I've had the same tenant in a rental house for the last 5 years.  They always paid late but I always got paid and they never complained and fixed everything on their own dime.  It worked.

Recent, they got behind to the point where I filed for eviction and was scheduled for last week.  My tenant contacts me with this sob story about how they fell behind because his wife has cancer and she needs cancer surgery on the day of the eviction.  Now, this is total bullshit but I agree to give them a few days to move.  I figure, fine, it would be cheaper than me paying a cleanout crew anyway.  

So I get an email from the wife on the night of the now cancelled eviction telling me that her husband now had a heart attack and is at the hospital. More bullshit.  However, she tells me that they will be moved out on the date they proposed and thanked me .

I had our property manager make a couple of drivebys and they had a moving truck there over last weekend. 

The day after they were supposedly out, I get a call from animal control saying that there are dogs in the house (against the lease) and need to get in. A neighbor thought they left and left the dogs behind.  Before I get there, the sheriff calls back and tells me the tenants came and got the dogs.  You know, the tenants who just had cancer surgery and a heart attack.

That same neighbor gets my contact information from an acquaintance and is telling me they are coming over every night and leaving.  They are driving a car with no freaking tags.

I've contacted the tenants telling them I am doing a final walkthrough on Sunday and have gotten no response.  I went to the house and there is shit everywhere outside, like personal belongings.  The same neighbor is also telling me that they have egged her car because she called animal control.  She's also saying that they are bringing the dogs over at night.

What a freaking mess.  I rescheduled the eviction for Dec 1st.  However, I'm thinking that this might be considered abandoned property.  All indications from them are that they have moved out but they have a ton of shit everywhere.  I'm thinking I should probably change the locks but I don't know if I'm legally able to do that.  

I just don't want the house sitting vacant for the next 20 days and people going in and out of it.  Weird situation.

I just don't want the house sitting vacant for the next 20 days and people going in and out of it. Weird situation.

What are they gonna do if you change the locks?  Sue you?   Fat chance... but even if they do, who's the judge gonna see as the bad guy here?

They might egg the house... maybe break a window?  It'd be nice if you could change the locks *and* record video of what happens outside thereafter...

ps:  The worst tenants I ever had were 2 lesbians who liked to wrestle... folks in adjacent apartments complained enough that I had to learn the hard way about eviction rules...  once they were out, I found more-than-a-few walls had large body-shaped crushed areas in the sheetrock where they had thrown each other against the wall hard... the shit people do never ceases to amaze me...

Well, I'm screwed.  I talked to an attorney this morning and he said that while I might be justified in changing the locks, I shouldn't.

They haven't technically been evicted yet and the fact that they have their personal items still in the house suggests that they aren't leaving.

If I change the locks, they could argue that jewelry or valuables are missing and then I would have a hard time in court explaining that it wasn't me.

So I have to suck it up until Dec 1.  Fuck

Can you only move the eviction back?
 

Yeah, by law the tenant gets X-days notice... X varies by locale... often 30...

Can you only move the eviction back?

(When I typed "back", my phone autocorrected it to "Beck". Which, while incorrect, did give me a great idea involving driving them away by blasting "Loser" at the house Manuel Noriega-style.)

That's really the only thing I can do at this point.  He doesn't want me changing the locks.

So I am basically going to evict their stuff and not the actual people.  Ok.

I've never had a big problem with my tenants (only just a few months into my 2nd year renting to strangers though, after the years when my sister/co-owner was one of the tenants). 

But my advice would've been what you have already done, talk to a lawyer to find out what you can legally do rather than hear from all of us about what you should do if the laws were fair and reasonable.  I get why they exist to try and protect individuals against shitty slumlords, but they go to far when there is an obvious case of abuse and neglect on the part of the tenants and the owner is doing everything in good faith.

I changed the locks this morning.

I went to the house this morning and there was a rat in the backyard.  They told me they left so I decided that I would lock them out until Dec 1st.  If they want their stuff, they can call me and I will meet with them to get it.  I will not dispose of anything until the eviction date.

That said, the house is destroyed inside.  There's no less than 20k worth of repairs I will need to make to make it habitable. 

There's also a lot of valuable stuff in the house.  I can only assume that they couldn't afford a moving truck and couldn't get anything else out.

They lived like trash.  

Obviously, I'm going to sue to recover whatever I can.  I'm also suing the property management company that provided me with quarterly reports that the property was in solid condition. They didn't step foot inside and sent me fraudulent pictures that weren't of my house.

Here's a good life lesson:  Worry about yourself.  I worked with these people on the rent and they just screwed me.  No good deed goes unpunished.

I changed the locks this morning.

 

I went to the house this morning and there was a rat in the backyard.  They told me they left so I decided that I would lock them out until Dec 1st.  If they want their stuff, they can call me and I will meet with them to get it.  I will not dispose of anything until the eviction date.

 

That said, the house is destroyed inside.  There's no less than 20k worth of repairs I will need to make to make it habitable. 

 

There's also a lot of valuable stuff in the house.  I can only assume that they couldn't afford a moving truck and couldn't get anything else out.

 

They lived like trash.  

 

Obviously, I'm going to sue to recover whatever I can.  I'm also suing the property management company that provided me with quarterly reports that the property was in solid condition. They didn't step foot inside and sent me fraudulent pictures that weren't of my house.

 

Here's a good life lesson:  Worry about yourself.  I worked with these people on the rent and they just screwed me.  No good deed goes unpunished.

Its a selfish attitude...and its one you absoluely have to have.  People suck.  That's another good life lesson.

Fuck man, that sucks.  I'd almost be more upset with the property management company.  Good luck with your litigation, I'd go scorched Earth in your situation.

The question is, are you going to fix the house up and then rent it again?  Or are you done with renting and you are just going to sell the house?

It sucks to give up the rental income but was this experience bad enough for you to say, screw it, I am done with this for good?

Fuck man, that sucks.  I'd almost be more upset with the property management company.  Good luck with your litigation, I'd go scorched Earth in your situation.

Right now, I am.  My attorney spoke with the owner of the company today and he said they fired the guy who was handling our property for some other reason.  However, he basically said "sorry but we didn't wreck your house". He's negligent and we're suing them.

I'm going to go scorched earth on my tenant.  I'll chase him to collect until it hurts.  His last text to me was that the house would only need a cleaning and then it would go quick.  Fuck him.  It's destroyed.  Cabinets are busted, there's no carpet in 2/3rds of the house, the hardwood floor is ruined and needs to be torn out...etc.  Here's something you'll laugh at:  In 2014, they were having trouble giving their kids a good Christmas so I forgave the December rent.  Ha! What a fucking clown I am.

The question is, are you going to fix the house up and then rent it again?  Or are you done with renting and you are just going to sell the house?

 

It sucks to give up the rental income but was this experience bad enough for you to say, screw it, I am done with this for good?

I'm not sure yet.  I'm going to do the minimum I can to make it habitable and then make a decision.

This isn't my only property but this was my best one.  This is the worst case scenario.  I'll probably keep renting.

The silver lining is that I can write off these repairs.  Being self-employed, that has its advantages.

Updating this.

So I poured about 8k into the house to make it rentable again.  I rented to a contractor who did some work for free rent which basically covered all of the flooring and painting.  He had materials left over from a job and it looks good.

We sued my old tenant.  Our process server tracked him down to his kids bus stop and handed him the lawsuit paperwork.  We'll see where this goes.

Our attorney is working with the management company's attorney on a number.  They are going to settle as opposed to going to court.

We heard from a neighbor that the wife was having an affair.  We found condom wrappers and a box of condoms under the kitchen sink.  I did the only right thing and took a picture of them and texted both of the tenants to let them know they can come back for their condoms.  No response to that.

We heard from a neighbor that the wife was having an affair.  We found condom wrappers and a box of condoms under the kitchen sink.  I did the only right thing and took a picture of them and texted both of the tenants to let them know they can come back for their condoms.  No response to that.

Heh-heh...