Tenants were given notice of eviction Aug.23rd, which means they have until Sept. 23rd to leave. Rent is due on the 3rd of each month. They have found a new place to live & have given deposit & first months' rent(to secure the new place) to new landlord, but have not paid us for the month of September. They are still living in our rental unit. What now? They have yet to move anything out of the unit to their new place. What rights does any landlord have in a case like this? Taking them to court doesn't help. They're living on a government check and therefore a fixed income. Here we are with them in the middle of a eviction and not paying rent while they are waiting for the 30 days to elapse.

Hello c:

You FINISH the eviction process, get a judgment, and try to collect. You already KNOW that's going to be difficult, so maybe you better just let 'em move when their new place is ready.

excon

Make sure the insurance is paid up.

It is definitely insured.

First, ANY question of law needs to include your general local as laws vary. Second, there are often different rules for mobile homes. So you need to be clear what type of rental unit and whether you own both the unit and the land its on.

A notice of eviction can only be issued by a court, a court would not give an additional 30 days to vacate. So its unclear what notice you gave them.

If they did not pay the August rent, you should have given them a 3-10 pay or quit notice. If they did pay August, then what is your reason for termination of tenancy? Are they under a lease? If so, when does it expire? How do you know they have found a new place?

P.S. please use the Answer This Question options to provide follow-up, not the Comments feature.

We own the land & the mobile home. They operated (his words, "that's my business) a business out of the mobile home(against contract terms). He brings in junk and sells junk. They burned a couch(to get metal out of it) in back of the mobile home & melted the siding, which is half of the back. The back of the mobile home looks like a scene from Sandford & Son. They have been asked repeatedly to clean it up & remove all of the garbage. We were told by the court that we had to give them written notice and if they did not comply, then the court takes over. We gave them written notice Aug23, which means they have to vacate by Sept 23. In the mean time, (this is a small town) we found out even where they are moving to. They get a government check on the 3rd of each month, & immediately paid a deposit & first months rent to the new landlord. Now, they have found a new home, yet are living rent free in our mobile home until they get the new one ready to move in. They evidently are having problems getting someone to help them move their items. They broke their lease when they did damage to the property. Double whammy on not paying their rent. Their lease was to be up the 3rd of December, 2010.

You still haven't given us your general area. But yes, you had to give them 30 days notice that you were terminating their lease. So you have done that. However, since they didn't pay the September rent, you may be able to give them a pay or quit notice to try and get them out sooner. Without knowing where you are I can't be sure. So ask the court about that.

If you have to until 9/23 then you are stuck. As soon as they move, you assess the damages done and apply their deposit towards those damages, then send them a bill for any amounts not covered by the deposit. If they refuse to pay, you file suit against them.

However, given the situation you may have a hard time collecting. So you may just want to cut your losses.

I'm guessing that you were told that by the clerk of court, not the court (the judge, ruling on a case pending before the court). Clerks are not supposed to give legal advice, but it appears that this one did so anyway.

If you would tell us what state you are in we would have a better idea of whether what the clerk told you is correct.

I don't think the clerk was giving legal advice, but merely detailing the procedure. Generally the eviction process involves giving the tenant either a pay or quit or termination notice. When the deadline for that notice expires, if the tenant has not vacated then a request for an order is filed with the court.

Right. She was giving me the procedure on how to go about eviction. Either way, I don't think we're going to get any rent for September.

Hello again,

As an aside, I recall a court clerk from one on my small claims suits. I inquired about the PROCESS.. She told me she can't give me legal advice. I told her that I didn't want LEGAL advice. I wanted to know PROCEDURE. She insisted that telling me about procedure WAS giving me legal advice...

Oy vey.

excon

We are in Kentucky. Our first tenant was great. She lived there for 5 years. She moved out because she found a house to buy. Our mistake was we didn't get a deposit from this new renter. They, as I said before, live on a government check & didn't have a lot more to spare. She would have had to put down $1000(500 deposit & 500 first month rent) and that would had left her with $700. So we felt sorry for her & didn't ask for a deposit. We'll never make that mistake again.

And she was correct, of course.

Hello lawyer:

No she wasn't. The Rules for Civil/Criminal Procedure for XX court, is a volume published by every court that I've done business with. Those volumes are PROCEDURE. They're NOT legal advice. What I wanted from her was contained in that book, and she had NO legal constraints from complying with my request.

excon

That's a mistake many who have rented to the "less affluent" people have made. Most do not repeat it a second time. And I highly recommend those that even might be thinking about it, to not do it. Its not a favor, all it really is, is setting yourself up to get taken advantage of. As you have learned in this case.

Its your property so take advantage of every way to protect yourself that the law in your area permits as a landlord. And try to not overstep those boundries as some localities don't side with the rights of the landowner nearly as much as they do with the Tenent.

If you are lucky they won't take the linoleum off the floors, the swtich plate trim and the light fixtures before they disappear leaving all the trash behind as has been the case I have direct experience with.

I went to the court clerk to file a notice of eviction. She told me that We have to give a written notice of eviction first, then if they do not leave, I can then file for an eviction notice. We had never had to do this before & we actually were told by a cop that all we had to do was go to the courthouse & file for an eviction notice. It wasn't that easy. If you don't know how to do something and if simply informing you how to go about doing it, is legal advice, then something is wrong here.
What do you do? Go to a lawyer & get charged for asking a question. Thank God this is a small town and we don't stand on ceremony. We tell it like it is. I have a feeling that cutting our losses is exactly what we're going to be doing.

Call one and ask whether he or she will charge for an initial consultation. Many don't.

Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of mistakes were made or things overlooked in this case.
I know it's tempting to get a renter in quickly.
A deposit should ALWAYS be collected. Even if you have to sign an agreement saying they will pay installments (this is never a wonderful idea, though, in my opinion).

You need to have a concrete lease with people.
Insurance companies sometimes include a clause stating there is no burning material (including a BBQ, torch, etc.) allowed within 10 feet of the home.

In the case of this female, you just learned an expensive lesson.

If you had a deposit, she would feel more inclined to give you her forwarding address. Since she didn't, you have no idea where she is going. And because of that, you cannot call her new landlord.

So it seems you will have to have her sent to collections.
Trust me, it never looks good when you have a collection from a landlord.

I hope you at least have all of the information necessary to do this.

It seems as though we're going to be eating Septembers' rent. These people are going to take until Sept. 23 to get out. Everything that was done wrong by us, which means what a tenant is allowed & not allowed to do
And wasn't mentioned in the contract, is going to be included in any new rental contract. We have sooooo learned our lesson. As of late, they are moving things out, slowly but surely. We are anticipating the day they leave. It can't be soon enough. I really appreciate all of the comments you all have given to me. It has really opened my eyes as to what can happen if a landlord doesn't protect themselves. When I told the clerk about the damage the guy did to the mobile home, both of them said that I could go to the county attorney & file charges of vandalism against the guy. We just didn't want to cause them any legal trouble like that. Although the guy is a bum, living off her government check, it just didn't seem right to do something like that. It is going to cost a couple hundred dollars to replace the siding,& we don't know what will have to be done on the inside, so that wasn't too harsh, but it's just that we feel like such idiots for not getting a deposit. It would have made such a difference.

You can still file suit against them for damages and unpaid rent.