I have Section 8 tenants in Florida that contract expired on June 30, 2009.

Tenant moved in June 1, 2009 after Section 8 inspectors passed the property on June 1st. Section 8 paid their portion for 1 month and so did tenant.

Two weeks later tenants reported to Section 8 additional (minor) repairs needed, which they didn't notify me or give me any time to fix, and Section 8 sent different inspector, which failed property. After failure to make these tenants happy and tenants confrontational attitudes, tenant and I mutually agreed to terminate Section 8 contract and tenant was to move out June 30th.

Tenant could not move into their new place until August 1st, so tenant requested one more month (July). Section 8 caseworker told me it would be okay and that Section 8 would pay one more month as long as they received a letter from both tenant and landlord stating that we both agreed to mutual move out date by July 31st. We both sent in letters to Section 8 with this agreement. After 10 days (now July 15th--two weeks into the month) Section 8 stated that they would not pay for July because property had failed inspection, which they should have known prior to making this one month agreement. I believe we had a verbal contract at the very least.

Now tenant is still living in my property (August 6th) with no contract and neither Section 8 nor tenant has paid any rent since June. Tenant refuses to speak with me and Section 8 tells me it's my problem now. The property has been completely destroyed. Tenant ran a mechanic shop from property and it now looks like a junk yard. I'm filing for Loan Modification since I can't afford the home now.

Three questions:
1. What can I do to get my property back and evict?
2. How can I recover damages from tenant AND Section 8 since there is no written contract with anyone now?
3. Can I shut power off now since there is no contract?

You need to send them a 3 day written eviction notice. Then after the 3 days go to court and get another 3 day court notice to evict. Then after that the sheriffs come and escort them off the property.

...

I already sent that 3 day notice certified to all parties on July 9th--giving them until July 15th.

3. Can I shut power off now since there is no contract?Hello t:

There IS a contract. It's just not written. Your tenant IS a month to month tenant and must be legally evicted. If you turn off the power, you are subject to a lawsuit for unlawful eviction.

excon

Do not shut utilities off they can sue no matter whose name it is in.

GO to court and get the court eviction

call a lawyer that deals in realestate.maybe call police. if tenant has nothing stating they are be there they should be able to remove them.

as for no contracts.. good luck with that. it might cost you more to go after them than its worth.

is the electic in your name or thiers? if its in yours go ahead and shut power off. doesnt mean they will leave.

also be careful. sounds to me like these people are not new to this. and if place is already trashed they may retaliate if they are forced out.Hello s:

I'm not going to give you a reddie, but your advice is incorrect and will result in MORE problems for the landlord. If you don't know the law, maybe you should stick with the categories that you DO know.

excon

You're right, they are probably not new to this. The power was to be transferred to my name as of yesterday. If it was wasn't; should I still? They probably didn't pay that bill either.

Also, approx what's the cost to go through courts, and how?

I wouldn't switch it into your name because then you are responsible for THEIR running up your bills. If they are running a junk yard from there then most likely they are using power tools like saw zaws.

In my state I do believe it costs $58.00 to evict.

Just got off the phone with power company, and yes it got switched to my name as of Aug 1.

What do you think about the verbal agreement with Section 8. I believe the caseworker there didn't realize it had failed the 2nd inspection until after she advised us to send in the letters and made the one month agreement?

Yeah I think that too and really it would be hard fighting them.

Make sure when you evict then you do an itemized list of their damages.
I can't see them getting a dime of the deposit back if they have trashed the place and not paid any rent.

I think it is partly the section 8's fault for not doing a thourgh inspection

You're right, they are probably not new to this. The power was to be transferred to my name as of yesterday. If it was wasn't; should I still? They probably didn't pay that bill either.

Also, approx what's the cost to go through courts, and how?Hello again, t:

The first thing I recommend you do is become familiar with the landlord/tenant laws of your state... After all, if that's the business you're in, you SHOULD know the rules... We have copies right here at the top of the real estate page on a sticky note.

The next thing you should do is NOT put the electricity in your name... If they don't pay the bill, and they probably won't, YOU'LL be the responsible one. I can't imagine why you would do that...

Suing and evicting is quick, cheap and easy in your housing court, or small claims court.

excon

Just got off the phone with power company, and yes it got switched to my name as of Aug 1. Hello again, t:

I see that you're not waiting for information... Bummer... You DO know, that you're tenants are going to be there for at least another month, while you do the evicting, and YOU'RE going to be paying their electricity bill.

Ok. Later.

excon

I think OP meant she/he told the utility companies to change it a while back assuming they would be gone and they didn't leave.

I think OP meant she/he told the utility companies to change it a while back assuming they would be gone and they didn't leave.Hello again, N0:

I think she did it five minutes ago. The good news is she can change it back.

excon

She meant she JUST checked if they had already changed to tell them don't if they hadn't
It because she had told them to already.


The power was to be transferred to my name as of yesterday. If it was wasn't; should I still? They probably didn't pay that bill either

Also, approx what's the cost to go through courts, and how?

I was assuming they would be out by Aug 1 so it was changed back to my name on July 31st while I was out of the country. I just returned last night to find out they were still there.

I never had any intentions on being a landlord. The biggest investment mistake I've ever made. I bought the house, put 30k into it, then planned on flipping it--market when south, but I still had to make mtg pmt, no renters wanted to pay close to what my mtg was, so I went with Section 8 option. That's the reason, I'm not familiar with any of the laws in the area, hence my questions to you, and desperate need of help. I appreciate your advise very much.

Hello again, t:

This is very simple. Put the electricity BACK in their name, if you can.

I don't know what state you're in, but write out by hand a 3 day notice "to pay rent or quit". Send a copy by certified mail, return receipt requested. Send another copy by regular mail, and HAND deliver another copy.

Then go down to your courthouse and file for eviction. You can hire an off duty sheriff to serve them, and then make sure you go to court. After you win, make sure you follow up with an execution of judgment, and give it to the sheriff who will put them out.

None of these forms are difficult, and the clerk of your court should help you fill them out.

Once that's done, you can put the electricity back in your name. Are you ever going to get your money back from these people?? I doubt it.

excon

Just got this in a PM:

re check your infor before you agree or disagree with someone....

siberianair, you need to realize that on a LAW board, your answers need to be legally accurate. This nonsense about HIPAA violations and what you think is okay for a landlord to do can get people in to serious trouble.

And for future reference, don't send me senseless PMs. If you're going to make a claim, then back it up.

if there was never a lease to bigin with or once it was cancelled by section 8 than there is no month to month.my god people get a life and off the computer i am done with you and this.Hello again, s:

You are wrong. You've been wrong since you got here. Then you get pissed when you're told that you're wrong. Then you call me names, even though I didn't put you down. I was quite respectful when I told you that you were wrong. Then you accuse me of not having a life... Why you think that, I don't know. I guess because I know the law and you don't?? Maybe that pisses you off, so you got to insult me??

The good news is you DID say you were done. Let's hope THAT part of your post is true. Later!

excon

I think this post needs help... if you want to attack me attack me in a post all about me. Or bring your issues up with me personally. Otherwise move on people!!

i think this post needs help... if you want to attack me attack me in a post all about me. or bring your issues up with me personally. otherwise move on people!!!!

You referred to everyone on this board as ***holes, and you feel that you are being attacked?

I'll respond with something else once I wipe away my tears of laughter.

Who's attacking you we are just trying to set the record straight so that the OP isn't confused and get in legal trouble for BAD advice!

who's attacking you we are just trying to set the record straight so that the OP isn't confused and get in legal trouble for BAD advice!

That is a HIPAA violation to even suggest that... I hereby demand 30 of your brownie points.

:D

i think this post needs help... if you want to attack me attack me in a post all about me. or bring your issues up with me personally. otherwise move on people!!!!
Wow, seriously. I've never used a service like this for help before, so I don't know if this is the norm, but I truly do need Accurate help in this area, all differences aside, please:

I'll have to contact a real estate attorney, because I feel Section 8 made a verbal agreement with me, then changed their mind half-way through (due to a caseworkers mistake). I'll have a better chance collecting from Section 8, than from the deadbeat tenants -- I hope.

As far as removing them, I'll call the sheriff's office in the a.m. and see if they'll remove them since they have no documentation allowing them to be there, and I have already served them the 3 day eviction notice over two weeks ago. I just received the certified mail notice I sent to them "returned unclaimed" big surprise.

What do you think?

siberianair is giving incorrect legal advice on another post to.
Excon outlined exactly what you need to do.
I back up what he said and is what I have been telling you to.
You give the people an eviction notice
You then go to court

Here is a link saying that same thing.

http://www.rentlaw.com/eviction/floridaeviction.htm

Before you take ANY advice review the other posts - people who know nothing about real estate laws are attempting to give you advice and I'm afraid you are paying attention to them.

You can always research the laws in your State and verify what you have been told.

siberianair is giving incorrect legal advice on another post to.
Excon outlined exactly what you need to do.
I back up what he said and is what I have been telling you to.
You give the people an eviction notice
You then go to court

Here is a link saying that same thing.

Florida Evictions (http://www.rentlaw.com/eviction/floridaeviction.htm)
I checked out the website and it was exactly what I needed on how to proceed.

Thanks for all the advice, and sticking in there with me. It got a little :( for me but I'm truly grateful.

I have to point out, Siberianair has over 300 posts and a red box under his/her name.

Tikifl24, you're new, so I'll tell you what that means. It means that she/he has more people disagreeing with her/his advice then agreeing with it. At 300 posts, that says a lot.

Judy, NoHelp, This, Excon, they all know the law, they are our legal pros. If I ever needed legal advice I'd go to them, and I'd do exactly what they told me to do.

I hope you come back to tell us how it worked out. :)

I have to point out, Siberianair has over 300 posts and a red box under his/her name.

Tikifl24, you're new, so I'll tell you what that means. It means that she/he has more people disagreeing with her/his advice then agreeing with it. At 300 posts, that says alot.

Judy, NoHelp, This, Excon, they all know the law, they are our legal pros. If I ever needed legal advice I'd go to them, and I'd do exactly what they told me to do.

I hope you come back to tell us how it worked out. :)
Thanks A, I appreciate your input. I'll keep that in mind for future reference. Thanks, for helping out a newbie! And regards, to the Judy, NoHelp, This, and Excon. Appreciate your time! :)

I checked out the website and it was exactly what I needed on how to proceed.

Thanks for all the advice, and sticking in there with me. It got a little :( for me but I'm truly greatful.

I'm late on here, but I think I need to add some comments.

First, You said you gave them a three day pay or quit notice back in July. Why didn't you follow-up on that notice. When the three days expired should have been filing for an eviction order the next day.

What I'm concerned about now is whether you can still file without a second notice because you let the first one slip. I'm also concerned that, since Section 8 is involved, that your ability to evict may be constrained. If Section 8 is saying that no Section 8 contract currently exists, then you should be able to file for eviction. But the question about whether you need to refile the 3 day notice is still there.

As for trying to get money out of Section 8, I'm afraid that will be quixotic. The wheels of bureaucracy run slowly and its very possible the worker who authorized (verbally) the extension was not aware of the failure and that's not going to make them liable.

You WILL be able to sue the tenant for damages and back rent. But I'm afraid these people know what they are doing and you will have a hard time collecting anything. I would also suggest putting the electric back in their names ASAP.

Finally, as an aside, this site is an open site. Anyone can post here. There are a number of very conscientious and knowledgeable people who give great advice and will make sure that incorrect advice is pointed out. Sometimes this does cause arguments, but we try to keep them to a minimum.

To add to what Scottgem said
You won't be able to get money out of sect 8. They will say the person she talked to gave bad advice.

I'm late on here, but I think I need to add some comments.

First, You said you gave them a three day pay or quit notice back in July. Why didn't you followup on that notice. When the three days expired should have been filing for an eviction order the next day.

What I'm concerned about now is whether you can still file without a second notice because you let the first one slip. I'm also concerned that, since Section 8 is involved, that your ability to evict may be constrained. If Section 8 is saying that no Section 8 contract currently exists, then you should be able to file for eviction. But the question about whether you need to refile the 3 day notice is still there.

As for trying to get money out of Section 8, I'm afraid that will be quixotic. the wheels of bureaucracy run slowly and its very possible the worker who authorized (verbally) the extension was not aware of the failure and that's not going to make them liable.

You WILL be able to sue the tenant for damages and back rent. But I'm afraid these people know what they are doing and you will have a hard time collecting anything. I would also suggest putting the electric back in their names ASAP.

Finally, as an aside, this site is an open site. Anyone can post here. There are a number of very conscientious and knowledgeable people who give great advice and will make sure that incorrect advice is pointed out. Sometimes this does cause arguments, but we try to keep them to a minimum.
The date of the 3 day certified mail notice is 7/9/09; to be out by 7/15/09, which I received back in the mail "unclaimed" 8/2/09. Due to my ignorance in real estate matters, I did not file anything after that. Obviously, these people do know a lot more than I had anticipated.

After this date, I had to leave out of the country on business, so I was unable to follow-up. I also figured that they would be moving into their new place by August, since Section 8 told me they had given them a new voucher for another location.

Regarding the caseworker, how can they not be liable when this person was directly assigned to this particular case and knew exactly what was going on with this tenant and the inspections? Also, the first inspector wasn't as thorough as the 2nd apparently, then I would have never allowed her to move in if I had known I had to fix so many knit-picky items. The biggest thing the 2nd inspector found was that the house was considered a 3 bedroom as opposed to a 4, because there was no window in the 4th bedroom, which only allows me to charge $950 in rent instead of $1100; that was huge for me! How can the 1st inspector miss that!

Regarding the power, we checked and we can turn it off, but not transfer it back to them.

Another particular in this matter is that, I had the tenant sign my own lease (under the instruction that it would be a good idea from the S8 caseworker) in addition to the Section 8 contract. My lease has verbage about holdover, Intent to vacate, Surrender of Premises, default, etc. Though, I would assume it's moot, since the S8 contract supersedes it.

This sounds like such a lose-lose situation. I truly just want them out ASAP. I'm going to go the courthouse today and find out what I need to file :(.

Again, I'm thankful to this site for having an outlet so as not to feel alone in this matter.

Hello again, t:

You need to grasp some distinctions. You've got TWO agencies that you're intermingling... One is the court, whose job is to enforce state law... And, the other is section 8, and I'm not sure what their job is, but I can promise you, it's NOT to enforce the law...

So, let's take the bureaucracy first - Section 8. You're absolutely right, the bureaucrats didn't know what they were talking about. They cost you a LOT of money and heartache, and they're STILL not done costing you money... I don't disagree with that at all...

Are they responsible for their acts?? Yes. Are they LIABLE for their acts?? No. SHOULD they be liable for their acts?? Of course. Can you make them liable simply because they SHOULD be held liable?? No.

You DID have the opportunity to get legal advice before you did section 8. You chose not to...

Now, we have the courts... They CARE what the lease was. They DON'T care what your deal is with Section 8. The courts have TEETH with which to enforce their rulings, assuming your deadbeat tenant HAS anything, which is doubtful... But they can certainly put your tenant ON the street and out of your hair.

So, you probably won't collect a dime from the tenant, and for SURE you ain't going to collect anything from Section 8. Chalk your losses up to being a rookie in the landlord business, and SAVE what you can...

In that vein, you must EVICT your tenant. And you must evict him in the manner I described earlier. It's really a bummer that you put the electricity in your name BEFORE you spoke with us, because you're going to be paying their electric bill for the duration...

Let me ALSO caution you about the clerk of court. I said earlier that they'll help you fill out the papers, and they will. They will NOT offer legal advice, however, so if you ask them what you should do, they won't help you.

excon

I totally agree with excon here. My only concern here is whether you nullified the 3-day notice by not following up. It it was nullified it means you have to serve them again. Since they refused your first letter, you will have to hire a process server to serve them.

I think the best thing she can do is start all over with another 3 day notice and send it mail, certified and hand delivered and follow up this time.