Landlord Shmandlord

Today we have a guest blogger, Pete from Visualize Milwaukee. He will actually be in court tomorrow for eviction proceedings relating to problems with his tenant’s unwanted dog. I want to thank Pete for sharing this story, and I hope everything works out for him.

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Rick’s dog issues were very similar to a problem I am having with a tenant now. The tenant is my on-site manager in a multi-unit building. They approached me in January about wanting a dog. I told them their lease forbids dogs without written permission and that I am not too keen on dogs. They persisted (“You know we keep a clean place�, “You already trust us, we’d be great dog owners�…), so I told them I would allow a dog under these circumstances:

1. we sign a 1-year lease
2. we sign a pet-amendment to the lease
3. they provide an additional $200 pet-deposit
4. a pet-rider at $50/month
5. I could terminate the pet-rider at any time

They balked at that, so I figured I didn’t have to worry about it anymore! So, September rolls around and I get a call from another very upset tenant. After calming them down (why do I have to play therapist for my tenants?), they tell me that there was a dog running around in the hallway. The dog apparently chased/followed their young child and got its leg caught in the main entry door. The owners of this dog came out and started cussing at this tenant for hurting their dog, and that they are going to have to pay the vet bills for his broken leg! So, as the landlord, what do I do?

The dog owners a) didn’t tell me about the dog b) broke their lease c) were not controlling their dog and d) were threatening other tenants over it!

Well, it turns out the dog was a birthday gift (from my on-site manager), so what could they do about it? I’d understand right? They offered to pay $50 extra per month and a $100 deposit. I wanted to keep a generally good tenant who was helping me take care of the place. When I called them, the dog owner was still blaming the other tenant because the dog got out on accident!

After all that, I finally decided the only thing I could do was give them a 5-day Notice of Lease Violation. They had 5 days to get the dog out or move out. They called and said they’d move out before the end of the month (which was 2 weeks away). I figured that would be better than going through an eviction, right? Well, wrong. On the 1st they were still there with the dog, and had told another tenant they weren’t leaving. I filed for eviction last week. The tenant called and cussed me out on the phone. We’ll see what happens. The court date is tomorrow, Friday the 13th.

Part of me says, “Well, if I just allowed pets I wouldn’t be going through this mess.� But, in reality, I know this would be more of a problem if I did. I have had complaints from 3 tenants, I’ve had their dog chase a tenant, and I’ve had the dog owners threaten others rather than take responsibility for their own pet. So, in the end, I think I’ll keep the no-pet policy. What about that pet-rider though? I’ll have to rethink that too.

-Pete

Obviously the renovations were not finished in time to rent the unit out by October 1st, but they will be done soon. When I know the final price tag I will find the old tenants and bring them to court. Of course, the first problem is finding where they are. I have their rental application, which has SS numbers, drivers licenses, and contact numbers. Also, a check just arrived for them from County Special Services. I obviously haven’t opened it, but just received the OK from my lawyer to contact them to see if it was accidentally sent it to the wrong address, and if so, what was the correct address?

I’ve wanted to wait until I have all the renovation figures required before I go after them, because once I find them things are going to unfold rather quickly, and I want to be able to take them to court right away.

Now that my troubled tenants are out and I know the place isn’t too damaged, I can post this without being as wary! Reuters is carrying a bizarre story about an evicted tenant that blows up his landlord’s flat:

LISBON (Reuters) - An 80-year-old man blew up his flat on Monday to retaliate for being evicted by his landlord, bringing down part of his five-floor central Lisbon block and setting it alight.

“He had threatened neighbours that he would blow up the place if he ever got kicked out,” Carlos Pinto, a fireman with the Lisbon fire brigade, told Reuters. “I guess he kept his promise.”

He said neighbours had reported that the man had threatened to pour petrol on his floor and set it alight, and one reported seeing him with a bottle of petrol moments before the explosion.

The man suffered severe burns. No other casualties were reported.

At least my recent situation didn’t get this out of hand.

Well, today at noon I met the Court Officer at my property to finally evict my tenants. When I arrived, he had already placed a note on the door reading:

NOTICE By order of: The ****** County Special Civil Part, Tenants of these premises have been evicted and the plaintiff placed in full possession thereof. NO TRESPASSING.

He knocked on the door several times, there was no response and no sign of the dogs. I unlocked the door and we went upstairs…

The place was a mess. The first thing that I noticed was that they pulled up the rugs in the hall and the master bedroom, the rugs that I had paid them to put in about 10 months ago (at a good price including time and materials, and when I inspected soon after installation looked good).

They left most of the large furniture including queen size mattresses, several dressers, and cabinets. Besides that, they left an old television, an old microwave, piles of books, a huge bag of garbage, and tons of other items scattered all over the place. According to the neighbor, they moved yesterday by carrying the things that they wanted out in pillow cases.

Other than the junk, there were a few problems, but thankfully nothing permanent. Problems like three broken windows, lights, and door knobs.

Obviously, this is going to be an ordeal to fix, but I’m happy they’re out. First I need to talk to my lawyer to figure out 1) Do I have to store the remaining stuff, or can I assume that they do not want it? 2) Should we pursue any criminal charges? 3) How should we approach small claims?

I am definitely going to take them to court to get a judgment, then work to get reimbursed.

As far as the apartment, one of my other tenants has a business that does jobs like cleaning apartments after tenants move out, painting, and sanding/staining floors (There are hard wood floors underneath the carpets, which I’m thinking about just fixing and leaving. What are the advantages to hard wood vs. carpets in rentals?)

The next few weeks will still be interesting, but at least I know where things stand and I don’t have to worry about being liable for those vicious dogs. Unfortunately, I do not think that the apartment will be ready for September 1st, but hopefully by the 15th.

The line of the day goes to my friend’s girlfriend, when she came up with today’s theme song:

Who kicked the dogs out?

Rick, Rick, Rick Rick.

The judge denied my tenant’s Order to Show Cause.

Unlike last time, we had a courtroom all to ourselves. As of 9:15, the tenant did no show up. The judge was already seated, my lawyer was already on the speaker phone, and I was seated at the plaintiff’s bench. As the judge was researching whether or not the tenants were served, my tenant and her child walked in (18 minutes late).

The judge invited her to her bench and swore us both in. His first question was directed to the tenant, asking her why the court should grant her request. Her points were, mainly:

• She does not have a job, and her boyfriend (who is also on the lease, but has not showed up for either court session) was “out of work for a month”.
• They had to pay off other fees, including tickets and “a warrant to keep him out of jail”
• The remainder of their money went towards the security deposit of their new apartment, which they will start renting Sept. 1^st. Until then, they have nowhere to live.
• She “is receiving $30k” in a settlement in about 2 weeks. The money will be directly deposited into her account.

When she was finished, the lawyer asked her for the name of her lawyer who was handling the settlement. She couldn’t name one. He then asked her for the name of the lawyer that was representing the other side, she couldn’t name one.

Then, my lawyer asked if he could respond to her points. He said:

• My client has been more than patient with the tenants. He sent them notice regarding the dogs before I became involved, after which I sent them formal notice.
• Her dogs are vicious and dangerous. The neighbors are scared, and if left in the unit could very well hurt somebody.
• My client’s water bill has been four times the normal cost since they moved in. I’m afraid that they’ve maliciously left it on since moving in.
• They have been completely incommunicado, unresponsive to my client’s inquiries until “judgment day” is imminent, at which point they suddenly are interested
• I ask the court not to interfere with my client’s legal rights, when he’s been toocompassionate and they’ve made no effort to remedy the situation.

At this point, the judge made his decision. His points were:

• If they were really getting the settlement, there are many places they could go with the judgment to get an advance (if they could prove that they’re going to get the money). Why haven’t they made an effort?
• These dogs are dangerous, and they’ve made no effort to temporarily move them somewhere else.
• The water situation is troubling. Are the tenants just running the water? At this point the tenant interjected that this was the first time she had heard about the water. In fact, I had told her boyfriend multiple times about it. There is no evidence of leaks, he simply said “the faucet drips”, even though it has been replaced.

There was a back and forth about how she had nowhere to go. The judge asked her if she had family in the area, she nodded. Then he announced that he was denying her request. She quickly got up and left, with her daughter. The lawyer hung up, and the judge excused us.

Obviously, I was pleased with the verdict. I can not imagine that it would have ended any other way. They’ve made absolutely no attempt to pay their rent, or to keep me up to date on their situation. This has been a learning experience, and now I know several things to look out for. First and foremost, I am going to run criminal and credit checks before signing the lease next time.

Now, I just have to wait until Tuesday at noon, at which point I will inspect the apartment. My lawyer recommended bringing a digital camera and video camera, in case there are problems we can use that later (pressing criminal and/or civil charges).

More wait.

Well, things took an unexpected turn today.

So the Warrant of Removal was served, and I’ve set up an appointment with the court officer to take back the property next week.

Then today, at around 3:30pm, I received a call from my lawyer’s secretary. It turns out that my tenants filed an Order to Show Cause today, which means that there is an emergency court hearing scheduled for tomorrow where my tenants will have the opportunity to convince the judge to halt the eviction process, thus allowing them to stay for (at least?) the rest of the month. Remember, they now owe me three months rent, over $500 in attorney fees, and over $200 in late fees (actually, according to our contract they owe me $10 a day after the 6th of the month, but on the forms that have been filed $200 was listed).

The first problem, is that I personally have to appear in court, I cannot be represented solely by my attorney. Secondly, they only schedule landlord tenant matters on Fridays, so if I want to get them out next week, I have to show up tomorrow. This is regardless of whether or not I have an important meeting that I _need_ to be at tomorrow at 3pm. This is also regardless of whether my attorney is booked all morning and cannot show up until at least 1:30pm.

So, I’m going to go by myself at 9am, and then teleconference my attorney in so that he can hear/participate while he’s doing the other stuff that he needs to do (the court apparently has the facilities for this).

On the form the tenants filled out, they crossed out the section about the tenant paying what they owe. They say that they do not have the money, but potentially will come up with it (They’ve mentioned an unrelated settlement, but they’ve said that several months ago and I no longer buy it).

The thing I don’t understand is how they haven’t cared about getting booted out _since June_, and now the court is even considering stepping in to slow it down? Now we just have to wait and see.

An Order to Show Cause, according to Nolo’s legal definition

An order from a judge that directs a party to come to court and convince the judge why she shouldn’t grant an action proposed by the other side or by the judge on her own (sua sponte). For example, in a divorce, at the request of one parent a judge might issue an order directing the other parent to appear in court on a particular date and time to show cause why the first parent should not be given sole physical custody of the children. Although it would seem that the person receiving an order to show cause is at a procedural disadvantage–she, after all, is the one who is told to come up with a convincing reason why the judge shouldn’t order something–both sides normally have an equal chance to convince the judge to rule in their favor.

I’ll keep you up to date…

The Warrant of Removal was filed yesterday, so now the waiting game continues. The timeline is still silly. After the paperwork is filed, it takes 2-3 days for it to be transfered to the Court Officer. He then serves it, after which the tenants have three days to leave. After that, if they have not left, I’ll go with the Court Officer to lock them out.

Hopefully this will be finished by some time next week.

While in court yesterday I saw another example of how important it is to understand the eviction process before jumping in:

When their case was called up before the judge, an elder man was escorted by what I think was his son to the plaintiff’s table. He was also accompanied by a young woman, who appeared to be his lawyer. The tenants did not show up.

The judge quickly started: “I have reviewed your paperwork, and think I understand why the tenants did not show up. They didn’t have to.”

It turns out that the woman is his property manager, and when she filed the eviction forms she signed her name instead of his, which she did not have the authority to do. So now, they’ll need to refile all of the forms and wait another month to get their tenants out.

The man and the property manager tried telling the judge that since the clerk looked it over before it was accepted it should be valid. The judge cut them off, stating that it simply wasn’t filed properly and that they must refile.

Ouch.

As I stated earlier, there are many pitfalls like this, so it is important to be fully aware of the process. If you are not (like I am), it highly pays to have a lawyer available. Also, you need to remember that if anybody is going to receive sympathy at a landlord-tenant hearing, it certainly will not be the landlord.

Today I had the court hearing regarding my favorite tenants, the ones with the aggressive dogs who have not paid rent since June.

First, a few brief updates. I tried cashing their June rent check again at their bank for at least the 20th time. This time the bank clerk accidentally revealed more information than she was supposed to, informing me that the bank account had been closed. Looks like I’m not going to get paid this way. Also, the second quarter water bill came in and, like the first, water usage was far above normal levels. This has been a problem ever since they’ve moved in, I’m not quite sure what it is that they’re doing. There is not a leak, but their water is usually running when I go over.

Ok, so now the court hearing:

I showed up at the court house 20 minutes early. There were about 10 people waiting to go in, but neither my lawyer nor tenants were there. About 5 minutes after sitting, the female tenant showed up with her ~3 year old daughter. We nodded at each other, but that was all and she passed me to sit a few benches down. Then my lawyer showed up, and we left for the stairwell to go over over the process. There were a few strategies that I wanted to discuss with him, like how the dog situation fit into today’s eviction proceedings. Yes, the eviction was initially over the dogs, but after serving the Notice to Cease they stopped paying rent, which was then included as an additional reason for the eviction. It turns out that it is much quicker and cleaner to evict somebody over non-payment of rent, so that was to be our initial plan of attack. If for some reason they end up paying the rent in full, we will just continue the eviction process over the dogs, although it will take a few additional weeks. At least I wouldn’t be out so much money.

My lawyer wanted to talk to the tenant to determine where she stood. This was the first major advantage of having a lawyer represent me. He could communicate on less hostile ground than I, which allowed us know what we were dealing with and plan accordingly. When he went to talk with her, I sat in the courtroom. She explained to him that she would not be able to pay in the time required to avoid eviction. Like too many tenants, she mentioned that she was expecting to receive a lot of money “next month” in a settlement, which besides from being unlikely was an excuse she gave me back in June.

Inside the courtroom, we watched a video describing the rights of both the landlord and the tenant. They then read the order in which the cases would be heard, and called a recess for 10 minutes during which they encouraged everybody to talk over the case to see if an agreement could be reached before trial. The clerk came over to us to ask if we had settled or were actually going to have a trial. We told her how the tenant was not going to pay, and she handed us a blank Judgment of Possession form to fill out. We decided not to push for monetary damages on the JoP, but indeed reserved the right to go to small claims court afterwards. The thought was that we’ll wait until they are out of the house and we know how much money they owe, including late fees, attorney fees, repair fees, and unpaid rent. My lawyer then brought it over to the tenant, who also signed it. The clerk informed us that we’d still have to meet before the judge.

Getting a Judgment of Possession was the sole purpose of the day. Three business days after the JoP is filed, we can get a Warrant of Removal and schedule a time for the sheriff to lock the tenant out.

When we were called in front of the judge, she already had the JoP in front of her. The tenant carried her daughter on her way to the table, and of course had very teary eyes trying to gain sympathy. The judge asked the tenant, “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”, at which point the attorney from Legal Services asked the judge if she could have a moment with the tenant. The judge agreed, and the tenant and newfound attorney went out into the hall, followed by the judge, followed by my attorney. This was another time where it paid to have my lawyer there. It would have been unacceptable for me to accompany them and monitor the situation, but not for him. He went right out there to make sure things didn’t get too out of control. Even so, I was a little anxious waiting. I wanted to make sure that if for some reason the rent issue was set aside, the dog one was brought up.

Eventually they all came back and nothing had changed, the JoP still stood. There is really nothing that can be done for a tenant who has not, and cannot, pay rent. While she has other options, like applying for Section 8 housing and finding a different apartment, she will not be able to stay in my apartment without paying me.

We went back before the judge, who again asked the tenant if this is what she wanted to do. She started shrugging and saying that she really had no other options, at which point the judge cut her off and declared it finalized. The JoP stands, and next Thursday we’ll file for the Warrant of Removal.

Overall, I think the day was very successful. I am extremely pleased with the job that my lawyer did. There are so many nuances that I definitely would have messed things up had I went without him.

Now, again, we wait…

July 28th. Not too bad, just a month or so after initially filing.

Now, if the judge rules to evict, they have four days to leave. If they don’t, then I file with the sheriff and he has four days to get them out. Any of their remaining items in the apartment must be properly stored for a certain period of time.

Hopefully I’ll get this unit rented out by Sept 1.