Ask Me Help Desk - Landlord is missing

Landlord is missing

My landlord moved to Florida a year ago and has been coming back and forth to fix problems and collect rent and would stay a few days. He had a cell phone we could call him if we had a problem and he had people here that would come and fix any problems. Recently he had his cell phone shut off he never came to pick up the rent and some of his houses where he pays the utilities they are beginning to be shut off because they are not being paid. Since there is no one to pay the rent to does that mean I have to move?

You wouldn't have to move without being given some sort of notice in the mean time if you have no other method of paying the rent put it in an escrow acct to pay him when he 'reappears'. I think you should be able to get the utilities on in your name once the utility companies shuts them off but you would have to pay a deposit.

It means you should be trying as hard as you can to contact someone he may know or the police. Tell them exactly what you told us. This is fishy, don't you think? Good luck.

It could be many things, one of course they owe for everything and just moved off and left it. But of course many things could have happened.

As noted you can live there and keep the money in escrow if they show up. Did you not have some forwarding address for them

I gather he owns several homes in the area. I would suggest that you get all of the tenants that you know of together and open up ONE escrow account that you ALL deposit your rent into.

Next I would contact a real estate lawyer to help you manage that account. The lawyer can set it up so that utility payments and repairs are paid out of the escrow account. He can also help you attempt to locate the landlord, check if there are mortgages against the properties that aren't being paid, find other tenants you may not know about, etc.

You need to determine if the landlord is still living and plans to maintain the properties. Otherwise they may be foreclosed on and you may have to move. I would not wait until you get a notice of foreclosure, I would check the status of ownership NOW.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

I gather he owns several homes in the area. I would suggest that you get all of the tenants that you know of together and open up ONE escrow account that you ALL deposit your rent into.

next I would contact a real estate lawyer to help you manage that account. The lawyer can set it up so that utility payments and repairs are paid out of the escrow account. He can also help you attempt to locate the landlord, check if there are mortgages against the properties that aren't being paid, find other tenants you may not know about, etc.

You need to determine if the landlord is still living and plans to maintain the properties. Otherwise they may be foreclosed on and you may have to move. I would not wait until you get a notice of foreclosure, I would check the status of ownership NOW.

This is excellent advice!

He hasn't been to his house which is directly behind mine and I have tried everything to get in touch with him.how would I find out the status of his properties,whether the mortgage is paid or not

Quote:

Originally Posted by marmie3186

he hasn't been to his house which is directly behind mine and i have tried everything to get in touch with him.how would i find out the status of his properties,whether the mortgage is paid or not

I told you what to do, You've made your amateur attempts (that's not a put down) but now its time to get a pro.

Quote:

Originally Posted by marmie3186

he hasn't been to his house which is directly behind mine and i have tried everything to get in touch with him.how would i find out the status of his properties,whether the mortgage is paid or not

I agree with Scott... it's probably time to at least consult an attorney. Did you say where you're located? If you can't afford an attorney you could try contacting a law school or some other sort of legal aid / legal assistance program. There are also tenant advocate groups.

Each state / county has different ways of posting foreclosures, etc. Once a property is slated to go up on the foreclosure auction, it's a matter of public record. You can start making phone calls to county offices. In some places it's fairly easy - there's basically a list. In other places it's like finding a needle in a haystack.

I would send a letter, certified mail (keep a copy for yourself and the mail receipts, etc) to the address you have for the landlord (even if you know he's not there) stating that you have the rent ready for him, and have had it since the 1st. At least that way you have some sort of paper trail.

The risk you're running, in my opinion, is that if the house is in foreclosure it's likely that someone is basically going to show up and tell you to move without much or any notice. Getting an attorney involved will help you discover if that's what's going on. AND they can tell you legally, exactly what to do with the rent.

You can still continue trying to check on stuff yourself. A lot of times you just have to call all around to various county offices, Google anything and everything you can think of like the landlord's name, address, phone number. Talk to all the neighbors. Google your state and/or city and "tenant rights". Just basically put on your private investigator hat. But what (I think) Scott's saying, and I agree with, is it's a painfully slow way to get info, and you may get conflicting answers. Hiring an attorney gives you a layer of protection. I believe it was suggested to band together with some of his other tenants. Do you know them? Or if you even have addresses I'd go knock on doors and see what they know. If you all chip in on an attorney it should be quite affordable.

Right, you mentioned, in the OP, "some of his houses" have had utilities shut off. This indicated to me that he has multiple houses and you are in contact with some of the tenants. Therefore, you should NOT be going this alone. You have other people that you can join with to pool resources and share an attorney's fee.