My tenant of twelve years has been incarcerated due to sale of drugs to undercover agent. My unit is a mess as a result of the raid. My lease has specific eviction for illegal drug activity with all legal fees paid by tenant if a result of this illegal drug activity. I have gone to police for direction and was told this is price of rental ownership call the magistrate. I have called the magistrate and was told they cannot give legal advice. The lawyers I use are competent in wills and estates. What is my next step and what type of lawyer do I use? Criminal? Civil? What happens to the contents. I have a lot of cleaning up to do but need direction before touching a thing. Thank you.

First... evict them immediately... have the Sherrifs remove their property.. get it rented out. THis way you can get to renting it back out ASAP and minimize your losses.

YOu could try Civil... but its going to cost you a lot of money and good luck collecting from someone in prison. You can also go the Small Claims court route... thats cheaper on your end... and you will likely win... but again, collecting is going to be another thing.

Either court can award you damages... but collecting them might be far more difficult.

Weigh the costs of this against the risk of not being able to collect.. and decide if its worth it for you to proceede.