All Forum Posts by: Douglas Snook

Are you thinking of moving to MA? I don;t think you can become a notary in MA without being a resident.

As far as I know the witness closing companies require you to be a notary AND an attorney to do a closing in MA.

What does that mean "there were no leases as the original tenants weren't the same people that are living there today"? any time the tenants changed there should have been a new written lease. Also the Seller SAYING there are no security deposits and no last months rent doesn't make it so. It should have been in writing signed by both landlord and tenant.

Just saying. Good luck

The attorney that gave you the advise about serving them in person, does he/she do evictions? You need to find an attorney to evict them. They tell you they don't need the money (so no cash for keys) yet they claim protection under the CDC moratorium? Something isn't right there. If you get them into court for an eviction, even if they still need more time at least it can be worked out and an end date set in court. They just keep pushing it down the road otherwise.

Also as to the first floor, I hope you got a new rental application from them so you know who is there and also signed them to a new lease (even it is month to month) to show the new rent.

The person who sold you the building did n't do what they were supposed to. You may be able to back after them for your costs in straightening this out.

Did you get any letters of indemnification from that seller and tenants that stated if there was a security deposit, last months rent, who was in the apartment etc etc?

Hopefully the lease is NOT up at the end of March! Depending on what your lease says, it may have automatically renewed for another year. If it does not automatically renew but converts to a month to month, you need to give a 30 day notice. If you served this by the end of March, they have until the end of April to leave before you can start an eviction.

@Linda Roberts sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I do have some experience with cash for key but not during COVID. How I have structured it is that the "cash" is actually paid to the new landlord (as they want first, last security) and the moving company. The tenant presents a signed lease for the new place. This way the tenant doesn't get any actual money in hand, or maybe a small amount

Yes especially with COVID. The timing of the notice could be such that it was not allowed. I lost a case recently where the landlord gave the notice back in July where the moratorium covered everything and the judge threw the case out. It can also depend on where the property is located. Some cities have their own ban about evictions in place.

More info is needed, like are there written leases? Did they ever respond to your termination of the lease? Was it even terminated properly.

I would check out Shur Law Group. She concentrates in representing landlords 617-959-1499

Are any of these tenants on a lease? If so you can't raise the rent until the lease ends. Are you taking over any security deposits? Last months rent? Be sure that is all accounted at the closing!

You got all of this information in writing signed by the seller and the tenants already, right??

Assuming the tenants are month to month with no written lease, you may want to get them on a written lease (even if it is still month to month) so you have something written and you know exactly who lives there and is responsible for what (heat electric etc) also you can forbid smoking (of any kind) and forbid pets, assign parking (if there is any)

Assuming no written lease or MTM agreement, what you do is send them a notice you are terminating the tenancy (if you send it out in March it will end it at the end of April) Then you say if they would like to renew the tenancy they need to fill out an application and sign a new lease (even if month to month) and this is what the new rent will be and raise it on both at least to $900 on the 2 bedroom and maybe $50 on the one bedroom). You can also request a security deposit if you are not holding one (if you want to, you may not want to get into that mess at this time)

Definitely change the locks.

I assume you will want to rent out the other one bedroom? Are you going to do any renovations to the unit before you rent it out?

However, you may want to wait a couple of months, get to know the tenants a little bit, see if they pay on time etc. It might be worth it to keep the rents a little below market and not have a constant turn over.

How did you come into the property? If you bought it then I would say its abandoned and do what you want with it. Are you going to flip it or hold it? If holding it, maybe you could box stuff up in the basement for a while (although if the people found out it is still in the basement that might be a temptation to break in)

If you inherited the property or bought it at a foreclosure then that would be a different story.

What is the title company saying exactly? Are you just getting a list to what they found on title? Are you then wondering how it affects title and/or how to fix it?

Here in MA I order a title exam and am provided with copies of the deeds in the chain of title, the mortgages etc and a cover sheet with notes by the examiner like "Discharge at Bk 1234 Pg 10 appears to have wrong party", then I look at the copies and have to decide if it is really an issue and if so how it can be fixed going forward in order to close.

Maybe you need to order a different type of report. Maybe see if there is a freelance paralegal around who can interpret or explain the report for you. (check craigslist under legal)

What type of report did you run on your house? Did you have someone else do it? Again, in MA the registries are on line and everything would come up. Sounds like the report is only giving you current open matters.

As for the solar panels, sometimes they are filed as a UCC and not necessarily at the registry of deeds. Perhaps the person who ran the report didn't check the UCC listings

Hope this helps