Can landlord enter house after lease agreement expired, tenant has unpaid rent hse w/ physical damage?

Question

The tenant has late unpaid rent when the lease agreement expired. Landlord entered premises and saw the house with extensive damage. Tenant has personal belongings left. Landlord changed the lock to be able to get money for unpaid rent, for repair of the brand new house that the tenant destroyed. Tenants were the first occupants of a brand new house. Tenant refuse to sign promissory note requested by landlord to sign. Tenant made an excuse that they will clean the house but the lock was changed. Carpet was stained, screen windows were removed and frames broken, blinds were destroyed. Wall around the house were all dirty, one lock of the door was destroyed. What are the landlords right in this case?

Answer 1

Landlord tenant relations are governed by state law, so I would need to know what state you are in to give you an absolute answer. So this is based on what most states require.

1) You may be in a bit of trouble for changing the locks. Evicting tenants by changing the locks is known as "self help." Most (if not all) states don't allow it, because it often results in violence. The law in your state most likely requires you to file a formal eviction action, which ultimately results in a sheriff coming over to remove the tenant from the property. You may not want to hear this, but your tenant will be able to sue you for punitive damages for using self help.

2) If you had gone to court, you would have been able to get a judgment for unpaid rent and for the damage to the property (anything in access of reasonable wear and tear). Sometimes this requires going to court twice, the first time for eviction and the second time after the tenant is evicted and damages are assessed for the property damages.

3) You cannot take the tenant's belongings. There are limited circumstances where you could do this: it requires obtaining a judgment and having a sheriff execute it against the tenants property. But even then there are limitations for necesseties (these are defined by state).

Here is what I would suggest: Go to your state government's website. You can usually find the landlord tenant law and figure out whether self help is allowed. I suspect that it will not be allowed. As such, you will want to avoid going to court -- if you go the judge may award punitive damages against you. Try settling with the tenant out of court. Return their furniture and try to collect for the damaged property and past due rent. If you had a security deposit, keep it, but don't forget to send your tenant a letter itemizing every item you charged them for out of the security deposit. Failure to send this letter can also result in a punitive damages award in most states.

In the future, if you continue to be a landlord, besides properly screening your tenants, know your state's landlord tenant law. Most states will punish landlords with punitive damages for screwupups, because historically landlords have taken advantage of tenants and the law seeks to remedy this.

Answer 2

since tenancy laws vary from state to state as well as country to country, it would be nice if you included where the property in question is located. in most states in the u.s. you have to file in court a summery ejectment(that is a request that all unpaid rents are due and payed upon the judges order).
at the end of their lease, if the landloard wishes not to renew the lease, the landlord files the same and asks the court that the lease has expired and that the landlord will not seek another lease agreement with current tenants.after landlord prevails
with summery ejectment, the tenant has the right to remove all personal property and to return the property to the original to it's
apperance as it was when first occupied by tenant, other than normal wear and tear. landlord has no right to enter such dwelling
except in cause if there is a known or percieved problem that may cause damage that can be prevented to dwelling that access is needed. when papers are served for eviction, the doors are locked out to the tenent and has to make arraingements with the landlord to remove any personal belongings the tenant may have in the dwelling within a specified
time. if there are damages to the unit that are above and beyound normal wear and tear the landlord must file civil suit against
ex- tenant to recover losses. in other words, never, ever enter a unit until you have the law supporting you. entering that unit puts you at a severe risk, such as "i had a 60 inch wide screen t.v. that dissappered,etc. it also appears that you need to work on your lease agreements to make sure that you are only allowing quality people into yor units

Answer 3

2

Answer 4

there are privacy laws in place in every state. Although the landlord/owner has the right to enter his property, he has to give a 24-hr notice to tenant to do inspection, repairs or what not EXCEPT on an emergency, like a gas leak. I feel very bad for you if you are the landlord, but in many states, you are not even allowed to "lock out" your tenant by changing locks, etc. You have to give eviction notice and if your tenant does not respond or vacate in the 30/31 day period, (sometimes much less than that in some lease cases - month-to month/week-toweek), you have to get a court order for eviction. Once you get that, you can go to the property with the sheriff who will enforce the court order.
Best to consult your local landlord-tenant laws or a lawyer.

Answer 5

You as a landlord need to follow the laws .You need to follow the proper steps to keep yourself with in that law. Do you have a landlord- tenant phone number through your housing department in the phonebook? You cannot just change the locks at your will. You need to do everything through the courts if it's gonna be done right, or you could be asking for trouble. It doesn't matter how upset you are over back rent. You need to post a three day notice on the door telling them to vacate/ after so many days you have to file for eviction unless they have already left the premises. You must do these things in order to claim your property again..As long as there belongings are in your rental, they are still occupying it. Good luck! I have been thru this with tentants myself. Yes you do have rights, and remember they have rights also.

Answer 6

The landlord could retain the security deposit as liqudated damages, and sue the former tenant for any cost of repairs in excess. Tenant would have to vacate premises upon lease expiration, so the landlord would have every right to take possession and change the locks. Tenant's personal possessions should be stored until the matter is resolved.

Answer 7

Verify lease terminology, whether lease automatically goes to month-to-month leasing if a renewal is not signed. It seems the legal eviction notification process would have to be followed, even though rent is late. When evicting the tenants possessions are to be help in storage until you are paid, if not it is auctioned via newspaper notification.
In some states, the landlord has to let the tenants know ahead of time, prior to entering their apartment for filter changes, pest control, etc. Check your state laws.

Answer 8

laws vary from state to state, so nobody can answer your question in such a generic form. based on what the laws are like here (in MI) the landlord may be breaking the law by going in and changing the locks. even if the lease is expired the landlord still has to go through the eviction process to remove the tenent if they haven't finished moving out of the house on their own.
once you do have control of some of their property, at least in this state, you are required by law to hold the property for at least 6 months. after the 6 months goes by then u have the right to sell it in an effort to recoup your losses.
i'm a landlord myself, and my advice to you is to get used to the damage. don't let it get to you, because almost every tenent will leave the houses in much worse shape than they got them in. as a general rule you can count on a couple thousand $ in repairs every time someone moves out.
if you can't handle that then you need to sell and get out of the business.

Answer 9

Keep the deadbeat out. They do not know how to take care of anything. The landlord will fix it, dear. Make the repairs, throw out personal belongings in garbage bags, tell tenant when to pick them up. Kiss goodby unpaid rent and repair costs. Just a chance you have to take when you rent. Hope the next tenents are better at keeping the house nice.

Answer 10

Yes you signed a contract and agreed to pay until August. You can sublet the apartment and have someone finish out your term. However, you will be responsible for any damages that are incurred unless your landlord wants to break the lease with you and sign a new one with them. Generally speaking I would lasways be willing to let someone move out a month ahead and the tennant forfeits the security deposit. I can rent an apartment in no time where I live.