It started out good. She paid her rent for the first two months. She was really pregnant with her third kid and I figured she would probably try and continue to pay rent with a new baby and all. Plus she got some sort of public assistance that helped her with her rent. It wasn't section 8 though, becaus ethen I wouldn't be having this problem.
So when January rolled around, we had finally finished work on the downstairs apartment. With the new baby she wanted to move downstairs ebcause their were less stairs to go up and it also had a nicer bathroom. We agreed because we are nice and felt bad for her having to go up the stairs and all. It kind of sucked because downstairs is easier to rent out and we lost out on two months rent because of it while trying to find someone.
When she left upstairs she left a mess, piles of clothes, garbage, carpet etc. This was aprt of the reason that we couldn't rent it very easily. She kept promising to take her stuff and didn't. I continued to feel bad for her because she just had a baby etc.
Then she stopped paying rent and disconnected her phone.
On like Feb 10th we gave her a motion to evict notice. When delivered it, she was not home but the heat was set to 82 degrees. Seemed like she hasn't been there in a week at 82 degrees. I mean (e:terry) had stopped by everyday for a week and not seen her. How is it that I a would never turn the heat up that high and I am not on public aassistance. Maybe that is why. Anyway, we couldn't get ahold of her so (e:terry) taped the notice to her inside apartment door.
In the meantime the upstairs apartment got rented but they wanted her stuff out, so today, not only has she not paid rent in a month, we had to finsih her moving for her.
I took this one giant pile of clothes she left on the floor upstiars and had to transfer it to her apartment downstairs. Serioulsy, look at this pile. How on earth could you leave your closet like this when moving out? Did she really not want them. Legally, we can't throw them out - so I had to transfer it all to her new apartment downstairs.
That plus tons of other gargabe a carpet, pizza boxes, shoes, a lamp, a TV, chairs, etc. (e:terry) was nice and threw out the pizza boxes instead of transfering. If it was up to me it would be a straight tarnsfer.
This makes like 5 people in a row that I helped out only to have them screw me over in one way or another.
Has anyone gone through the eviction process before?
Man, when I think of all the times i have been a perfectly good tenant but was screwed over by my landlord I begin to sympathize with them a little better.
Ya, in this case we even let her only pay half the security deposit up front because she didn't have it all when she moved in. We taped it to the door and took a time stamped pic of it. I think we need to mail a copy tomorrow.
Man what is wrong with people? I've read all of your rental-nightmare posts and I can't believe people would do that to their landlord. Even if I had an iffy relationship with my landlord I'd leave the place spotless so they didn't have anything on me.
I think the worst thing I ever did was to leave a dresser I didn't want [at the same time taking a dresser that had been left by the previous tenant that I did want]. Accidental damage is one thing, and I don't think there's any way to avoid that - but leaving a mess is inexcusable. When somebody tells me they're not going to bother cleaning because they don't expect to get their deposit back anyway I weep for America.
At my one apartment in Jersey City the landlord [who lived in the building] evicted the paranoid schizophrenic upstairs because he was seriously delinquent in his payments. I don't know how long it took to get the eviction judgment, but when the day came, the county sent a guy to do it.
Here's a WNY tenants-rights page that describes when you can get evicted and how to avoid it. :::link::: It looks like you're OK so far, but you'll have to go to court, and she may get out of it if she can pay you in full immediately, or if you haven't made necessary repairs. That page says she may also be able to get out of it if she wasn't served in person [she wasn't] and she doesn't show up to court [she won't] - however, this :::link::: says it's sufficient to tape the notice to her door and mail her a copy.
- Z
Phew. That's awful. :/ Sue the tenant.
I know this will sound incredibly cynical, Paul. But I work in social services and I have had a lot of experience with people in need who when you give them a little, they just keep pushing for more and exploit the situation. I would have never loaned/given her your mom's stuff. I would not have felt sorry for her because she had a baby. People have babies. It's not a debilitating condition. Don't do favors for people with whom you have a financial relationship. Refer them to social services if they need assistance. There are people out there who know how to take advantage of others who feel sorry for them for any number of reasons. Social service agencies are a little bit better at figuring out who is a scammer and who genuinely needs help.
All of your posts on your tenants have convinced me to never own property for the purpose of renting it. Have you had any good tenant situations?