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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Posts
    2

    Default Settling to Get Bad Tenant Out

    I am a landlord, and have a written lease agreement with a tenant in FL. The lease ends next month. For the first six months everything was fine, and the tenant paid the rent with no problems.

    During the seventh month the tenant failed to pay rent, and first made up a bunch of excuses as to why he hadn't paid the rent. Then the tenant finally paid the rent twenty some days late during the seventh month. The rent was short by $400. The tenant sent a written promise acknowledging that the rent was short, and promising to pay the additional $400 shortage with the eighth month's rent.

    During the eighth month the tenant refused to pay the rent, and made up a bunch of stories about unhabitiality. I researched, and inspected the rental unit to confirm the tenant's allegations, and found them to be untrue. I hired an eviction attorney to handle the matter. The tenant was served with a notice to pay or quit. The tenant failed to pay the rent within the alloted time frame of the notice. An eviction proceeding was filed in the county court against the tenant for nonpayment of rent, and a hearing was granted. Long story short, the judge denied the motion to evict the tenant, and released the rent money deposited into the court registry by the tenant to me the landlord.

    During the ninth month the tenant again refused to pay the rent based upon his untrue allegations of unhabitiality. The tenant starting sending letters, and emails to me threatening to civilly sue me for property damage, loss of use, and hazardous living conditions if I don't drop the eviction proceeding against him, and let him stay at the rental unit rent free for the remainder of the lease. I didn't give into his threats, and continued to file another eviction proceeding based on his outright refusal to pay the rent. Another hearing was granted, and the judge forced the tenant to pay the past due rents into the court registry. The judge then delayed the actual eviction hearing to November to ensure that all the remaining months of due rents would be paid by the tenant. The tenant kept on with his threats to civilly sue me, but was forced to pay the due rents into the court registry as each month carried on.

    Fast forward now to October. The tenant proposed a settlement offer to my attorney proposing that I give him his security deposit, and 1 months rent back from the monies paid into the court registry if and only if the rental unit is left in good and/or better condition than when the tenant moved in. In return the tenant promises not to civilly sue(which is based on a bunch of b.s. and fabricated lies) me the landlord, and to return full possession of the rental unit with the keys, etc. back to me the landlord by the end of the lease term which is next month.

    The attorney said that this settlement offer is this best course of action to take rather than risk losing the eviction hearing next month, and lose all the monies in the court registry. The written lease agreement has a hold harmless agreement provision, and states that the legal fees incurred by the landlord from the tenant's breach of the lease can be deducted from the security deposit. However the judge, and the attorney pay no heed to these written provisions. The attorney keeps pressing me to go with this settlement offer just to get the tenant out of the unit to move on even though it is screwing me out the legal fees, and 1 months rent. All of the tenant's allegations are untrue, and he is just trying to scam me out of paying rent.

    Do you think the settlement offer is a good course of action to take to avoid the risk of possibly losing the hearing next month?

    Do you think its better to mitigate any possible future losses by giving the tenant his security deposit, plus one month's rent if the unit is left in good and/or better condition than when he moved in?

    The attorney advised that the tenant could sue even though it is baseless, and cost me the landlord thousands of dollars to defend the suit thus forcing me to incurr more legal fees to get rid of this scamming tenant. I inspected the unit on different occasions, and had a contractor inspect the premises and found the tenant's allegations to be totally untrue. If it was so uninhabitable then why did the tenant keep staying there, and refuse to pay the rent?

    If you were me, what would you do, or what would have you done?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    2,592

    Default Re: Settling to Get Bad Tenant Out

    You have been pulled into a type of poker game that you have not been in before. Your renter or some of his buddies have successfuly played this game before, and you are still in a learning mode.

    I am not and attorney and I don't play one here or on TV. I am just going to pass on some anecdotal information from my own experience. I am in Ohio and not California. I'm going to give an Ohio response.

    First, I would say that the judge is probably going to continue to collect the rent for you and that you will get it at some point.

    If the tenant can't afford to pay you, he can't afford an attorney either.

    If the claim is that the unit is uninhabitable, why is he asking to remain there until the lease is up? What were the allegations which specifically made the unit uninhabitable?

    Second, I would ruin the SOB's credit and make sure that renting, buying a car, getting a credit card, will be a major headache for him for seven years. Do that and you have a powerful and probably decisive card in your poker game.

    Remember at all times that you are in a poker game and the tenant will continue to try to intimidate you and your attorney by bluffing about any and all things he may do. His offer basically indicates that he is willing to pay everything except the last month's rent. To me, that is just blowing smoke.

    How to avoid this in the future:

    Run credit checks on all applicants and let them know up front that you report all experiences with them, good and bad.

    Get a professional inspection company to inspect every unit before it is rented and call them in for an inspection whenever you receive a written complaint. Let your tenants know in writing as a part of the lease agreement that you will only respond to complaints which are in writing.

    If the professional third party agrees that there is a problem, you need to fix it immediately. If not, retain their notarized statement and send a copy to the tenant with your written disavowal of the complaint.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Settling to Get Bad Tenant Out

    I have to ask: Did you hire a lawyer who handles eviction cases on a regular basis, or did you hire a lawyer who practices in other areas and is dabbling. I would be more confident in his assessment if it's the former. But seriously, either way, he may have your best interest at heart - have you asked him how his fees for a trial (particularly one with a counter-claim) and/or defending against a separate lawsuit would compare to the amount of rent he's suggesting that you give up?

    Something else to keep in mind is that if this is the tenant's first offer, it probably has an element of wishful thinking to it - I would personally try negotiating to give up less. If you do settle, I personally would also want the settlement reduced to a judgment, complete with a date upon which you will be given possession of the rental unit.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Cinnaminson, New Jersey, United States
    Posts
    205

    Default Re: Settling to Get Bad Tenant Out

    I agree with Land Surveyor. If he doesn't have the money to pay the rent, he is not going to through the effort of suing you. He is trying to call your bluff.

    If you have a provision for attorney's fees being paid for by the tenant, I would go after him for all of it. However, pay strict attention to how you handle the deposit. If it state in your lease that you can keep the deposit for back rent, then you may do so. If it doesn't, you will have to return it (minus damage charges for the apartment when he leaves) and go after all of the rent and atty fees through garnishment administered by the court should you win your case.

    It's not a particularly hard process and you don't need an attorney to handle it.

    I would absolutely not respond to any complaints not put in writing by the tenant. You need accurate records for everything that goes down.

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