All Forum Posts by: Apryl McDowell

This was not my property 3 months ago. I pretty much was involved with the original owner by finding him a Rent to Own buyer 1 year ago. Well the original owner was the landlord and was not firm with the tenant at all during the period of the lease (numerous late payments). So now a year later he calls me back up to see if I can get a new Lease Option Tenant in the Property. I offered to take the property on "Subject To", he agreed. And now I have plenty of buyers for the home but I am now stuck with trying to get the current tenant out. I started the eviction process the day that the Warranty Deed was signed over to me.

What about this.....I am thinking to send the current tenant an email stating the repercussions that are stated in his contract, even if I can not enforce them legally at this point. More so to scare him "if in 2 days you do not reliquish keys then the locks will be changed and a lien will be placed against all nonexempt property". Is it legally okay for me to threaten him with words from the contract even if I can't enforce them?

Thanks tremendously

I'm located in MN and I have a question regarding changing the locks on a rental property in which the tenant is behind 3 months.

The situation is the current tenant has given me heads up that he is moving out. He has not paid rent in 3 months, and told me that he would be out at the beginning of this month, but he has not given the keys and alot of his stuff is still in the home. For the most part it looks like he has taken out of majority of his items, but big items like a boat, machinery equipment, is still on the premises, and some things still in home. As if he is using the property for storage!!!!

Well in Minnesota's Tenant/Landlord laws I did read about not being allowed to change the locks. Would this still be the case if in the residency agreement it states:

"The Managing Agent may also display `for rent' and `for sale' signs on the rented residence if the lease is in default and has the right to change keys and seize nonexempt property. The Owner will have a lien for unpaid rent against all of Tenant Buyer’s nonexempt personal property that is in the Property and may seize such nonexempt property if Tenant Buyer(s) fails to pay rent. Management Agent may collect a charge for packing, removing, or storing property seized in addition to any other amounts the Managing Agent is entitled to receive. The Management Agent may sell or dispose of any seized property."

The next month is coming up, and I have some serious buyers who are interested in the property. I just started the eviction process. The original owner waited too late and just got me involved on the deal on a "subject to", he signed over the property on a warranty Deed, and now this is my "headache deadbeat tenant". What can I do at this point?

I know this is an old thread. But there is a way to get your rent reported to all three credit bureaus. You won't be able to it for your past payments but moving forward you can. You use the company www.WilliamPaid.com, it is a charge of $5.00 a month to report your rent paid to the credit bureaus. How it works is that you pay them your rent and then they pay your landlord every month (by either sending landlord a check with your name or by depositing money into landlord's account). Go to the website to find out more information. I use it to pay my own rent, and also I have tenant buyers in my "Subject To" rent to own homes that use it to build their credit. And it works wonderfully.

~Apryl

Just to give you an idea of this "grey area". I'm a virtual investor who deals with lease options and wholesaling in Minnesota. A real estate agent ran across one of my websites and declared what I was doing was illegal, and reported me to the Department of Commerce. Even though I know that I am acting as a principal in the transactions, therefore not needing a license, the Department of Commerce saw things differently. I have to get a real estate lawyer to prove this.

Well they said that if I do more than 5 transactions a year than I would need a broker's license. At the end of the day, I got off the hook because I had a real estate agent that I hired to show my properties.

This for some odd reason made it look like it was okay, even though that real estate agent's name is no where on the contracts with my buyers and sellers. So might get away with it or you might not...

I found a website that allows you to input your zipcode and it lets you know some average utility cost for the year. [url]http://hes.lbl.gov/consumer/. If anyone finds this helpful or not, let us know

~Apryl