Ask Me Help Desk - Tenant issues

I have a tenant who moved in last year and signed a one year lease. The lease began on August 1st 2008 and will expire on July 31, 2009. I am having a number of issues and not really getting any help from the courts as far as answers.

First problem, I agreed to leave the energy bill in my name but had them sign an agreement stating that they agree to clear the balance at the end of every month and if they fail to comply with this agreement that they will be required to put the bill in their name. Now first of all before anyone hollers at me I know this was a bad mistake but I needed to get the property rented and was running out of time. So anyway after several months of them not paying the bill I served them with a "correct or vacate" notice on May 15th, 2009 via certified mail and stated that they have 30 days to correct the issue or vacate the premises. The date it needs to be fixed by is May 17th which is Monday and as of today it still has not been taken care of.

I went to the court house to file the summons and complaint and start the eviction process and was told that I have to file a non military service notice, however according to the department of defense he is considered active duty because he works at the national guard every day. He is not due to ship out again until some time in June so as far as starting the eviction process I am pretty much out of luck. Is there anything else I can do about that?

Secondly, I will not be renewing their lease come the end of July, I am serving them notice via certified mail next week that the lease will end as of July 31st and will not be renewed. My question is this, does it matter whether he is shipped out or working for the military if I do not want to renew their lease or am I stuck with these people forever? Can I choose to not renew the lease regardless of when he ships out next? I need to get rid of these people, they are killing my credit with the energy bill that is now over $500.

Please give me any advice that you can so I can get these people out ASAP. Thank you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kanicky73

Can I choose to not renew the lease regardless of when he ships out next?

Hello k:

Sure you can.

excon

I assume he's not the only person living on the premises. So that when he ships out the rest of the family will still be there.

The only special treatment that military personnel get is that they can generally get out of a lease early if ordered to a new location. But that's not your problem.

If the court is telling you file a non military notice, then do so. Get the name of the person telling you this so if the judge tells you different you can explain why you did what you did.

She called me today and told me that she received my non renewal notice and that it means nothing because her husband ships out June 1st. I explained to her that she received notice before he ships out so it's their responsibility to make arrangements for when he is gone.

To answer your question Scott, yes it there is more than one person there, it is her, the husband and a daughter but she is telling me that the law says that if he gets shipped out I have to renew their lease no matter what. And the court said that to file the non military service he can not be on active duty. If the search on him from the department of defense comes back as active duty then I can not evict them. This seems so unfair to me, I want them out and if they keep hiding behind the military bs I will never get them out. There has to be something I can do. I am hoping that the technicality that I have on my side is that I am not "evicting" them, I am simply not renewing their lease.

If they do not move out at the end of the lease even after being notified that I am not renewing it, can I hire a moving company and move them out and put their stuff in storage? I really need some help on this one cause I need to get them out.

No, you can't just move their stuff into storage. Take them to Small Claims court for the electric bill.

As twinkie said you cannot move them out. That would open you up for a lawsuit for unlawful eviction.

This:
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) - Section 301 - Evictions and distress

Seems to be what she is going under. But tis does provide some relief for the landlord, including having the military paymaster pay the landlord directly.

Sorry I haven't been on here in a while, was busy trying to get them out.

I went the old fashioned way and decided to give the wife an ultimatum. I told her either they move out by June 10th or I tell her husband about all the bad checks, notices she has received from me etc. She took the bait and long story short they are gone!! Yeah me!! I am so glad to have them gone and have tenants who actually pay their bills. Thanks to all of your advice!! As always, you guys are the best!

I'm sorry, I don't want to start an argument, but I'm curious to know why it matters if they stay or go due to him being deployed. Its not like they would NOT be paying the rent.

Go after them for the electric bill in small claims as twinky said. But is the fact that the husband is going on deployment the problem, or is it that you don't like them not playing the electricity.

Jenni, It really didn't matter to me whether he was home or deployed. The fact was that they were not paying the rent on time and always had some excuse for not doing so. In addition to that, the wife was using the excuse that when he gets deployed, they don't have to pay the rent and I couldn't evict them for not doing so. So that was there the issue of him staying or going came into play. And the electric bill was getting out of hand. Her defense was his deployment. I respect everyone in the military completely but don't feel that it should have been used as an excuse for not paying your bills. I hope that answers your question my dear, if I understood it correctly.