I have recently purchased a home which has tenants. They received an eviction notice from the former owners and from the courts. The court notice gave them 10 days to leave. They were supposed to be gone from the property last month. They are not living there but there belongings remain. We had changed the locks a couple of days ago. A neighbor informed us yesterday that people were at the property and kicked the door down to remove their belongings. We filed a police report and showed the officer our deed. We were basically told that their was nothing that we could do. The person that kicked the door down was not even the tenant but the brother of one of the tenants. We have left numerous notes on the door stating that if they wanted their belongings to call our number and we would be happy to unlock the door. Now we are receiving phone call threats and having messages sent to us by people they know. Is there anything we can do? We were also informed that a police officer was present when the door was kicked in. Is this even legal? Thanks for your help.

No its not legal!! Call the cops and save the voice messages!

You made the big mistake of closing with their property still on your property. Once you took ownership, all of the eviction of the previouis owner really has no bearing, since you allowed their property to be there at closing.

You will have to start eviction proceedings all over again if they still have property there. You could not legally just change the locks on them.
They had a right to access to their property because they were never formally evicted, You should had waited for the court eviction and the sheriff or court officer to come out and have their property moved out under the court order. Since you accepeted the property with them still there, you became their new landlord.

But yes they had a right to get their property since there were never formally removed by the court,

Basically you closed too soon.

While I agree with Chuck. I'm not so sure about the timing. What seems clear is that they were served with eviction papers but not physically evicted. It seems that it was the responsibility of the seller to get them out and he didn't do it. So you may have a cause of action against the seller.

But Chuck is right in that, when you closed without making sure they were out you negated the eviction. You were not legally able to change the locks, so they may not have broken the law by breaking in.

So what's the situation now? Are their belongings still on the property or what?

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Originally Posted by pooter

I have recently purchased a home which has tenants. They received an eviction notice from the former owners and from the courts. The court notice gave them 10 days to leave. They were supposed to be gone from the property last month. They are not living there but there belongings remain. We had changed the locks a couple of days ago. A neighbor informed us yesterday that people were at the property and kicked the door down to remove their belongings. We filed a police report and showed the officer our deed. We were basically told that their was nothing that we could do. The person that kicked the door down was not even the tenant but the brother of one of the tenants. We have left numerous notes on the door stating that if they wanted their belongings to call our number and we would be happy to unlock the door. Now we are receiving phone call threats and having messages sent to us by people they know. Is there anything we can do? We were also informed that a police officer was present when the door was kicked in. Is this even legal? Thanks for your help.

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Scott These people were supposed to be out by Aug.1. Then a court ordered eviction was served for 10 more days. I can't understand why we could not change the locks. They had overstayed their welcome. We even had a note on the door to contact us when they wanted their stuff. They haven't been living there. They were basically using the home for storage. Yes, as of today their stuff is still there even though they told the police yesterday the would get it all out today. Big Surprise!

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Originally Posted by pooter

I can't understand why we could not change the locks. They had overstayed their welcome.

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Hello pooter:

Then it's a good idea for you NOT to become landlords, because the law say's you CAN'T do it even though you want to.

However, you ARE landlords whether you like it or not, and you need to follow landlord/tenant law in order to get them out. ScottGem and the Padre know what they're talking about. You can also read a copy of your states landlord/tenant law at the top of this forum on a sticky note. I think it wouldn't be a bad idea.

excon

I know it doesn't appear fair but the point is not that they were supposed to get out the point was that they didn't. If you had showed up with a sheriff and a court order and placed their stuff on the street, that would be legal. Changing the locks without getting their stuff out wasn't. Take the eviction order to the court, get an order to remove their property, Set a date and send them a certifrified letter that their property will be removed from the premises on that date. Make arrangements with a sheriff to be their to enforce the court order.

They had a court order to be removed from the property by Aug.1. They did not leave. Therfore the former owners and the tenants have to go to court this Tuesday. We do not want to be landlords. The reason for buying this house was to remodel and resale. If they had a court ordered eviction to be out 10 days after the first of the month, then why should they be allowed to use the house as storage?

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Originally Posted by pooter

I have recently purchased a home which has tenants. They received an eviction notice from the former owners and from the courts. The court notice gave them 10 days to leave. They were supposed to be gone from the property last month. They are not living there but there belongings remain. We had changed the locks a couple of days ago. A neighbor informed us yesterday that people were at the property and kicked the door down to remove their belongings. We filed a police report and showed the officer our deed. We were basically told that their was nothing that we could do. The person that kicked the door down was not even the tenant but the brother of one of the tenants. We have left numerous notes on the door stating that if they wanted their belongings to call our number and we would be happy to unlock the door. Now we are receiving phone call threats and having messages sent to us by people they know. Is there anything we can do? We were also informed that a police officer was present when the door was kicked in. Is this even legal? Thanks for your help.

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Oh yeah they and their stuff was ordered to leave the property before we purchased it. We talked to them and they told us they would be out on the 5th of August. Then we decided to buy. This purchase was through a bankruptcy court. The person we bought this house from had filed bankruptcy on it. The lawyer advised us it would be fine to buy it.

The problem was not in buying the problem was in closing before they were out.

What happened, they just did not follow the court order, the home owher had to arrange with the court to get a baliff or a deputy out and watch as all of the property was removed under the court order. ( owner has to pay for the movers)

So had the previous owner followed though with his obligations of the court order, they would have been out.

Now guess what you have to do it again, go to court and get them evicted again.

The renters could have had you fined for changing the locks on them, so be careful if you don't know the renting laws.