All Forum Posts by: Terri Mccullough

NJ is 5 days late before you can charge a late fee however you cannot enforce the late fee unless your lease agreement states that late fees become additional rent owed.  Same goes for legal fees.  Personally I would let it go esp since he was only 2 days late and you have never had issues in the past. Believe me...a good tenant is a Godsend!  I had a horrific experience in the past 

I have a pest control company for my property. They come out quarterly and I meet them at the property.  In addition to protecting the home it give me the opportunity to make sure the tenants aren't destroying our home.  It really is in your best interest.  Initial treatment was $175 quarterly are $99

Here is an update to my June 8, 2016 post. As previously stated she claimed bankruptcy again for the 4th time on back rent. I spent good money on a lawyer who basically did nothing for us. He did fight for a "prompt cure" meaning the back rent had to be paid in one year vs five. Her attorney agreed to the prompt cure of $316 per month due on the 1st of the month. I knew right away that would mean I wouldn't get my current rent on the first and I didn't, nor did she make the payments to the bankruptcy court. I fired my lawyer and decided that every month she didn't pay the rent by the 5th I would petition the bankruptcy court for a stay. One way or another the bankruptcy court was going to understand what I was dealing with. On October 16th the bankruptcy court met with her to either pay the $632 back payments to the court or the case would be dismissed. Obviously this was another excuse as to why she couldn't pay October rent. She appeared, didn't pay the money and the bankruptcy claim was again dismissed. Bear in mind that this was the 3rd one that she drug me through that was dismissed. Honestly you can't make this stuff up! On the same day that the bankruptcy case was dismissed I filed eviction papers. She knew I had her backed in a corner. Like a thief in the night they moved out of my home on November 5th. My friend called to tell me there was a moving truck at the house. YAY!!!!! As soon as I was done work I went to the house, the back door was wide open, keys were on the counter, the electric had been turned off for non payment and the house was empty except for tons of trash. While I was changing the locks she came over and told me that she wasn't done moving which I responded " well, you are now". apparently she still had some things in the basement that I allowed her to get while I waited and also told her she could come the next day. on November 8th I filed a suit against her in special civil division court. Yesterday, March 9th (4 mos. later!) we went to court. she refused mediation so we had a non jury trial. Of the $10,000 we were suing her for which included rent, attorney fees and major damages to our home we were awarded just over $6,000. we did not get attorney fees due to the lack of language in the lease which should read that " attorney fees are additional rent owed" She tried to argue that she shouldn't have to pay anything because there was mold in the bedroom. Luckily I was able to print the text messages and pictures showing the mold and her telling me it was no big deal and she cleaned it ( and a picture showing it as cleaned). The source of the mold was her hoarding stuff in the basement which got wet when they unplugged the sump pump. the lease clearly indicated that the basement was a utility space and not to be used for storage. So, 9 months of legal battles and due to my diligence she is finally gone and we have a judgement against her. I know we will never see a penny but it was just the point that she doesn't get to make up the rules.

@tzvibalsam. 30 days for failure to pay rent however, it took 20 days to get a court date.  My tenant called the day before court and said she hired lawyer and needed more time. They gave her another 10 days.  So it's now 30 days since I filed eviction.  Then she filed chapter 13 bankruptcy the day before the new court date.  It was 6 weeks before we got a court date with bankruptcy court and the bankruptcy judge would not give us a relief of stay to evict her.  I personally know someone with the nyc housing authority and believe me, NJ is just as bad as NY!  My advise is screen, screen, screen!  Make sure you google that guy in the previous post too!  If you read the comments he has assumed all kinds of names now.

No, I did not do a background check.  Believe me I learned a great lesson and it will never happen again if I can ever get her out.

@Ibrahimhughes    Holy crap!  I hope to God my nightmare tenant never reads that article 

I did hire the best lawyer and told him I needed a pit bull.  He says he's been to L/T court many times and he has never seen an eviction for lease violations.  Legally I cannot trap the cats and call animal control.  Yes, I told the bankruptcy judge that this is the 3rs time she bankrupted me and yes I told him it was to avoid eviction.  At one point I sort of got pissy with him over his decision and showed him all of the bad checks she has given in order to pacify me and he said "that's my decision and that's that". Honestly none of you can imagine this nightmare. She knows the system and she's playing it.  Today she said that the rent isn't late until the 10th bc of holiday and weekend. I responded with the 1stvwasnt a holiday and neither was the 5th.  In NJ we have to give them 5 days before assessing late fee. 😢

I'm in NJ and apparently we have the worse landlord/tenant laws around.

@marcia Maynard. Well, I went to the bankruptcy court to get a relief of stay to evict.  The federal judge decided to take the middle road and gave me relief to pursue eviction based on lease violations only. I then hired a lawyer and he basically told me I could wipe my behind with the relief he gave us because the landlord/tenant judge will never evict her based on lease violations only. In the meantime July rent is late again, the cats are still in the house.  The smell of cat urine is literally seeping out of the front door.  The basement full of garbage has not been touched.  I  emailed the lawyer yesterday saying "it's the 5th and no rent yet"  his response was "I'm not surprised. Let's wait until Friday and I'll file eviction papers." In the meantime shes telling me that due to the weekend and the holiday she isn't late until the 10th.  While she laughs in our faces that we can't evict her.  This is living a nightmare that I can't wake up from.  I've done everything under the sun except burn the darn house to the ground.  Frustrated is an under statement.

I'm having the same issue with my tenants and the toilet leaking.  We have replaced the toilet 2x most recently abut a month ago.  They have called 3x already saying it's leaking again.