evicting - Landlord Forum thread

evicting by Anonymous on November 4, 2009 @06:14

My parents rented the 2nd floor of their home to a couple back in March 2009. They are retired and often spend time out of town visiting family. In their absence, I "manage" their home. The people they rented to caused no problems from March-June. In July and August they paid late and on the 1st of September they gave me a long letter apologizing they have come into financial problems and did not have the money for rent. Two weeks later they started complaining about problems in the apartment. They called 3 city inspectors (building, health and electrical) and an independant mold inspector. They then started complaining that the apartment was making them "sick". My dad told them if they were unhappy they could break the lease and leave. The tenants refused. After not paying October rent, my parents started the eviction process. I was then notified that previous evictions can be viewed online. I did some research and found that this is their 3rd eviction (among other court cases). We hired an eviction attorney and are already out over $1,000. We have gone to court 2 times and each time they seem to be one step ahead. First hey asked or a continuance to obtain an attny. Then they showed up to the 2nd court appearance without an attny and they asked for a trial by jury. They seem to know the court system very well and are using delay tactics but I am not sure why. We are now in November, they themselves (leaving their furniture behind) moved out of the building on Oct 2nd but remain unreachable by phone and come back daily to pick up their mail and do laundry. Our attny seems to think they are laying the groundwork for a future mold lawsuit. Does anyone know what happens at the jury trials. Is it possible the eviction will last through the end of their lease (feb 2010)? Is it worth continuing the eviction when they seem to be a step ahead of the eviction attny (by the way, they have now claimed to be poor and do not have to pay for their trial jury). Any ideas on how to proceed?

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Re: evicting by OK-LL on November 4, 2009 @10:59

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"Is it possible the eviction will last through the end of their lease (feb 2010)? Is it worth continuing the eviction when they seem to be a step ahead of the eviction attny (by the way, they have now claimed to be poor and do not have to pay for their trial jury). Any ideas on how to proceed?"

Yes, there's every chance a jury trial can take a number of months to complete, particularly if either party wants discovery, etc. I assume, since you're going to jury trial, that you are no longer in small claims court. That means the truncated adjudication isn't available any more and you'll be going through a fullblown lawsuit. I hope I'm wrong, as this can take many many months.

Yes, it is worth continuing the eviction even though they seem to know the system so well. If you don't evict, what are your options -- surely you don't expect them to leave quietly at the end of their lease? No, if you don't complete your action now, they'll be living off your largess for years to come.

So just work with your attorney (is he doing this flat fee? -- I'm guessing not since it's gone way beyond a normal FED) and keep it moving along.

Good luck.

Re: evicting

Re: evicting by Anonymous on November 4, 2009 @17:26

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Your situation sucks, and it's a horribly expensive lesson to learn-due diligence in background checks. I think that if you don't follow through with the eviction, your parents are going to have someone living above them for free for who knows how long. Try to remember that the judge is giving this case and has no idea about any of the background.
I'd also inquire about the falsifying of the application, hopefully you have something in your lease about that.
It may take a long time if the courts are backed up, but if you are evicting for non-payment, don't know what their argument would be.