Hot Lava Mama Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 I am still wondering whose name utilities are in. Would that actually make a difference, one way or the other? If the lease doesn't call for LL to pay utilities, but they are still in LL's name, what happens? If tenants put utilities in their name and don't pay, is it a problem for LL? It's probably obvious I have no experience in this area, but the thread title is What could go wrong, so I am worrying. It might depend on the state, but for us, they could lien our house for the unpaid utilities. So, we have the utilities in our name to make sure they get paid and then bill the tenants for the costs. Hot Lava Mama 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Lava Mama Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Good grief! So, hypothetically speaking, if utilities were in LL name, LL would have to pay utilities of non-paying tenant…. I have no words. Yep. Being a landlord sucks. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 It might depend on the state, but for us, they could lien our house for the unpaid utilities. So, we have the utilities in our name to make sure they get paid and then bill the tenants for the costs. Hot Lava Mama Wow, I never realized what LL go through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Our tenants have all utilities in their name except water and sewer that have to stay in the owner's name. Our contract says they pay the water/sewer bills. So... our horrid tenants quit paying their electric bill and the power company shut off their electric without informing us. The horrid tenants then bypassed the meter illegally. It took the power company 4 months to catch on. Then it was pure luck that I called them wanting to switch the power back into our name... 'cause they had an order out to cut the line to our house and had no plans to tell us. I had to talk with a different office to get things straightened out and then we had to have an official inspection (at our cost) showing that the bypass and all electric in the house was back up to code before they would put it back in our name. They tried to bill us all the way back to when they had turned it off, but I protested that one - and won. We did not have to pay for the pirated electric. If they had cut the line to our house it'd have been far more expensive to get fixed. They told me they didn't have to inform us as owners as their contract was with the tenant alone. I still don't understand how that's legal when they know we are the homeowner. We have it set up with them as a rental property! With water/sewer the township would send late notices and threaten to cut off water. The first time we got one of those I reluctantly went in to pay their bill as I didn't want bad credit. We were told that a house wasn't deemed livable without water/sewer, so if it got cut off the tenants would have to leave. Some landlords supposedly use that to get non-paying tenants to leave (it has to be non-payment of water/sewer, not rent) and it's perfectly legal here. Afterward it would only cost us the amount of the bill and something like $30 to get water turned back on. We appreciated that secretary sharing her experience! Unfortunately, our tenants knew this and would always get the bill paid right before shut off was supposed to happen. We kept hoping... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Were you able to do anything today? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Our tenants have all utilities in their name except water and sewer that have to stay in the owner's name. Our contract says they pay the water/sewer bills. So... our horrid tenants quit paying their electric bill and the power company shut off their electric without informing us. The horrid tenants then bypassed the meter illegally. It took the power company 4 months to catch on. Then it was pure luck that I called them wanting to switch the power back into our name... 'cause they had an order out to cut the line to our house and had no plans to tell us. I had to talk with a different office to get things straightened out and then we had to have an official inspection (at our cost) showing that the bypass and all electric in the house was back up to code before they would put it back in our name. They tried to bill us all the way back to when they had turned it off, but I protested that one - and won. We did not have to pay for the pirated electric. If they had cut the line to our house it'd have been far more expensive to get fixed. They told me they didn't have to inform us as owners as their contract was with the tenant alone. I still don't understand how that's legal when they know we are the homeowner. We have it set up with them as a rental property! With water/sewer the township would send late notices and threaten to cut off water. The first time we got one of those I reluctantly went in to pay their bill as I didn't want bad credit. We were told that a house wasn't deemed livable without water/sewer, so if it got cut off the tenants would have to leave. Some landlords supposedly use that to get non-paying tenants to leave (it has to be non-payment of water/sewer, not rent) and it's perfectly legal here. Afterward it would only cost us the amount of the bill and something like $30 to get water turned back on. We appreciated that secretary sharing her experience! Unfortunately, our tenants knew this and would always get the bill paid right before shut off was supposed to happen. We kept hoping... That's awful! Sorry you had that experience. Man, I would go ballistic if someone bypassed the meter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 That's awful! Sorry you had that experience. Man, I would go ballistic if someone bypassed the meter! We weren't happy campers, but what really made me livid was that the power company was going to cut power to the house without telling us. IMO, they should have had to notify the owners that this was going to happen. They had us down as owners of the place. They didn't have to look anything up. We had no idea the tenants weren't paying their power bill. I assumed they were able to pay their other bills since, at that time, they weren't paying us rent (while waiting for their disability award). What were they doing with their money? He was still working at that time. They went on huge shopping sprees at places like Nordstrom covered by credit cards (as evidenced by the unpaid bills left behind on the floor and the fish tanks and large screen TVs neighbors told us they moved out). So they weren't paying rent, utilities, or credit cards. What did they use their money on? My guess is drugs. We found empty containers and unmarked pills on the floor too. I think that's what switched them from being reasonable paying tenants to horrid. We will not be understanding or forgiving of a situation like this again. The real world doesn't always have happy endings. We ARE understanding of good/great tenants who have minor issues. We've switched the "rent due" date to when paydays are. We've allowed a week of free rent for a couple to move in earlier than planned (AFTER rent and security deposit were paid!). This helped us as well as them. (They took over lawn care and utilities, etc, helping us - they could move out of their other place over a week's time rather than try to do it all in one day.) But if someone can't pay the full rent - period - and it's coupled to something more permanent like a job or health issue - they need to move to somewhere more affordable for them, even if their kids are in school or similar deals. We were dumb and bought their sob stories for a year - the last three months with NO rent paid, months before that they paid a lesser amount with promises to catch up when they got their disability check in. We got nothing - not a dime. Then they trashed our house to repay us for our kindness. Yes, we could have won a judgment, but we'd have had to collect. How does one collect off that? It's impossible. They own nothing to put a lien on. They have no job paying enough to cover payments. All they have to do is declare bankruptcy to have the judgment dismissed. It's not worth our paying more money to have a piece of paper. We just had to write off the loss and learn from it. And we share so others can learn from it. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 We weren't happy campers, but what really made me livid was that the power company was going to cut power to the house without telling us. IMO, they should have had to notify the owners that this was going to happen. They had us down as owners of the place. They didn't have to look anything up. We had no idea the tenants weren't paying their power bill. I assumed they were able to pay their other bills since, at that time, they weren't paying us rent (while waiting for their disability award). What were they doing with their money? He was still working at that time. They went on huge shopping sprees at places like Nordstrom covered by credit cards (as evidenced by the unpaid bills left behind on the floor and the fish tanks and large screen TVs neighbors told us they moved out). So they weren't paying rent, utilities, or credit cards. What did they use their money on? My guess is drugs. We found empty containers and unmarked pills on the floor too. I think that's what switched them from being reasonable paying tenants to horrid. We will not be understanding or forgiving of a situation like this again. The real world doesn't always have happy endings. We ARE understanding of good/great tenants who have minor issues. We've switched the "rent due" date to when paydays are. We've allowed a week of free rent for a couple to move in earlier than planned (AFTER rent and security deposit were paid!). This helped us as well as them. (They took over lawn care and utilities, etc, helping us - they could move out of their other place over a week's time rather than try to do it all in one day.) But if someone can't pay the full rent - period - and it's coupled to something more permanent like a job or health issue - they need to move to somewhere more affordable for them, even if their kids are in school or similar deals. We were dumb and bought their sob stories for a year - the last three months with NO rent paid, months before that they paid a lesser amount with promises to catch up when they got their disability check in. We got nothing - not a dime. Then they trashed our house to repay us for our kindness. Yes, we could have won a judgment, but we'd have had to collect. How does one collect off that? It's impossible. They own nothing to put a lien on. They have no job paying enough to cover payments. All they have to do is declare bankruptcy to have the judgment dismissed. It's not worth our paying more money to have a piece of paper. We just had to write off the loss and learn from it. And we share so others can learn from it. Yours is an illustrative tale, for sure. Personally, I would never let a tenant have access earlier than the Lease start date for legal and insurance reasons, but I have changed the start date to an earlier date if the house was empty and ready to go. It is true that one does no favors by letting tenants get behind, because they typically can never catch up, and are living on the landlord's dime. Most can't carry tenants too. Moving to cheaper accommodations is the only answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Yours is an illustrative tale, for sure. Personally, I would never let a tenant have access earlier than the Lease start date for legal and insurance reasons, but I have changed the start date to an earlier date if the house was empty and ready to go. It is true that one does no favors by letting tenants get behind, because they typically can never catch up, and are living on the landlord's dime. Most can't carry tenants too. Moving to cheaper accommodations is the only answer. We change the date on paper. We just don't charge for it in that situation. Our rents are technically due either on the 1st or the 15th and we like it that way. If the weekend before the 1st is the 26th (hypothetical example), we'll start the lease on the 26th and they can move in, but rent is still due on the 1st in general. To move in they've already paid the security deposit and first month's rent. They get those extra days for free. Since their previous lease generally went to the end of the month, this helps give them time to move. They get to mow the lawn and pay the utilities that week in exchange. Our places rarely stay empty. We almost always have new tenants within a month of the others moving out - sometimes within a week (and we're rushing to accomplish any fixes if needed!). Occasionally we've had tenants offer to paint for us so they can move in sooner and get colors they like. That's fine. It's their dime. It's even ok if we don't like their colors, because we're saving the paint money from before and would likely be painting again after anyway. It's common for us to have our places rented to the next tenant within a week of advertising it and we have to pull the advertisement within 24 - 48 hours of putting it on because we have enough to choose from at that point. Once I put a place on in the morning and had to pull the advertisement by that afternoon. If we ended up not liking any of our prospects, we could always rerun the ad. We try to own nice (basic) places and MOST tenants like that. Ours wouldn't win on househunters 'cause we don't have granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, or dual sinks in the bathroom(s), but they're places I wouldn't mind living in if we were renting. That was one of my "must haves" to buy them in the first place. Nice places are easy to rent and attract good tenants. One just has to be wary of who qualifies as "good" tenants - and then watch to see if situations change. I would not opt to invest our retirement in anything else in hindsight. I would have done a couple of things differently with these folks. We had one other eviction, but that went like clockwork. We lost around $3500, but all in rent. They did not trash our house or drag things on. Most tenants of the caliber our places attract are quite nice and pleasant to work with - and they pay their bills, while taking care of our property. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SproutMamaK Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 (edited) Hoping for some sort of an update from the OP! How are things going thus far with the eviction process? Edited February 24, 2016 by SproutMamaK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftymama Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 I'm almost afraid to ask, but what happened this week? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SproutMamaK Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Sorry for bumping twice in one day, just don't want the OP to miss our bumps and think we lost interest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyBC Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Hahaha, I'm guessing there's not much chance of that. :D I'm a little worried that if things are going as badly as they could be, the last thing she has time or inclination for is running over here to give us updates. She'll either get to it or will pray that we all just move along, nothing to see here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38carrots Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 Okay, so we can only serve them with the notice after 15 days have passed after the day they were supposed to pay, which is March 1st. Then they have 18 days to come up with the funds, and if they pay us in full by the end of those 18 days, we can't evict, and it all starts again. I have deposited the rent check for February, I still don't know whether it will bounce or not, but we needed to deposit to have a record. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 I'm sorry you and your dh are learning the hard way "what can go wrong." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Wait, am I understanding this correctly? You can serve notice at 15 days late then they have 18 days AFTER the notice to pay rent? So they could just be constantly a month behind in rent the entire time they live there and there's nothing you can do about it? Am I alone in thinking that's insane? 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38carrots Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 Wait, am I understanding this correctly? You can serve notice at 15 days late then they have 18 days AFTER the notice to pay rent? So they could just be constantly a month behind in rent the entire time they live there and there's nothing you can do about it? Am I alone in thinking that's insane? Absolutely insane. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 What about the date on the lease? Wasn't that Feb 16 or 19? Can you start the 15 days from that date? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieSong Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 That is terrible!! When I evicted someone it took about ten days total. It can take a little longer, if the judge gives them extra time. I hope you can get these people out soon. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38carrots Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 What about the date on the lease? Wasn't that Feb 16 or 19? Can you start the 15 days from that date? Yep, 15 days from Feb 15 is March 1st, and this is when we can serve them the eviction notice. But then they have 17 or 18 days to pay in full. It is a nightmare, truly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Yep, 15 days from Feb 15 is March 1st, and this is when we can serve them the eviction notice. But then they have 17 or 18 days to pay in full. It is a nightmare, truly. And by then, the next month's rent will be due as well. At that point if you don't get both month's rent, can you evict? Because they won't be at a zero balance with you guys? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 (edited) Yep, 15 days from Feb 15 is March 1st, and this is when we can serve them the eviction notice. But then they have 17 or 18 days to pay in full. It is a nightmare, truly.Got it. I misread the first time - so glad it's not all starting on March 1. So sorry that it's come to this, so quickly. What a disaster. I hope they are caring for your home, and that they'll be out soon. Edited February 25, 2016 by Spryte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmseB Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Okay, so we can only serve them with the notice after 15 days have passed after the day they were supposed to pay, which is March 1st. Then they have 18 days to come up with the funds, and if they pay us in full by the end of those 18 days, we can't evict, and it all starts again. I have deposited the rent check for February, I still don't know whether it will bounce or not, but we needed to deposit to have a record. Have you talked to them any further? Can you get a sense if they are pro scammers or if they just got in a tight spot? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 What about the security deposit? What are the laws on that if it bounces? What a mess! Those laws suck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Okay, so we can only serve them with the notice after 15 days have passed after the day they were supposed to pay, which is March 1st. Then they have 18 days to come up with the funds, and if they pay us in full by the end of those 18 days, we can't evict, and it all starts again. I have deposited the rent check for February, I still don't know whether it will bounce or not, but we needed to deposit to have a record. Yep, 15 days from Feb 15 is March 1st, and this is when we can serve them the eviction notice. But then they have 17 or 18 days to pay in full. It is a nightmare, truly. Thank you for updating. I have been checking in to see what happened. Truly a nightmare! It sounds as though they can be slightly over a month late from now until end of lease. You get stuck with monthly eviction notice and bounced check fees on a regular basis. Whe/if they do pay, can it be by regular check, or can you require a cashiers check? For your sake, I hope they have exhausted all their funding sources and will be unable to pay. Please know that everyone here is behind you and hoping for the best. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamakelly Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 What if you offered them money to move out? I mean, it's annoying, but I've heard of la floats doing that before. Offer them $1,000 to move by Sunday. You'd be out less money in the end and be able to re-rent your place faster. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 38carrots, I keep sending positive thoughts your way. Hopefully, they will take care of your property and suddenly start paying you rent when they are supposed to and become wonderful tenants. Barring that (yes I know it is a long shot) I hope with all my heart they fail to pay a dime, but still take good care of your property, and voluntarily move out without any drama or issues when you first server the eviction notice. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 What if you offered them money to move out? I mean, it's annoying, but I've heard of la floats doing that before. Offer them $1,000 to move by Sunday. You'd be out less money in the end and be able to re-rent your place faster. Not a bad idea. I wonder what the legalities are? They still have a lease. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 What if you offered them money to move out? I mean, it's annoying, but I've heard of la floats doing that before. Offer them $1,000 to move by Sunday. You'd be out less money in the end and be able to re-rent your place faster. Yeah, at this point I would be considering this, too, just to save the enormous headaches that may come up every single month. Also, is there anything in the lease that will allow you to come check on the inside of your property from time to time while you work this out? I would be concerned that they might be causing internal damage, maybe even taking the appliances and hocking them for money (had that happen with our rental and they also took our garage storage cabinets). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 (edited) Renters like this prey on small landlords who don't run professional background checks and who can be coaxed into bending the rules. It's more than likely that they have done this before. I know a woman who basically lived for free for years doing a variation of this to landlord after landlord. Her landlord "references" were all friends and family who were willing to lie. This is why people either need to hire a property manager, adopt the policies and procedures that a prop. management place uses or not be landlords. If it is legal in your area, start charging a $35ish dollar application fee per adult and use that money for a professional background, credit and reference check. I'm so sorry it turned out like this. I hope that they are the lying/trying to get something from nothing sorts and not also the destructive or drug addict sorts. Edited February 25, 2016 by LucyStoner 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Wait, am I understanding this correctly? You can serve notice at 15 days late then they have 18 days AFTER the notice to pay rent? So they could just be constantly a month behind in rent the entire time they live there and there's nothing you can do about it? Am I alone in thinking that's insane? As I mentioned before, many times the laws are written to benefit the tenant and it can easily get extreme like this. This is not the only way either. It is insane... but our country gave up sanity and chose to go by letter of the law a long time ago. This is why it's incredibly important to check out tenants as much as possible before letting them move in. One can't trust and hope for the best, because if it doesn't happen, one can easily end up with a nightmare. Thank you for updating. I have been checking in to see what happened. Truly a nightmare! It sounds as though they can be slightly over a month late from now until end of lease. You get stuck with monthly eviction notice and bounced check fees on a regular basis. Whe/if they do pay, can it be by regular check, or can you require a cashiers check? For your sake, I hope they have exhausted all their funding sources and will be unable to pay. Please know that everyone here is behind you and hoping for the best. We can require cash in our state, but they can remain behind (longer than a month because our eviction gives them more time to pay afterward) and in this case, a security deposit was never paid either, so there will be no $$ at all for any damage they do. Chances are these folks know exactly how long they can remain behind. If not, they can easily find someone who can tell them - people who are eager to help out the less fortunate in their battle against the rich landlord. :glare: Unfortunately, chances are also good that they won't be taking care of the place. They may not trash it (that takes an extra special person), but few who can't pay care a hoot about taking care of any basics. It's not their place, after all. Good tenants tend to be good all around. Bad ones... ditto. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Yeah, at this point I would be considering this, too, just to save the enormous headaches that may come up every single month. Also, is there anything in the lease that will allow you to come check on the inside of your property from time to time while you work this out? I would be concerned that they might be causing internal damage, maybe even taking the appliances and hocking them for money (had that happen with our rental and they also took our garage storage cabinets). This board sure has a wealth of horrible experiences to share. But helpful to be aware of. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Not a bad idea. I wonder what the legalities are? They still have a lease. When I have heard about this being done, it's an inducement for them to give up the lease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Renters like this prey on small landlords who don't run professional background checks and who can be coaxed into bending the rules. It's more than likely that they have done this before. I know a woman who basically lived for free for years doing a variation of this to landlord after landlord. Her landlord "references" were all friends and family who were willing to lie. This is why people either need to hire a property manager, adopt the policies and procedures that a prop. management place uses or not be landlords. If it is legal in your area, start charging a $35ish dollar application fee per adult and use that money for a professional background, credit and reference check. I'm so sorry it turned out like this. I hope that they are the lying/trying to get something from nothing sorts and not also the destructive or drug addict sorts. You can pay to have a landlord's background check. I was pleased with the detail. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Okay, so we can only serve them with the notice after 15 days have passed after the day they were supposed to pay, which is March 1st. Then they have 18 days to come up with the funds, and if they pay us in full by the end of those 18 days, we can't evict, and it all starts again. I have deposited the rent check for February, I still don't know whether it will bounce or not, but we needed to deposit to have a record. I'm sorry. This is why I think you should stay away from calling the woman's parents. I mentioned upthread if they are in the loop, they might send the money to her and this would go on longer. Not a bad idea. I wonder what the legalities are? They still have a lease. It's legal everywhere I've heard. It's usually called "cash for keys" and OP can google that plus her state to see her options, perhaps. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 This board sure has a wealth of horrible experiences to share. But helpful to be aware of. Yes, I am sorry there have been so many costly experiences. Surely every prospective landlord should sit through a screening of Pacific Heights prior to offering their property and selecting a tenant. Which makes me wonder, are there *any* protections for the landlord? Any way to include a reasonable inspection clause in the lease agreement to make sure the tenants aren't Michael Keatoning the place? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Okay, so we can only serve them with the notice after 15 days have passed after the day they were supposed to pay, which is March 1st. Then they have 18 days to come up with the funds, and if they pay us in full by the end of those 18 days, we can't evict, and it all starts again. I have deposited the rent check for February, I still don't know whether it will bounce or not, but we needed to deposit to have a record. Could you not cash it? If you deposit, you will have a fee too if it bounces. Be sure to add that to the suit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 If you're not familiar with the film I mentioned: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Heights_(film) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Okay, so we can only serve them with the notice after 15 days have passed after the day they were supposed to pay, which is March 1st. Then they have 18 days to come up with the funds, and if they pay us in full by the end of those 18 days, we can't evict, and it all starts again. I have deposited the rent check for February, I still don't know whether it will bounce or not, but we needed to deposit to have a record. If it bounces, does the date revert to the original due date of Feb. 16? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 If you're not familiar with the film I mentioned: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Heights_(film) Not on Netflix or Amazon prime, but I ordered a cheap DVD of 4 thrillers from Amazon. Reviewers agree with your assessment, a must-see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmseB Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Hoping you've gotten some money from them or are closer to a resolution. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Hoping that things are working out, in as positive a way as is possible under the circumstances. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Yes, I am sorry there have been so many costly experiences. Surely every prospective landlord should sit through a screening of Pacific Heights prior to offering their property and selecting a tenant. Which makes me wonder, are there *any* protections for the landlord? Any way to include a reasonable inspection clause in the lease agreement to make sure the tenants aren't Michael Keatoning the place? I would say most of the law, in theory favors the owner. They own the house, they have rights. In theory, if not for laws protecting renters from the whims of unscrupulous landlords, they have all the rights. The reality is, if you know any landlords, you know horror stories of renters. But if you know lots of renters, you might know stories. We announced to our landlord we were moving. She had not raised the rent in years, more than $50 a pop. She just raised it FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS and she had people driving to her house with sob stories, because it's still that low. What that shows me is that other landlords have been raising the rent by a good $150/month every year, or more--most homes were around $2k, now, less than 6 years later, they are $3k, so yes, that would be about $200/month per year raises. So, landlords who know their rights and who have lawyers DO have rights. And they can most certainly control the situation and they do. When everyone involved is honest, it works out just fine. My landlord has her retirement and inheritance for her kids, well-deserved from her saving and scrupulous and fair property management, and we have our low rent. We have absolutely no problems having done the background checks, paid first and last on time, paying only via automatic deposit through her bank. No problems at all. We are happy with this situation. But the landlord needs to know how to defend those rights. There are loopholes that result from protections from bad landlords, such as people who raise the rent by $500 every six months. And people work them. All these laws are written for the nastiest 2 - 5% of the population. Everyone else could probably survive on good manners and mediation alone! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamiof5 Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 I am so sorry things haven't gone well so far. I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but I just can't see any good or honesty in their actions. The best of luck with the eviction process. What a nightmare :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SproutMamaK Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Eviction proceedings have started now, right? What's the next step for you guys? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarinesWife Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Been following the story. Hope eviction is going smoothly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieSong Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 I hope everything is going well, too, without any major headaches. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trulycrabby Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Gosh, I am really sorry. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Yes, hoping things are moving forward in a positive way. Thinking of you and your family, OP. :grouphug: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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