Our nightmare is almost over (I hope).
The long saga started when we moved into this house-but it has nothing to do with THIS house but our other one. We put it up on the market but this was when the market was in the toilet and we had a lousy realtor. She just kept telling us to lower the price-we already had it as low as we could. And we had a fuel company didn't deliver our auto-deliver heating fuel so we had pipes freeze.
After it sat empty (and cost us for taxes, insurance, etc), reluctantly, we decided to rent it out-hoping to make a little bit of money until the market improved and we could sell it. We rented it to this guy & his girlfriend. After about a month, his girlfriend moved out. He was struggling to pay rent. We suggested that he find another place. He said that his mother (who was living in the house with him) wanted to rent the place. So, we drew up a new lease with her name on the lease. This was last April. The lease also stated that she was also supposed to pay for water consumption since the town wouldn't take our name off the water bill.
She pretty much didn't pay for water from the beginning. Then when Dec. rent was due, she didn't pay because she told us that she was moving. We filed eviction paperwork in Jan. and FINALLY had a hearing on March 20th!!!!
She was appointed a councilor and between her & our lawyer, it was determined that she was supposed to pay into the court, money for March rent & by the first of April, the full rent for April. When the court ruling was issued, they left out the March part of it.
And when April rolled around, she hired a lawyer and counter-sued some bogus claim. The judge issued a Writ Of Possession only to revoke it the same day-WITHOUT giving us a hearing date!!!!
So, we had to start back at square one-having her served, yadda, yadda, yadda. Meanwhile, she is still living there-RENT FREE and we are STILL paying for her water usage-which is quite high!
Well, she & her grandkids were removed from the house by the state because she was in fear of her life by her daughter. So, her daughter, her boyfriend, & all their druggy friends are basically squatting in our house.
We asked the cops to remove them since they were not on the lease. The cops told us that they can't do that because she was living there with her mother-so it was like SHE was our tenant.
A few weeks ago, we went to the town office and told the town that our tenant moved out so turn off the water. Last Friday about 5, a cop shows up at our house and told us that we can't do that. We have to turn the water back on-oh so sad, it was Friday after 5 and the town office will be closed until Monday (the cop said with a smile-I should tell you that the cops want this woman out, too). I basically went off on him (well, I was venting to him) that if their names were on the water bill, the town would have shut it off by now. But we are being forced to pay for their water usage. He agreed but there was nothing he could do. When Hubby called to have it turned back on, he was told that he didn't know when they could get to it. He said, "I'm in no hurry."
The next door neighbor (who has been our spy) told us that they got in a big fight and he said something like, "We can't live like this-we can't live without it." She also informed us that no one has been there since Thursday and that there was a cat there. We went over there yesterday to check on things. We bought a cat carrier but she shows up and picks up the cat and leaves. We went in and what a mess! There are holes in the walls and trash EVERYWHERE. (The shed is FULL of trash. They were cited by the cops a few times for not doing anything with their garbage.)
Hubby came home & called our lawyer. He said CHANGE THE LOCKS! Take possession of the house. So, that is what Hubby is doing now. He is over there changing the locks. Yeah, we pushed them out by turning off the water. I guess yesterday, they didn't realize that the water was back on-which is good otherwise, they probably would have stayed. Unfortunately, we have to hold on to their crap for 60 days. Then we have the clean-up. But, Hubby is going to charge them if they want it as if he placed it in a storage unit. (The law allows that.) We were hoping that the house would be back on the market at this time but now we have to wait. (Spring is the best time for selling a house.)
I have to admit that I have been afraid through all of this. Are they going to retaliate? There have been a few times that Hubby used a cop escort to go over there. I'm actually a little nervous right now with him over there. I HOPE they haven't come back. It is possible that Hubby stopped at the cop shop to tell them he is taking possession of the house. I have to say, I have had issues with the cops in this town for a few reasons (mainly how they use our tax dollars), but they have been great to us through this whole ordeal.
Hubby has talked to a few legislatures that this law REALLY needs to be changed. So many landlords in this state have complained. We understand that there are a lot of slumlords out there but there seem to be more bad tenants than bad landlords and this state's laws are geared toward tenants. There really needs to be a balance. When this is completely done, he is going to file a grievous against the judge.
So, if you have read this entire post, good for you...er...I mean, thanks. lol Thanks for letting me vent!
This is the reason why we didn't want to be landlords in the first place.
Cat
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Here's one for Hanni
