"evicting" a non-tenant - Landlord Forum thread 353752

"evicting" a non-tenant by Jill (Ohio) on August 9, 2017 @19:30

Tenant signed 15-month lease that began on March 1, 2017. We did a full background check on her, employment verification, talked to previous landlord, etc. and everything checked out fine. Approx. two months ago my husband went over to fix something and another man was there who introduced himself as the tenant's husband. What??? Turns out that she is still technically married but he cheated on her and was living elsewhere for the past 2 years and now he wants back into the relationship. She told me she hired an attorney to divorce him. Seems he wants to stay married.
We told her that if he plans to stay we need to put him on the lease, do at least a background check. This conversation took place about 6 weeks ago. She then told me that she did kick him out, that she is filing for divorce. My husband or I have been there a few times over the summer to check on a couple of things and didn’t see any sign of him. However, this past weekend my husband stopped by to check on some deck work done by a handyman and not-quite-ex-husband was there. Again, we spoke to our tenant about this (we need to run a background check on him, put him on the lease). Today she calls me, asks me if I can have him evicted. My understanding is that since he is not our tenant and never signed a lease he cannot be “evicted” per se. I’d say he is a squatter. What can we do to get him out of the house permanently? Tenant said she and her lawyer have a court date the end of August to resolve this, but I’m not quite sure about the details. My husband says that we should stay out of this and let her handle it. I say that it’s our property and we need to be involved. How to we remove this guy that our tenant wants out? She told me she talked to the police and they told her that since he has established residency there by getting mail delivered to him at the address they cannot remove him. Does that sound right? I appreciate any advice!

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Re: "evicting" a non-tenant by Garry (Iowa) on August 9, 2017 @19:46	[ Reply ]

Your husband is right. Stay out of it----for now----till your T gets back to you about her court case at the end of Aug. Then there are possibly 2 ways to go. You can issue your T a violation of lease notice, for allowing an unauthorized person to live there. And/or you or your T can possibly get a restraining order from a judge, barring the husband from being on the property. Besides, for now, is he hurting you or your property in any way? Is he causing damage, or having police come to the property? Just step back for now, and let your T handle it. Just because you are irked because he is "unauthorized", does not mean he is creating any problems (at least for YOU.)

Re: by Anonymous on August 9, 2017 @20:26	[ Reply ]

Who is paying utilities? If you are and there is an additional 'resident' you definitely want to address the additional usage. If not, then the other advice is good. If you are paying utilities a lease violation notice to cure should be issued that is appropriate for your state.

Re: "evicting" a non-tenant by Mark (NY) on August 9, 2017 @23:24	[ Reply ]

If possible, can you not wait a week or two for the court date to arrive and see what happen? Otherwise, depending on your leases "Guest Policy" you may have a hard time removing the husband. You will need to issue a lease violation of your guess policy to your tenant to either remove the husband or add him to the lease. For a known lease violation, receiving rent can void your lease violation notice, as you will be waiving your right to proceed against the tenant. If you have a poorly written or no written guest policy, you will have a hard time removing the husband. Your tenant needs to step up and have him leave now or as a condition of the divorce agreement. Take a cue from your husband and see what happens.

Re: "evicting" a non-tenant by Anonymous on August 10, 2017 @06:34	[ Reply ]

Either wait till August to see if the issue is resolved. Or send out violation notice to Tenant to correct or leave. If She fails to do either then evict the tenant and any un-known tenants. Sounds like the Tenant is not to trustworthy. If I had to evict the husband. I would add this Tenant and kill two problems with one stone as they say.

Re: "evicting" a non-tenant by Nicole (PA) on August 10, 2017 @08:05	[ Reply ]

stay out of it. if you get involved, you will be spinning your wheels.... you'll put him out, they'll makeup and she'll allow him back again. If she won't put him on the lease (which it appears AT THIS TIME, she doesn't want) send her a violation notice and file to get your property back. No idea how Ohio works so I don't know if that's even possible ... it I s here. While I usually agree with a lot G says, this time I don't. Folks use the court system for a lot of wrong reasons and one of them is domestic violence. Just because you want someone gone is no reason to file for a restrainng order. don't know what the courts would use as their meter but those who do this should be fined and the "accused" given some type monetary compensation. court resources and the seriousness of this issue is watered down by the frivolous applications filed.