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Hi,
My tenant lived in my house, rent-free, no lease, for over 2 years. I helped her out, because she still has no job and is going through a divorce. She helped me by getting groceries (with her VA disability money) and cooking. Anyway, she, her dog, and her 3 sons (who would visit often for days at a time) destroyed my carpets. I paid $7000 to rip up the basement carpet and put down tile, it was so horribly stained and stinking! The dog also left permanent stains all over the house. My walls are damaged in the basement, too. It's going to take me several years and paychecks to repair all the damage. I'll never see a dime from her.
I decided to evict her. She was taking over my home! So, she met a guy and started living with him a few months ago. She never comes over to my house anymore, which is fine. I did give her a written eviction notice that I typed up myself, with 107 days to move out. She has until Halloween. She is nasty, dirty, cluttered. Yesterday, I spent all day in the basement cleaning up her clutter, boxing, bagging, consolidating - sweeping up food and dead bugs. She claims she can't find anyone to help her move her stuff out!!
So: what if the deadline of Halloween comes and goes, and she still doesn't move her stuff out of my house? Does it become my property, to dispose of as I please?? I want to donate it to charity!
Well, she doesn't pay you, there's no lease. She's not a tenant, she just lives there. If she hasn't been back in a couple months, then she's out, in this ONE circumstance, I suggest changing the locks, but make sure you do to the post office and tell them to stop sending hwr mail to your house. If sge claims she doesn't have help getting things moved out, and you just want this over with, move her stuff yourself. If you know she's living with her boyfriend, get ahold of her or him and say, "YO, I want your crap out, so I'm willing to pack it up and drive it to wherever you want, abd put it wherever you want, just not on my property."
Whatever you do, don't get rid of it without her knowledge. She will suecthe crap out of you and win because you maliciously damaged her property. If you know her current address, send a certified letter, saying you have 30 more days, and I will dispose of it as the laws state. Unfortunately, just because she's not a tenant doesn't mean all rules go out the window. Depending on your state, abandoned property after the notify date is handled in different ways.
If you and her used to be friendly, then try to end it amicably. Don't trash everything in a rage.
If she is so conniving that she contrives herself being a tenant because of the money she "paid" for groceries etc and if your eviction letter considers her a tenant....she may have/consider herself to have tenant rights. Thankfully, you are not in California. Here is your county legal eviction info. But you can call the sheriff on here and see what they think about your actual tenant situation.
I remember eviction is very specific in the zip code you give. So here is the link to start if you get to go that way.
That's specific number of days notice to pay or quit. Specifically what will be done then. Tenant Court day may still be Fridays. You need to do it legally with this woman and sons and boyfriend.
I recall from a few years ago what was called put outs of tenants' household goods but I imagine scheduling a donation truck to be there at the time of the put out is ok...but you have to read this through.
You should change your locks too so they don't come and take things out...including your appliances, carpet, whatever.
she's lived there for two years without a lease; so she's a tenant (or might be) on a month to month basis. I bet she gets mail at your house, that also makes her a tenant/resident. You cannot stop her mail from coming to your house..only she can.
In order to get rid of her you would need to give her a 30 day notice, not 107. If she stays past the 30 days, you file for a formal eviction with the courts.
She is a tenant..she has rights..so make sure you follow the procedure for getting rid of her.
Good luck and please keep us posted on this situation.
She is legally a tenant. No, you can't just throw her stuff out. Check your state law about abandoned property. I suspect that her property would not be considered abandoned.
To protect yourself legally, after her notice period to vacate is up, you go to court and file to get a judge to issue an eviction order against her. After you get the judge's order, you can get rid of her stuff, but you have to follow whatever teh law says about removal and storage.
At this point, you are not evicting her. You have simply given her a notice to vacate.
I know that in California you can't just toss or sell someone's property after they've moved out. I think you have to wait like 6 months or something like that. Check your state law.
Quote:
My tenant lived in my house, rent-free, no lease, for over 2 years. I helped her out, because she still has no job and is going through a divorce.
She sounds like a real winner! I know someone who has made a career out of being a dead beat. Before I knew him better, I let him house watch for a week. It wound up taking me a month to get him out. That was 20 years ago. To this day he's still mooching off of friends.
Once had a tenant that owner her own trailer (mortgage), but leased to own land from me. Upon eviction for non-payment, she was court ordered to remove her personal property within 30 days. Of course she left everything, trailer included. The mortgage company was issued an order to remove the trailer (I don't remember how many days) and repair and damage caused by the move (fencing). I then rented a dump truck and dumped 2 tons crap. 2 tons....
Final result was that she had to pay my for the rent due and late fees. I had to take her to small claims court to recoup the property disposal fees. Quite the hassle.
Keep in mind this was 15 years ago in GA.
On a positive note, I learned how to drive and operate a dump truck and a cool moped.
You can't just type up an eviction notice. Eviction is a legal proceeding and it's one the the last steps in legal removing a tenant.
You likely should have given her a Written Notice to move out. That's just a notice of you giving her an end date to move out - it's not an eviction. Eviction would only occur if she didn't move out by the date on the notice, assuming the notice was delivered properly and enough advance notice was given per your state law.
It sounds like she has abandoned the propery already. Abandonement is defined in your state landlord tenant statutes. It occurs when a tenant leaves for a specific period of time and stops paying rent. Each state has lows on how you handle the property left behind during abandonment.
If she has already abandoned, you likely should get your door locks rekeyed or change the locks. This way she cannot use her key to get inside.
If you tell us your state, some nice folks here can look up abandonment rules for you state. You have to be careful to ensure you follow the rules so you don't have to buy stuff for her later for tossing it too soon.
Well, she doesn't pay you, there's no lease. She's not a tenant, she just lives there.
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She is considered a tenant even if she doesn't pay and if she doesn't want to leave you would have to evict her.
I knew of someone who was getting VA disability benefits and it was like $36K a year tax free and this was like 10 years ago, but I think he claimed to have PTSD even though he was not in combat because there was an attack on the base. So maybe he got more for that.
I would have her things moved into a storage. I'd pay one month, and send her the info and the bill. And, I'd have already changed my locks.
You'll never see reimbursement for the basement, maybe you can write that off somehow.
Call it good, and move on.
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