Re: How Do I Legally Recover Premises from Would-Be Tenants Who Have Never Paid Rent
Well, fortunately, people around here know as little about the law as your average person, and I told them to vacate before I had the cops come and make them vacate.
Two things assisted this: all the drugs they were doing (mention of cops makes drug-people scarce) and the fact that I knew they were planning to leave yesterday anyway.
Since they left some of their stuff behind, I changed the locks so they could come and see me (for once) to get it... which, of course, I'd be happy to give over.
^ THIS is how the law SHOULD work. Not protecting scumbags, degenerates, and moochers - it should provide ample, speedy recourse for property owners and those serving their interests. For frame of reference, had they not blatantly lied to me (three times!) about paying rent that they never intended to (in other words, had I deduced that they truly intended to pay, but were in dire straits), I would have given them a whole week to leave. That, in my opinion, is the maximum that moochers (non-payers) should get to vacate someone's property. I am a very nice guy in every other situation, but lying and welshing on debts is deplorable and dishonorable... and deserves to be treated that way!
Re: How Do I Legally Recover Premises from Would-Be Tenants Who Have Never Paid Rent
Our founding fathers didn't come here on vacation...The United States was FORMED by persons who were essentially being treated as criminals in their native counties, and thus our system of law is set up ON PURPOSE to be one that heavily protects the rights of those accused of crimes or being "scumbags, degenerates, and moochers". Doesn't mean it's "fair", nor is it intended to be. But it IS the reality of American jurisprudence.
Re: How Do I Legally Recover Premises from Would-Be Tenants Who Have Never Paid Rent
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Reticent Manager
Well, fortunately, people around here know as little about the law as your average person, and I told them to vacate before I had the cops come and make them vacate.
Two things assisted this: all the drugs they were doing (mention of cops makes drug-people scarce) and the fact that I knew they were planning to leave yesterday anyway.
Since they left some of their stuff behind, I changed the locks so they could come and see me (for once) to get it... which, of course, I'd be happy to give over.
Nobody here suggested that the tenants wouldn't move if you threatened to call the police -- you asked how you would legally evict them, not how you might intimidate them into giving up their rights as tenants. However, had you called the police they would have told you that they could not evict your tenants because you did not have an order of possession from a court. You certainly were free to allege that the tenants had drugs or drug paraphernalia in their home, but such an allegation would not entitle you to have the police summarily evict them.
Re: How Do I Legally Recover Premises from Would-Be Tenants Who Have Never Paid Rent
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Mr. Knowitall
Nobody here suggested that the tenants wouldn't move if you threatened to call the police -- you asked how you would legally evict them, not how you might intimidate them into giving up their rights as tenants. However, had you called the police they would have told you that they could not evict your tenants because you did not have an order of possession from a court. You certainly were free to allege that the tenants had drugs or drug paraphernalia in their home, but such an allegation would not entitle you to have the police summarily evict them.
I know (as it pertains to the question I asked)... I was really hoping that the American justice system was as just as moral common sense. Sadly, it seems that things haven't changed at all for the better in the nearly 25 years since Pacific Heights (Cool movie, by the way, whoever suggested it!). In fact, it's actually gotten worse (to hear you all speak on it). *sigh* These are the kinds of things that make me lose hope in mankind as a whole.
And I know no one suggested they wouldn't move if I threatened anything... but you all didn't really even mention that option, either. Again, it's my fault for how I phrased the question. I get that.
Thanks for bearing with me this long. If there ends up being any more severe drama with these "tenants", I'll probably just quit. It's not worth it for my heart or sanity. :livid:
Re: How Do I Legally Recover Premises from Would-Be Tenants Who Have Never Paid Rent
To me, it's common sense that when you are finally getting rid of a bad tenant, you don't let the tenant's kids take over the unit. To me, common sense says that you don't rent to anybody without getting a security deposit and the first month's rent. To me, common sense says that a property manager needs to be very familiar with his state's eviction laws.
The law has to balance the rights of the landlord with the rights of the tenant. The law does not make it easy for a tenant to remain in possession if they're not paying rent, but the onus is on the landlord to give the tenant the legally required notice to quit and, if they don't vacate, to seek an order of eviction through summary proceedings. To most in this country, it's common sense that everybody is entitled to their day in court.
I am not going to suggest to somebody that they make threats against a tenant in order to try to get them to move out, as those actions could give rise to a claim by the tenant against the property owner. On the whole, property owners don't much care for property managers who accept tenants without a proper lease agreement or payment of a deposit or rent, and care even less for property managers who get them sued or who complicate what should be a simple eviction case by trying to sidestep the legal process. Common sense, right?
If you want people to suggest to you ways to try to scare or extort people into doing what you want, without respect for their rights, I suggest that rather than seeking out accurate legal information you instead consult the village idiot.
Re: How Do I Legally Recover Premises from Would-Be Tenants Who Have Never Paid Rent
I already mentioned my lapse in judgment in allowing a questionable (not outright bad) tenant's sons to stay with their promise to pay the rent on time in a week and their mom's security deposit. As I've mentioned before, I am brand new to this, and was not supposed to be having to deal with litigation (a deal I made with the owner because of my severely reduced pay). I was only supposed to be collecting rent on a few units and making sure if the tenants had maintenance problems, that they were solved expeditiously to everyone's mutual satisfaction (which I've consistently done, by the way, and these are old properties!). You all of a sudden being a dick about it isn't helpful in the slightest.
This was my very first mistake in a few months of having this job (which I don't actually need, and am doing as more of a favor, as I've said). If I were making hundreds of dollars a month to do this, I could see taking the time to fully familiarize myself with the laws that govern it. As it is, I'm doing so as necessity dictates - I am literally not getting paid enough to care.
And having bums who have never paid and have been proven to do drugs, drink to excess, and have questionable characters over at all hours of the night get to continue to stay here without paying a dime (Yes, I didn't get the initial payment, but they are STILL DIRTBAGS for promising to pay and NOT PAYING!) is insane. The fact that our legal system would give jerk-offs like this the "right" to stay someplace for over a month is absolutely asinine. And the fact that you can smugly defend such a thing means that you are part of the problem - not by mistake (like myself), but by informed consent!
I am done with this site and done talking to self-satisfied jerks like you.
Have fun being legally right, because I get the feeling you've never been right in any other way. :P
Re: How Do I Legally Recover Premises from Would-Be Tenants Who Have Never Paid Rent
No one has argued with you that they're NOT dirtbags. They might be the biggest dirtbags in the history of dirt (or bags, for that matter). The point is that the legal answer remains the same: you entered into a landlord/tenant contract here, and if you want relief under the law because the tenants broke their end of the contract by not paying, there is a legal process that needs to be followed - you need to evict them. No amount of sacrimonious ranting is going to change that.
Re: How Do I Legally Recover Premises from Would-Be Tenants Who Have Never Paid Rent
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Reticent Manager
I You all of a sudden being a dick about it isn't helpful in the slightest.
Find a mirror and look in it. You are describing only yourself.
If the landlord thought he was saving money by hiring an incompetent, petulant child to be his property manager, odds are that sooner or later he's in for a rude awakening.