Circus Comes to Town!

I had a very interesting morning at the courthouse. I had an eviction scheduled for 10:15 this morning. My attorney and I both arrived a little early and we went into the courtroom to sit down. As it turned out, there were two other cases before mine and so we sat and watched.

The first case, an eviction, was a couple who had attempted to do a lease option. It became obvious in about the first 30 seconds that they were newbies and really didn't have a clue what they were doing. Instead of collecting the rent from the tenant, they were having the tenant directly make their mortgage payment and then paying them for the difference. What was really funny is that the owners were making the utility payments (probably because their deadbeat tenant had previous unpaid utility bills and couldn't get the utilites put in his name). Oops, that was a BIG (EXPENSIVE) mistake.

The tenant apparently stopped paying the owners in February. He claimed to be paying the mortgage payment, but the owners claimed that the mortgage payments were not being paid. No one had any proof - one way or the other. What a bunch of clowns!!! The owners told the judge (magistrate) that they were worried about being able to make their May mortgage payment if the tenant didn't pay them. The tenant said that he had already arranged another rental to move into, but it was under renovation and he couldn't say when it would be done. The judge seemed confused by the whole thing. This went on and on (and on and on and on) and finally the judge offered to grant the eviction but grant a stay until June. Both parties agreed. So, the tenant will get to live rent free for another month and the owner will not only need to find a way to make their May mortgage payment, but will also have to pay the utilities for that month. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A LANDLORD DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING! UGH!

Next, appearing in the center ring, was another clueless landlord who hadn't received rent since LAST AUGUST! (YES, that's AUGUST 2007) Even more interesting is that the tenant being sued in this case was the son of the tenant I was evicting! How strange!

So, the story of this second court case, a suit for monetary damages, was that the tenant stopped paying rent last August. The landlord finally got tired of providing free housing for the deadbeat and went to court to evict him in November. The eviction was granted, but the tenant promised to pay and she never filed for the setout. The guy finally left just recently and he owed her about $9,000 in rent, utilities, and damages. WOW! The landlord was granted a judgement, but will never collect! You can't get blood from a turnip.

After seeing the show, it was my turn at an eviction. The tenant lied on the stand about why he didn't pay the rent, claiming that his government check was delayed after he moved (as if that mattered). The truth is that his son (that was involved in the above case) had been arrested and he used the rent money to bail him out.

At any rate, after he gave all the usual excuses, my eviction was granted and I immediately filed for the setout. By law, the bailiff MUST set the tenant out within 10 days!

I did not receive any calls from tenants today, so all is well on that front.

In a little bit of good news, I did sign the lease with a new tenant on one of my two bedroom apartments today. It's always good to fill another rental!