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I still would not change the locks or get rid of the belongs, even though I understand why you did it. You can be arrested for doing that in some states.
For Section 8 I've heard to get a tenant whose already held a Section 8 voucher for several years, not someone brand new to the program. There are definitely landlords out there who've been very successful with Section 8, but you have to be very proactive and hands on.
Thanks, you can only take so much and once you saw the place you would lock it up real quick to keep them from doing any more harm.
Don't forget, people who owe rent are actually no longer renters and once you serve them a notice they are now trespassing.
I did not get rid of their belongings, I was told by my attorney that I could drop them on the street or charge them for normal storage of them. I decided to put it on the street because if they were not going to pay the rent how would I ever get paid to store there items.
On the other hand if someone has not paid rent and have done harm to you property you are allowed by law to protect your property by locking it up, in my case if they entered the home once the warning was given to them and knew the locks were changed they would be trespassing.
Hopefully I will never have to go through that again as I raised the rent high enough most sec 8 people could not afford to rent my house.
I would love to share the photos I took of the carpet, kitchen and bath, you all would get sick if you saw the filth. But since I am still looking at getting my money back from them I cannot. I am just waiting for the day one of them get a job so we can garnishments real quick. Best bet they will never get a real job and they are welfare lifers.
It's bizarre and shocking that some people choose to live like animals. I'll never forget the episode of COPS where they found the woman living in a maggot infested trailer.
I think there are some tenant blacklists (on websites). That would be an easy way to warn people, by adding this person's name there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunny-Days90
Thanks, you can only take so much and once you saw the place you would lock it up real quick to keep them from doing any more harm.
Don't forget, people who owe rent are actually no longer renters and once you serve them a notice they are now trespassing.
I did not get rid of their belongings, I was told by my attorney that I could drop them on the street or charge them for normal storage of them. I decided to put it on the street because if they were not going to pay the rent how would I ever get paid to store there items.
On the other hand if someone has not paid rent and have done harm to you property you are allowed by law to protect your property by locking it up, in my case if they entered the home once the warning was given to them and knew the locks were changed they would be trespassing.
Hopefully I will never have to go through that again as I raised the rent high enough most sec 8 people could not afford to rent my house.
I would love to share the photos I took of the carpet, kitchen and bath, you all would get sick if you saw the filth. But since I am still looking at getting my money back from them I cannot. I am just waiting for the day one of them get a job so we can garnishments real quick. Best bet they will never get a real job and they are welfare lifers.
This is something I'm wondering about: do you charge an application fee for Section 8 tenants? Do they even have enough money to pay a $35 fee? Also, is checking their credit worth the bother? I would assume it would be uniformly bad, or no credit. It seems like ref. check and criminal background check would be the most important things.
floridasandy sorry to hear what you went through but not every renter is like that.First of all if somebody did all that damage to your property I would be suing them!
Now you want to hear some horror stories from renters? My sister got divorced and ended up having to rent a townhouse in a upper income area in the Orlando suburbs. Her monthly rent was $2000 a month so to move in was the usual first & last month's rent plus an equivalent amount for a Security deposit for a grand total of $6000.00 upfront.
Six months into her yearly lease she gets a knock on the door and it's a Orange County Sherrif serving foreclosure papers because the owner's who were Austrian nationals were taking her money & not paying their mortgage! She wound up losing her last month's rent & deposit in addition to having to come up funds to rent another place and moving expenses. So what was my sister to do since it's a civil matter also.
Don't give up on renting since it can be lucrative but sometimes you never know with some people and I say this as a realtor.
I had a maxofacial plastic surgery doctor who wanted to rent a house in Coral Gables since it would be close to his practice near the University of Miami. He and his wife flew in from Tampa on a Saturday and cleared my schedule. I showed him 4 houses and he choose one of those. They pay me in cashier's checks to secure the property and low and behold they bounce! Meanwhile we as brokers have already paid out commissions to the listing broker!He did come up with the money but he didn't fulfill his lease because he apparently was having an affair with his assistant and his marriage fell apart. By the way he had excellent credit & references.
This is something I'm wondering about: do you charge an application fee for Section 8 tenants? Do they even have enough money to pay a $35 fee? Also, is checking their credit worth the bother? I would assume it would be uniformly bad, or no credit. It seems like ref. check and criminal background check would be the most important things.
Welfare pays the most all fees. Heck, they give them cell phones, cable and almost everything most of us have to pay for.
I check the credit first, it is a known fact that if the credit report is shady and the scores are under 600 you will more then not find issues other then credit after that. They all go hand in hand to help you. But after years of seeing credit reports I can almost tell you if I will find some other issues hidden with real low scores. I had one app that the FICO score was 395 and had 20+ charge offs, several medical bills, a repo car, a foreclosed house and other problems like judgments and tax issues. I did not need to go any further with anything as I wont rent to that person.
Credit reports are a way to see what kind of history is behind the person.
I have seen many credit scores above 800 as well as tons under 500.
And people in their 40's who have never owned a home in their life. Rented their entire life.
Guess I have about seen it all to some extent.
The credit report I saw that was 395 was one of the worst I have ever laid eyes on. The credit card charge offs were a huge amount of money. The car repo was I think around 42k so they had good credit at one time but just decided to dump on all the creditors for some reason.
People who do damage to one house then go onto another can be sued but most of the time you will never get anything.
They are lifers and will never have a decent job or keep one long enough for you to get a judgment to obtain the garnishment. Once the suit is served on them they quit their job real quick and run and hide.
These types always find ways out of messes. It is like these people have been trained on what to do next.
Very hard to catch up with them.
I do know a landlord who for 10 years was waiting for this couple to get jobs, well they did after 10 long years they thought he would forget, he did not.
Their gas bill they stuck him with was over 1500.00 and 4 months rent and damages to the property. He said he never gave up and ended up getting it after 10 years.
Like he said it was not the money, it was he was not going to let them get away with it.
Welfare pays the most all fees. Heck, they give them cell phones, cable and almost everything most of us have to pay for.
I check the credit first, it is a known fact that if the credit report is shady and the scores are under 600 you will more then not find issues other then credit after that. They all go hand in hand to help you. But after years of seeing credit reports I can almost tell you if I will find some other issues hidden with real low scores. I had one app that the FICO score was 395 and had 20+ charge offs, several medical bills, a repo car, a foreclosed house and other problems like judgments and tax issues. I did not need to go any further with anything as I wont rent to that person.
Credit reports are a way to see what kind of history is behind the person.
I have seen many credit scores above 800 as well as tons under 500.
And people in their 40's who have never owned a home in their life. Rented their entire life.
Guess I have about seen it all to some extent.
The credit report I saw that was 395 was one of the worst I have ever laid eyes on. The credit card charge offs were a huge amount of money. The car repo was I think around 42k so they had good credit at one time but just decided to dump on all the creditors for some reason.
I agree. I have an attorney now draw up all my leases.
I, like you get a ton of money up front or they don't rent.
I tried to recoup the thousands from one family who cost me what I posted above, as usual they have nothing to get and will never have anything for me to recoup my losses, but, I will be keeping an eye on them for a long time. If they get anything I can grab or put a lien on I am going to.
My local police feel sorry for these types of people and wont touch them unless you have them doing something on camera or video.
i agree. i was told by the sheriff's department that if i were to change the locks as long as the utilities were in the tenant's name that they could break the door down legally to get back in the house. they also told me that you cannot throw out their stuff and that tenants have actually sued (even after they have destroyed a property) because their stuff got thrown out and won in court!
the laws need to be changed and i am contacting my representatives to see what can be done. as a landlord you have an obligation to keep the property in good shape, but so does the tenant. if the courts reward bad behavior, things will never change.
It's unlikely that law will change--there is still a bias against landlords even in pro-landlord states. I commend you for wanting to change things but I think your time would be better spent on things you can control, like screening tenants. One thing you can do is bring a video camera during your walk through with the new tenant. If you have the tenant on camera in the house agree that it's in good condition, it's hard for them to make a stink later if you keep the deposit for damages.
Quote:
Originally Posted by floridasandy
i agree. i was told by the sheriff's department that if i were to change the locks as long as the utilities were in the tenant's name that they could break the door down legally to get back in the house. they also told me that you cannot throw out their stuff and that tenants have actually sued (even after they have destroyed a property) because their stuff got thrown out and won in court!
the laws need to be changed and i am contacting my representatives to see what can be done. as a landlord you have an obligation to keep the property in good shape, but so does the tenant. if the courts reward bad behavior, things will never change.
Landlording in Gainesville made me rich, but since retired 2003. Today renters are trashy, much worse now, destroy your place..... I got out when it was good. Im glad I did. If you dont have the temperment to rent aka be a Landlord meaning a renter, and he/she goes #2 (takes several dumps) all your air vent ducts, takes a sledge hammer to walls, then drags you thru court for 1 year (and pays u nothing in rent-he can live free up to one year), then he/she bails to Texas, Arizona or any big city in California, how do you find she/him? You will die an early death. I think owning/managing your own properties and renting those properties--most stress related job outside a NYC Crane Operator. Right now, I have a young Brazilian man owes me $25k and after 5 years I am still looking for him. Where is he? In Miami lost in the crowd.
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