Evict or not?

Question

I have a tenant who is suppose to have 3 people in her 1 bedroom apartment. Come to find out she has 7-8 people. I pay water, sewerage, garbage. I sent her a letter explaining to her that she is in breach of contract. No call nothing. 10 days later I see her and asked her if she received my letter. She started yelling at me telling me that "everyone in the building is doing the same thing...." I tried to tell her that that is none of her business and we need to talk about her situation. Well she kept yelling on and on about this and then walked away still yelling. So I sent her a 60 day notice of eviction. Then went to my attorney and paid him to evict her.

Well her boss calls me and asks me to explain what the problem is and if I could let them stay so they would not end up living in their vehicle. I told her I already paid the attorney, she (tenant's boss) wants to pay that back to me if I would let them stay and she would make her kick the tenants not on lease out. I t

I told her boss that I was very uncomfortable with her wanting to pay my attorney fees if I would let her (the tenant) stay for another year. I told her I do not want your money. Very uncomfortable.
My problem is that I do not think this women is going to get rid of all the people in her unit. And I also feel that I will have this problem with her down the road again. I do feel bad about evicting her. WHAT would you do?

Man after reading all these comments
I MUST BE A SOFTY

Answer 1

Just evict her. She has breach her contract very badly. She also cannot seem to be trusted.

Do it now for your own sake.

I speak from my own experience.

Answer 2

1. You have properly started eviction proceedings against her. This is a business and you MUST treat it as such. She can cure the problem that is the basis of the eviction proceeding by removing the extra people from the apartment. That is HER choice. You have been more than generous with your 60-day Notice to Cure or Quit. The ball is now in her court.

2. If her employer contacts you again, tell her employer that the issue is between you and your tenant and you will not discuss such private issues with any third party. (Personally, I'd tell the employer that if she wanted to do something for her she could pay her enough money that she could rent a place appropriate for the number of people living with her, but any discussion about the eviction process was off-limits as confidential information between me and my tenant.)

I was a landlord for many years. One of the most distasteful aspects of being one is having to evict someone and knowing that there's a good chance that they will wind up on the streets. However I had bills to pay and could not afford to be the welfare system for these folks. When you have an excessive number of people in a unit the unit tends to take a beating. I had to shell out thousands in repairs on two occasions because of this and lived hand-to-mouth for many months due to the costs involved and the lack of income coming in while the work was being done.

Answer 3

Your not a softy, you just want to have a win-win situation. You are correct in telling your tenant that she is in breach of her contract. You might want to let her know to that it is a state law regarding how many people can live per one bedroom apt.

Her boss is trying to help as well by keeping a rood over her head but not with helping you get rid of the extra tenants. Actually, if you wanted to you could call the police and have them tell them to leave as they are trepassing on your property. You did not make the situation worse, your tenant did by not being responsible.

Answer 4

Hi,
Don't stop the evictions process....she will be disrespectful again and again and again. Do the right thing and evict her. Some people need a good reality check, and she sounds way over due for hers. Her Boss doesn't have to collect rent from her either, so no skin off her butt. If she has to live in a car.... great! Buy her a going away blanket!

Answer 5

Evict her and be glad of it.

Do you have any idea of the legal trouble YOU could get into? It is illegal as H____ to rent that apartment to that many people.

If there were a fire or something and someone to was to get hurt it is you A__ that will be up in front of the judge explaining why you let this illegal housing situation to continue. They will nail your A-- to the wall too. The press would have a field day and make sure any other violations in your property were made public and accountable.

I am really dumbfounded that you even question evicting her.

Answer 6

If she is in breach of her contract I would evict her. That's too many people in one apartment. Or u have another option. U could charge extra rent for each extra person that is living there. My landlords always told me if I was going to have someone else stay with me for longer than 2 weeks I needed to notify him. Some landlords do charge extra when more people move in than what was originally agreed upon. I would also check your local landlord and tenant laws to see both of your rights on this situation.

Answer 7

evict her. unfortunately, it's your only option if this will happen repeatedly. it's also odd that this woman's "boss" is asking you to let them stay "so they would not end up living in her vehicle," then in the next breath promising that all the non-named lease tenants will leave. that's a pretty big contradiction right there! get them out of your hair. even if they were to all pay addiditonal rent to cover the expenses, it's not legal to have that many people living in a 1 br apt, and you could be liable for any problems that arise in the future.

Answer 8

SIXTY days? I would have slapped her with a TEN DAY notice to quit. SHE has broken the lease.

And just from personal experience, here is how I would have handled this situation
1) send her letter certified mail return reciept requested, in that letter state that if she fails to comply within 5 days, it will be turned over to my attorney and there is no negotiation after that
2) in no response/non-compliance, you have your attorney send a 10 day notice to quit (or whatever is equivalant in your state)
3) once you give it to your attorney, you do not take calls or discuss it with them. Your only response to them on the phone is "as I told you in my letter, you now muct talk to my attorney" and hang up the phone

That is my policy, once I give it to my attorney, all communication goes through the attorney.

Answer 9

Bounce her to the curb. I had a similar problem with a tenant of mine in 94. The girl signed the lease. She was well dressed, presentable, well spoken, paid cash (should have been my first tip off). She moves in and suddenly I realized I had made the mistake of letting one welfare bum in. There were six people in a two bedroom.

They tore the place apart, broke the toilet, wrecked the nice hardwood floor I put in by spilling booze and letting their pets pee in every corner.

The place was disgusting. I took about 12k to get it back to rent able condition on top of the loss of rental costs and mortgage.

Chuck her to the curb.

Answer 10

Sounds like you already know what to do - evict her. If her boss wants to help her so much they can help her and her people find another place to go. I mean, if her boss is willing to put up the $ to pay your legal fees it shouldn't be much of an effort for them to help her move with the same $.

Answer 11

You've already sent the eviction notice. You have an attorney refer the boss to the attorney. The road to H_ _ _ is paved with good intentions.