I completely agree with you. But who is going to make the FINAL determinations as to whether or not it was harassment or an emergency. Common sense may not prevail.
It may well be a judge. We run about 50/50 here from those who recognize a hole in the ground. The other 50% are bleeding hearts.
It actually took a court order from one of the smart judges here for me to legally enter what I thought was an abandoned property during the winter to protect it from further damage. Frankly I was going in either way but I tried to play by the rules and won that one.
If your property is in or was in decent shape Code enforcement is the way to go. Most of these inspectors are smart enough to see and know the difference between landlord neglect and tenant abuse. They will inspect the property and if you ask real nice off the record they will condemn it on the spot. The tenant gets 24 hours to move or be evicted by code enforcement. This is not something you want to do every time you need to get rid of a problem tenant but you can get away with every great once in a while
Then you correct all problems, get code enforcement to give you a compliance letter (this is proof it was repaired and meets codes) and you are free to rent it.
The only sad part of the whole thing is that the low-lifes in your unit will now get money from the Red Cross and other charities.
No, apparently it's not. I think he's right for being cautious. In the movies, he'd find 3 friends, nicely armed, and they'd walk right into the place. In the real world, you bring the cops, after they've been programmed by a judge to assist you.
Steve you, Maradcliff and a couple of others in this thread may want to secure and read a copy of the landlord tenant regulations for your state. You might be surprised exactly how much trouble you could get into by turning off the water.
You could wind up paying triple damages. The sad thing is your tax dollars would be paying the opposing attorney and you would be the defendant paying your own attorney.
The deck is stacked for the tenant in almost every case.
Breaking and entering. Home invasion. Very bad idea.
That would be self defense. They could very well shoot you and your friends.
They will, but against the invaders, assuming they're still alive.
The tenants can always claim they didn't know about the leak, didn't get notice, didn't know who you were, and so forth. They certainly aren't going to tell the police they wanted to destroy the property out of spite. Busting into somebody's home (and it IS their home, even if they're not paying rent) is going to bring nothing but grief, misery, and possibly bankruptcy.
Chances are they'll end up owning the home, after sueing the landlord.
On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 13:47:32 -0700, "SteveB" wrote:
Exactly
And remember, if there was to be a court matter, the pipe will still leak when the water is turned back on, and I would videotape the pipe and have a licensed plumber there to verify the leak exists.
Well, the OP had to ask on here, but I think he should contact the building inspection department.
As I said before. I dont mess around. I had some bad tenants refuse to pay rent, gave them notice that they must move, and they stayed around for a week more. By then I sent the sheriffs out, and the sheriffs served a notice but said I would have to go to court if they still did not leave. Another week went by, and I found the people gone from the property, but their furniture was still inside. Worse yet, they left a horse behind, in the pasture, and it was not being fed or watered. (This is a farm). After giving the horse some hay and water, I immediately contacted the humane society, who said they only dealt with cats and dogs and other small animals and were not equipped to deal with horses. I told them my name, address, phone number, etc. Told them I am a farmer and I would move the horse to safety myself. I video taped the horse, empty water tank, and lack of feed. Then I loaded the horse in my stock trailer and placed it on a friends farm who live way back in the woods. Then I changed the locks on the house. Sure enough, the next morning the sheriffs paid me a visit. I first showed them the paperwork and the fact that they had served notice on the tenants (these were different guys). Then I invited them in to watch my video, and told them the horse was being neglected and that I contacted (so and so) at the humane society. I further explained that the tenants moved and left their furniture behind, and I had the right to lock them out according to the law. The sheriffs were totally in agreement with me and even thanked me for assisting the horse. The tenants were charged with animal neglect, but eventually got their horse back AFTER they were required to pay me for feed, and for board, and the sheriffs demanded that they do, plus they were fined for animal neglect. They also insisted on getting their furniture back. I told them they could have it as soon as they pay the back rent they owed, PLUS storage fees for the furniture, and handed them a copy of the law about abandoned personal property. Included was a written notice stating they had one week to pay, or all possessions left behind would be disposed. They never came back, and I disposed of their junk furniture.
I still feel sorry for that horse. I wish I could have gotten it away from the scum tenants, and I would have kept it myself and given it a good home. I am not sure what would have happened if the refused to pay me for feed and board and refused to pay the fine, but either way, the law was on my side and I was not worried about doing what was truely the right thing to do.
I dont deal with scum either, but no matter how well you check references, it seems that most landlords end up renting to them. These people that I just explained about had excellent references. At least the ones they gave me........... But those are th ones they gave me. Apparently they had some bad references too. But who gives out bad references !!!!
If that pipe leaks too much longer, the basement may end up being filled with fish :)
I require a $400 deposit, and the balance to be paid before or upon arrival. That works really good for us, but, again, it is different because of the nature of our rental.
Require a credit check, and follow through with the check. It will cost a couple of bucks, but it is better than renting to a dead beat. Not too many dead beats have good credit! Greg
Of course if the rent includes the utilities and your name is on the utilities just call the utility company and notify them that you will no longer be paying the bill. They will cut off utilities. I doubt you are required to pay someones utilities for them. Again I suggest lawyer and action before winter cold seasion sets in. Stan
He may have a right to a key, but he doesn't have a key. Let him stick his right in the keyhole and open the door.
Shouldn't be is not the same as "is".
landlord/tenant laws.
repairs,
You're right. It's not unreasonable.
BTW, after the super of my building left and the next super only lasted two days, I changed my locks or something and never gave a key to the super or the landlord again. Ten more years.
I didn't know the new super, the landlord didn't know him well, and there was no reason I should trust him. I had three roommates and someone was usually home. But even if I were alone, I wouldn't have given them a key anymore. If they really needed to get in, they could drill the lock, but they never needed to.
Hmm. I don't remember the details, but I have a vague recollection of going to the first super, whom I liked (but that doesn't mean he was honest) or the second super the night before he left and asking for my key back. He gave it to me.
In the next 10 years no one from the landlord ever asked for a key. (When roommates left on bad terms (once or twice out of about 10 or 12 roommates I had) I changed the locks also.)
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This is why he should talk to a property lawyer for a bit. You may be right, but the tenant will lie about the original problem, and say that the landlord assaulted him when he and his buddies forced their way in. In addition, he'd better choose the right buddies who don't do more than is necessary.
I agree that he has to mitigate damages. He should have already acted.
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This has probably been settled already, but maybe the original problem that the police wouldn't help is that the landlord wanted them to do it. Maybe he should have shown the police your deed, your lease,, and said, "I'm going to enter my apartment as I have a legal right to do, because there is a leak,, and you should prevent the tenant from hurting me or me from hurting the tenant." The major goal of the police (the good ones at least) is to prevent violence and maybe catch violent ones. They're not going to break into a house without their CO ordering them to. But they might watch while you break in.
Everything else is a civil matter that can be settled later.
But do what Doug Kanter said at x:32 hours.
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You can't count on the police to give accurate advice, and you certainly can't count on a county clerk for gosh sake. You can listen to his advice, but you better check it out with a lawyer unless it doesn't involve possible violence and will give a speedy resullt.
He may tell you how to get into court quickly, however.
The DA is interested in criminal matters.
He or an assistent DA, but not a simple clerk, will tell you what things are illegal to do, but I wouldn't count on them to tell you how to do this legally. They might not even know.
They may well be. I would suggest that to the police and offer them the chance to search the whole place after you are in. That might help get their cooperation.
I don't think you should expect the police to break in however. You should do that with the police there to prevent violence. If there is no violence, everything else will be a civil matter, to be settled by later lawsuits, which you will win if you do things right.. Or a marshall may help you but that will take at least some time in court. Maybe only half a day.
Do not turn the water off improperly. I'm, sure you can turn it off if there's a leak. You have a right to inspect if there is a leak, especially since they told you there was.
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I wouldn't worry about that. He should be pushing whoever he thinks can help. Let them compete by both trying to help him. More likely, one will say to go to the other and the other will do something if it can.
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Absolutely. After I kicked out one roommate he went to the police and showed them the 2 page single spaced letter I had given him saying why. It didn't win him any points but the police called me. I said he was welcome to come over and get his stuff, but I wanted to know when so I could have a friend there (I was 25 years younger then.) They said they, the police would come with him, and they did.
He asked for his deposit back. I said I had to keep part until I knew how many long distance calls he'd made. He was from Iran and could have spent hundreds of dollars already, but I think he spent nothing. He never came back for the rest, though he probably stole 40 or 60 dollars from me earlier. (long story.)
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In the world our parents lived in it was common sense and logic when it favored the landlord. In other cases, it was a shame and there was no remedy.,
it sounds like your parents would have been happy to squash any poor soul who got in their way. If not, they'd understand why tenants in some places have more legal rights than they used to. To prevent immoral landlords ffrom stomping on their moral rights.
But if you don't think it works that way, I'd advice you not to invest in rental property.
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If as you say, the rent includes the utilities, if they are still paying the rent, a landlord is reuired to pay the utilities. Even if they are a few days late, he can't turn off the utilities unles he would also be permitted to evict them on the same day, I would guess. And in many places these days, that's even more true in the winter. (although probably not in Florida or anywhere it is usually warm in the winter.)
The landlord probably has no more right to turn off the utilities than he does to evict them. That is, he can probably do both on the same day.
That doesn't mean he can't turn off the water if there is a leak (and a leak that isn't into the sink and down the drain. Even then he has a right to enter and fix the leaking faucet, but he'd have to give the required notice. It's obviously not an emergency. However a leak anywhere else (not a leaky washer) may well be an emergency. Small leaks are one's warning about big leaks soon to come.)
Again I suggest
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I talked to the building inspector and he said that I could do work on the outside but he didn't know if I could go in against their will before waiting for the eviction. I go to court tomorrow so I am going to ask the judge in court to allow me in to make repairs.
Thank you all again -- will keep you posted, William
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