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1. Does you lease actual prohibit improvements or does it allow them so long as the tenant understand they surrender the improvements at lease end? Many are assuming your lease prohibits improvements but, you need to set that straight before everyone goes chasing windmills. I'm also wondering if your dad may have given permission as your authorized agent/manager.
2. You (via your authorized agent/manager) illegally and probably in violation of local, state an possible federal laws dumped sewage out on the lawn because your too cheap to fix a habitability issue yet you question his rights because he's not an environmentalist?
You need to beg or borrow the money for a qualified attorney because although the tenant may be a jerk, you are a screwed up landlord and need to be out of the landholding business.
Lawyer up. See if your lawyer will draft up a legal document for your dad to sign saying you did not instruct him to pump out the water himself, that you intended for him to use a licensed company (since I hope you did), and that he alone is responsible. Have your dad sign it. If he won't, then go to the city about him. He may be your dad, but he's not being a good representive for you right now. I think he knows it.
Make sure your lawyer agrees, but I think you should report the incident yourself. Get their requirement for remediation of the issue. This would take away the tenant's leverage right there. It may also force an eviction until your house is in a habitable state, unless the city approves your temporary measure of having a LICENSED contractor pump out the tank on a set schedule to avoid contamination.
And save up that 20K. I'm not sure what rank you are, but I know darn well it's doable. If you're out of the dorms, see if you can get your chain of command to let you move back in due to financial hardship. If you're still in the dorms, request to be able to stay, same reason. $1K a month would get it saved up in less than two years. Don't eat out anymore. Restrict yourself to the dining facility/chow hall until you deal with this. Only make the minimum payment on whatever car you have.
And for goodness sake, hire a real property manager or at least get your dad to sign a contact with DETAILS as to what his responsibilities are. Base/post legal can review that for you. (I don't know that they could help with the other issue, although they can probably refer you to a local lawyer.)
I know that here, the city will go after the property owner, not the dad.
The dad was acting as the property owner's representative, therefore, the property owner is still responsible.
1 - Get a lawyer, evict that shyster as soon as possible.
2 - Take out a home equity loan and get a professional to fix the septic system.
3 - Fire Dad and hire a professional property manager. Most charge one month's rent to get it rented and then between 8-10% of the rent to manage it and are worth every penny, especially for someone like you who does have the capability to just hop on a plane to check it out in person when problems come up.
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This is a long story and I'll try to sum it up as best as I can.
I purchased a house in my home town before I joined the military. Paid in full, no mortgage. I rented it out since I'm stationed out of state and have no ability to use the house. I have my dad take care of everything.
I had a realator find this tenant which is why it seems like the whole situation looks murky.
ANYWAYS, this guy rented it out. First thing he did was change out the doors, cabinets, and added an illegal pole barn in the back yard(no permit or zoning approval). He did NOT mention any of this stuff when he signed the lease. He demanded that if he were to move out, I'd either have to pay him for the "upgrades" OR he removes them all. My lease DOES say that all modifications must be surrendered when lease ends. But all i hear from him is "I dont care".
The septic tank went bad a few months ago, I had a company out there to work on it the next morning. It was deemed that heavy rain fall had damaged the septic tank and that it would need to be replaced. I don't have $20k sitting around to replace it, so I gave him the option to either end the lease early(no penalties), or I'll just have to suck the water out frequently until his lease ends(which is in august of this year).
He DEMANDS that I have to sell him the house at a discounted price of $60,000. The house is valued at $120,000 and i sure as h*ll have more than $60,000 into the house. Nowhere in the lease does it say i have to sell him the house for whatever X amount.
The other day after a heavy rainfall, my dad decided up pump all of the water out himself, into the grass(I know, he does some stupid sh*t). The tenant then threatened to call the city for damaging the environment, and now he is saying that I have no choice but to sell him the house for $60,000, WITH owner financing because "he can't get a bank loan", OR he will call the city and have me fined. Not sure what good that does him, he's not an environmentalist by any means(drives a beat up old truck).
But serisouly, this situation has been a complete sh*t show. I'm trying to have this guy evicted, but with me being so far away from home it's a PITA. And my dad, for some reason, isn't budging at all. He keeps bending over for this tenant
This guy is threatening me, to either sell him the house for cheap w/ owner financing OR he will report me. I told him I can't do owner financing today(if I were to sell him the house for way more) and he started flipping sh*t. He's acting like he owns the house.
Is this guy just a piece of sh*t tenant or does this sound like a scam? Do I have any grounds if I were to evict him and he reports me for pollution? This guy is a major headache.
This tenant sounds like he is committing extortion. I hope that you have his texts or messages demanding that you sell him the house, or he is going to the authorities. That is illegal. Contact an attorney asap. You being in the military have some special protections....talk to an attorney on base asap! We had a lady go to prison in our state because she pulled something like this on her military spouse when they were divorcing......and because of the special protections she was found guilty. Sorry, hopefully someone can quote the laws.
Get the guy out of there, and then find out what you have to do to remedy the sewage situation.
Whatever you do, do not sell him the house....Do not text him anything that even looks like you will.
Home owners insurance??? for the sewage clean-up? There are Hazmat companies....contact one. It likely involves digging up your tank, and perhaps the saturated ground. No where near 60-120,000 though!
A link I found below researching the Military protections: Type Military special protection laws.....several others came up. Hope that you find something to help you asap. Please keep updating.
- Evict the nutcase.
- Offer the nutcase a deal, pay him 1 months rent to leave.
- Take a look at all the damage/changes he has make, document all of it, get estimates on how much it would cost to put it back to normal before he messed with it. It will be thousands. Tell him you wont sue him for all the damages he caused if he doesnt tell the town or fight the eviction.
He will take the deal once he sees the dollar figure of all his damages on paper. Forget the lawyer.
Once this guy is out, deal with the septic.
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