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How to Evict a Tenant Who is Damaging Property

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  • 08-18-2015, 03:34 PM
    mrshyvley
    How to Evict a Tenant Who is Damaging Property
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Indiana

    I have two rental houses that are next door to each other about 100 miles to the north in another town.

    The problem one is an 80+ year old tenant renting a small house on a month to month lease who's been living there for about 3 years.
    He's always been kind of a "curmudgeon", but he always pays his rent and never caused any trouble to speak of until now.

    A couple of weeks ago he went off the deep end claiming this is his house and he's gonna do some work on it.

    He ordered in a dumpster, claiming he was going to re-roof the house.
    Then he completely removed 2 windows down to the rough openings.

    The police were down there more than once before he got calmed down.

    The next door tenant in the other house put the windows back in and put things back.
    (he also looks in on him, but is getting really tired of looking after him)

    Today, the next door tenant in the other house is saying this old man is starting to gear up again to start tearing up the house again to "work" on it.

    Says the old man left the water on and flooded the floor, with the risk of damaging a furnace in the crawlspace that was just newly installed last year.


    I'm thinking this old man is beginning to lose his mind, and I'm worried he's going to tear up my house before I can get him out of there.

    I feel bad for this old guy, as I know we all eventually get old, but I need to protect my property.

    What are my rights in evicting him?
  • 08-18-2015, 03:50 PM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Tenant Damaging Property, How to Get Him Out
    Quote:

    Quoting mrshyvley
    View Post


    What are my rights in evicting him?

    If you have to ask that most elementary of questions, you have no business being a landlord.

    Read the Indiana landlord tenant statute. In it you will learn all of things you should have learned a long time ago.

    http://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/...32/article-31/

    And don't make the amateur mistake of feeling bad for the old guy. Those feelings will cost you a great deal of money.
  • 08-18-2015, 04:17 PM
    mrshyvley
    Re: Tenant Damaging Property, How to Get Him Out
    Quote:

    Quoting adjusterjack
    View Post
    If you have to ask that most elementary of questions, you have no business being a landlord.

    Read the Indiana landlord tenant statute. In it you will learn all of things you should have learned a long time ago.

    http://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/...32/article-31/

    And don't make the amateur mistake of feeling bad for the old guy. Those feelings will cost you a great deal of money.

    I've never til now had the problem of a tenant losing his mind and tearing up the place.
  • 08-18-2015, 04:39 PM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Tenant Damaging Property, How to Get Him Out
    Quote:

    Quoting mrshyvley
    View Post
    I've never til now had the problem of a tenant losing his mind and tearing up the place.

    Sorry, but, as a landlord, you don't learn how to solve problems after the problems start, you learn how to solve them before they start so that you can take immediate action when they happen.
  • 08-18-2015, 05:30 PM
    llworking
    Re: How to Evict a Tenant Who is Damaging Property
    Quote:

    Quoting mrshyvley
    View Post
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Indiana

    I have two rental houses that are next door to each other about 100 miles to the north in another town.

    The problem one is an 80+ year old tenant renting a small house on a month to month lease who's been living there for about 3 years.
    He's always been kind of a "curmudgeon", but he always pays his rent and never caused any trouble to speak of until now.

    A couple of weeks ago he went off the deep end claiming this is his house and he's gonna do some work on it.

    He ordered in a dumpster, claiming he was going to re-roof the house.
    Then he completely removed 2 windows down to the rough openings.

    The police were down there more than once before he got calmed down.

    The next door tenant in the other house put the windows back in and put things back.
    (he also looks in on him, but is getting really tired of looking after him)

    Today, the next door tenant in the other house is saying this old man is starting to gear up again to start tearing up the house again to "work" on it.

    Says the old man left the water on and flooded the floor, with the risk of damaging a furnace in the crawlspace that was just newly installed last year.


    I'm thinking this old man is beginning to lose his mind, and I'm worried he's going to tear up my house before I can get him out of there.

    I feel bad for this old guy, as I know we all eventually get old, but I need to protect my property.

    What are my rights in evicting him?

    Forget about eviction temporarily. Call the elder protection line, explain the situation and ask for their help. They will send out someone to evaluate him, figure out if he has family that they can call in to assist, and hopefully get him moved to assisted living. They can actually make things happen much more quickly than an eviction.

    http://www.in.gov/fssa/da/3479.htm
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