to month you can't end the tenancy until the time is up as long as you are getting paid. (Unless of course all parties to the lease agree and sign it)

If you notified her you were terminating the tenancy at the end of August and she didn't move out, that is when you should have started the eviction process.

And if you notified her the tenancy was ending in August, why on earth did you send her a notice of rent increase? Especially since you say she is damaging the apartment and there is smoking and noise etc.

I think the best you can do now is send her a 14 day notice. If she pays the money though, the tenancy is back on and you may have to wait until February to evict if she doesn't move.

Sorry to be harsh.

Collection work is best left to a professional, most likely an attorney. There are a lot of regulations (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act anyone) and court rules that you would be expected to follow as a pro se (why spend your time trying to figure out how to attach someones wages when an attorney already knows how). Unless the property management company has a collection attorney on staff, they are not really equipped to handle the matter. You can ask them what they recommend you do to collect or if they know an attorney who would do the collection 

I would look for a local collection attorney rather then a collection agency. If the agency can't make any headway they usually end up passing it over to an attorney. Mind as well go right for the attorney.

It may depend on the state and what the deeds said and what went on in probate.

Deed first. If he owned it joint with his wife, then upon death it goes to her and she could sell it to you. Should not matter what the will says. If it was in the deceased name only, then the will controls. It goes through probate. As executrix she has to do what the will says. So it looks like it is left to her and the kids. She can sell you her interest no problem. If they kids don't want it then there is a choice. They can "disclaim" their inheritance or simply agree to the sale of the real estate and take the cash instead. This election should be filed in the probate case. Sometimes the probate court requires a "license to sell" the real estate as well (again, very state specific)

You need to find a real estate attorney as you need to clear your title. This may involve going back to the wife and kids and getting them to sign off on whats already done or it might mean going to court to "quiet title" to prove you own it. You will want to do this so you can refinance or sell as it will keep coming up and you want to do this all now while it is fresh in everyone's minds etc.

That's just a general overview.

I would look at it like, what would first, last and security be on a new place plus maybe the cost of the mover. It can add up quick.

Also I wouldn't offer it to them directly if you can help it. Offer to pay the new landlord/movers instead

Yes they should have been upfront with you that they were looking to buy a house. Perhaps you would have agreed to a month to month situation with 30 or 60 days when they finally close. But they weren't up front with you.

Who knows when they will actually leave. The closing on their house could be delayed well beyond the 45 days. What if you advertised now and found someone to move in in 45 or 60 days and their closing got delayed, then what.

I think you need to have a talk with them (or your attorney). Explain they will be responsible for rent until you have found another qualified tenant which you can't even do until they have definitely moved out. You do have a duty to mitigate but you don't have to take the first person either.

Let's look at it this way. What if they just stopped paying rent one month. What would you do? Send them a 14 day notice to pay or vacate. Sooo they vacate. Now what? The lease is broken and you are out a months rent. Yes you could sue them but here's the thing, since the rent doesn't become due until the first of each month so you either have to sue them the first of each month or wait until the lease ends and them sue for the balance. Then the court is going to say you had a duty to mitigate by renting the apartment but you did not. Of course your argument is going to be that you had a contract with them etc. Because you could have searched for another tenant but did not the court isn't going to be too happy with you.

The short answer is there isn't much you can do but try to mitigate by finding another tenant but you can't really do that until they have really left, which, despite them saying 45 days, is not 100%. They will be responsible for the rent until you find someone else. You may have to sue them separately for a month or two of rent. Depending on how much that is, it may or may not be worth it.