Landlord Newsletter December 2007

Please e-mail us if you have any questions or would like to add or share any material / information. Good luck with your holiday shopping and with your rentals! Stay Safe.
John Nuzzolese
John@theLPA.com

The Landlord Protection Agency® is proud to introduce John Reno, Esq., a highly experienced Landlord - Tenant attorney based on Long Island, NY.

We find that Landlords who contact us have often waited too long to commence an eviction, usually in an understandable effort to resolve problems amicably. Landlords need attorneys who will not compound the problem with unnecessary delays or expenses. For this reason, our main priority is immediate action. In most cases, we commence an eviction within 3 days of being hired and have our client's cases in Court within 7 to 10 days of being hired.

If you have a landlord tenant problem you'd like to ask a question about, please feel free to e-mail me your question.

Dear Mr. Reno:
Is it possible to evict one tenant from a building when two tenants are on the lease? I have a situation where two unrelated adults signed a lease and one is not making payments. The one who is responsible will agree to take over the lease and pay the full amount (sign a new lease), but wants the other person out. Can I evict just one tenant and leave one in place?
We have asked her to move out, but it does not appear she will leave willingly. - Tim Dawson, Minnesota

A:
NO CAN DO. You have one lease and one tenant. (Your one tenant consists of two people.) You can't evict half of your tenant and keep the other half.

If one tenant prevents the rent from being paid, you'll have to evict them both. (You can let the good tenant come back later, if he's willing, but he'll have to vacate first. Sorry.

Dear Mr. Reno:
I have a tenant who has been slipping behind with his rent later and later every month. Each month he swears he is going to catch up. He makes a few payments, but then keeps slipping further and further behind. I have sent him more than 2 notices (via certified mail) warning that if he does not make significant payments I will have to ask him to vacate. He is now at least 3 to 4 months behind in his rent and each week has another sob story about his bad luck – yet still makes small payments every week or so. Either this guy has the worst luck in the world or he’s a really good con-man.

There are a few problems/questions I have. First of all, I don’t have a rental permit for the house and the problem tenant is living in a basement apartment (nice, but probably illegal), will this cause a problem with eviction? I had a lease but I can not find it, but it was for only one year and expired a couple of months ago. Also, I only have his name, no SSN no phone number (that info was on the lease which is miss-filed somewhere). He has promised to leave when asked, but my main concern is that if we evict the guy he’ll fall off of the radar and I won’t be able to get back any of the past due rent which is now probably more than $4,000.

How are your fees structured? It wouldn’t make sense to hire an attorney if it would cost much more than what he owes. Would we be able to sue for past due rent, and if so how do you get blood from a stone? He has a BMW parked in the driveway (worth about $3,500) and he has sent me the title as collateral (that’s the main reason why I haven’t taken legal action sooner), but the title isn’t in his name (it’s supposedly his but in his brother-in-law’s name?). Thank you for listening to my case, I will be anxiously awaiting a response.
Kane Thornberg, Long Island, NY

A:
No. The illegal apartment will not present a problem with eviction.

click for more from John Reno, Eviction Attorney

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"Yeah, I’m moving out the first of next month." Well that’s great, but you still owe me rent for this month. - Drew, NY

"My mother was evicted and I had to help her track down the landlord at his house. I don't know when I'll have MY rent." It seems that Mom isn't the only one being evicted! - Josh, Las Vegas, NV

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"Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else." - Les Brown

"How much did your last tenant problem cost you?"
- John Nuzzolese

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