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Old 03-17-2009, 09:10 AM
 
57 posts, read 404,736 times
Reputation: 35

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I have the court date for the eviction of current tenants set with the county JP court next week. Here's the scenario:

I ended up renting to a family back in December of 2008. They stated that they had put a deposit with another potential landlord thinking that they were going to go with them, but changed their mind and was working on getting a refund on the deposit. So I ended up just renting to them for that months rent with the promise that they would make the deposit payment with January's rent. Jan rolls around and they still don't have the refund (so they claim) so they just make January's rent. When February rolls around they say that they are waiting on one of their customers (they guy is a contract worker) to pay and that its delay. Haven't received payment yet and keeps giving me the runaround. I deliver a pay or vacate notice, and 10 days later file an eviction notice with JP court. Now our court date is next week. He still hasn't paid for Feb, Mar, deposit and utilities. I stopped by the house yesterday to see if they had moved out, but both cars were in the driveway but no answer. I ended up getting the VIN numbers off the two cars cause a lawyer buddy tells me I can put a lien on his cars (personal property). So what can I expect to happen next week in court and what's the process afterwards, if the family still hasn't moved out? Also, any advice on what I can do about collecting what is owed? (I've pretty much written it off as uncollectible but getting something out of it would be nice). I'm in Texas by the way.

I also forgot to mention that I only have the wife's SS#, but not the husbands. I would like for this to appear on both of their credit records as well as the eviction judgement.
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Old 03-17-2009, 04:18 PM
 
Location: Deep in the heart of Texas
1,914 posts, read 7,130,759 times
Reputation: 1988
Wow, that's bad news. As a renter myself, I would ask why did you let it slide for so long (the deposit). I would have said, sorry, but you need to have the deposit and first month's rent at lease signing. I guess, lesson learned. I heard from our own landlord that he had a heck of a time evicting the previous renters, they left all their junk behind and left owing him close to $5K!!
You shouldn't be so nice next time and be extremely business like.
Good luck.
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Old 03-17-2009, 10:50 PM
 
Location: San Antonio, Texas
3,503 posts, read 19,825,970 times
Reputation: 2771
I'm sure the lesson is learned. Business is business. I stopped being a nice guy a long time ago when it comes to being a landlord. no money, no house.
Anyway, in Texas, my experience has been that the JP will give them 5 days to leave. They will leave on day 5. You can file with the JP for the lien. I've never bothered, just start again. Like you, I just mark it up to experience and move on. Why throw good money after bad. It will cost you more to file liens and get judgements that will probably never be paid. They have no money for the rent, they will never have money. I don't let the loss or the audacity of the losers get me. head high, I re-rent the property. And i've turned mean and non-caring for sob stories. They are just that...stories.
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Old 03-18-2009, 08:32 PM
 
Location: Lake Conroe, Tx
637 posts, read 3,228,495 times
Reputation: 421
Would have to agree with Shane.... Never execute a lease and hand over keys without a security deposit, first full months rent and signed lease in hand. If the lease was written with a security deposit included (which I assume it was) and the tenants never gave the deposit, getting an eviction should be easy.
The way I would have filed is to say that you have not yet received rent as the first months rent they gave you was the security deposit, and that the rent was not paid rather than the security deposit.

What you can expect is they won't show up for the court date and you will get a writ of possession for 5 days later.

Like the previous poster mentioned they will leave under the cover of darknees on day 4 or 5 so they don't have the embarrassment of being helped out by the constable...

You can easily get a judgement, but if they're not W-2 employees you may never see your $; also if they leave the state it can become even more cumbersome to collect. On the other hand if they have a standard W-2 job in Tx where there are with-holdings, a judement is the same as a post dated check :-)
Good luck.
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Old 03-20-2009, 11:26 PM
 
Location: SW Austin & Wimberley
6,330 posts, read 17,992,018 times
Reputation: 5531
First of all, if you have a proper lease, it will state that you can apply all rent payments first to non-rent obligations. So technically, the deposit is paid and the rent is short. But you have to notify the tenant of that, and cite the lease paragraph. I'm not sure what will happen with an "unpaid deposit" eviction.

Eviction for non-payment of rent is fairly straight forward and predictable if you provided proper notice and did everything right. Texas doesn't have a "pay or quit". Eviction has to be an unconditional demand for surrender, unless you've made a previous demand and the "pay or quit" is the second notice. If the tenant challenges the language of your notice, the judge might throw it out.

Never, ever, under any circumstance, ever, allow a tenant to move in without paying in full all of the move-in costs with cashier's check or money order. It's a really, really bad idea as you are now learning.

Finally, if you can't run your rental business professionally, which you are not currently doing, then hire a good property manager. It will cost you less for a property manager than you will lose making these sort of mistakes. It's a tough business and you can't try to "help" people or be nice. You will almost always be punished for being a nice guy. That doesn't mean you can't be professional and cordial, but you're not in the business of making people loans, which is what you did when you let them move in without paying.

Good luck.

Steve
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Old 04-01-2009, 10:58 PM
 
52 posts, read 261,617 times
Reputation: 31
am about to go through this process for the 1st time as well. thanks for posting. I found this on tx constitution and statutes. found this great link a user posted in the renting section that can be of help in the process.

Texas Constitution and Statutes - Home

PROPERTY CODEÂ*Â* CHAPTER 24. FORCIBLE ENTRY AND DETAINER

(e) The writ of possession shall authorize the officer, at the officer's discretion, to engage the services of a bonded or insured warehouseman to remove and store, subject to applicable law, part or all of the property at no cost to the landlord or the officer executing the writ.

have you figured out what to do if that potential dillemma arises? i never knew there were companies that acted as repos for household goods for generic evictions...know anything about it?

well, good luck w/ your situation. I shouldn't have been "nice" either. lesson learned. it sucks. wonder why people think it's ok to live for free and to make loans off of me when i never agreed to it. well, pls. update as to what happened.

better renters next time hopefully
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Old 04-06-2009, 11:49 PM
 
Location: NW Montana
6,259 posts, read 14,626,582 times
Reputation: 3459
I am not in Texas so each state is different but all in all remember that the only thing you are going to court for is to properly give the possession of the property back to the owner. Once that is awarded then the process goes forward as to monies owed and granting tenant access to personal possessions. Here it can get sticky for the LL/Owner. Never make payment a condition for retrieving of personal possessions. Keep it professional and friendly, stay calm. Remember the quicker they and their things are out the quicker you can turn it around and get a paying renter in there. Check with your state law as to how to store and notify tenant as to the status of their things. Good luck, you will be fine.
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Old 09-26-2009, 05:05 PM
 
2 posts, read 16,949 times
Reputation: 10
Default think I should evict my tenent????

Okay, here's a question to anyone who want's to responsed.
I have a beautiful home I'm renting. This is my first time renting out so I tried to do everything I could to protect myself. I got some Credit Applications (checked their credit) and "Residential Lease Contracts".
The tenent has been living there a since Feb. The contract reads he is living alone. In the past few months his check bounced (which he made good plus late fee) notified he would be late the next month, but would pay late fee. When I've knocked at the door, it reeks of smoke (the lease states "No Smoking in Home," he denies it and I can't prove it. Now I think his daughter is living in the home also. The side of the house is crappy and looks like tralier trash. We worked so hard to clean the place and I really wanted someone to treat the place like we would.
I'm really tired of the lying and I want him out. Do I sound like a jerk?
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Old 09-26-2009, 06:18 PM
 
27,206 posts, read 46,562,029 times
Reputation: 15661
No the tenant is a jerk. Make pictures, more pictures and even more pictures...you can't have enough to show proof.

Give notice of an inspection and don't go alone. Take a video camera as well and point out everything that you see. The other person should tape you so you have proof you didn't take anything so he can't accuse you of wrong doing.

Than send a certified letter what and when things need to be in order and if not you will take action. Don't mention you will keep the sec. deposit otherwise he will stop paying the rent.

Next time, put additional things in your lease...like smoking not allowed can be cause of termination of lease. Any guest who stays longer than 2 weeks will be seen as a tenant and the rent will be increased by $... per week or month.

If tenant has NSF, late fees will be charged and from than on only a money order or cash will be accepted in full.

etc...

Good Luck!
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Old 09-26-2009, 07:27 PM
 
Location: San Antonio, Texas
3,503 posts, read 19,825,970 times
Reputation: 2771
The lease should already have a clause that the rent is payable in cash, check or money order or any negotiable funds at the desrection of the LL. check the lease you have and send a certified return reciept letter to the tenant that only cash will be accepted for rent payement. Get a receipt book and write a receipt when the rent is paid. Tell the tenant to bring you the rent...don't be chasing him.
Make the inspection and if the lease states to maintain the premises in a clean and orderly fashion, then let the tenant know in another certified letter, after the inspection, what you expect to clean up and make in order.
If the lease does not state no smokeing in the house, then you need to grin and bear it. You can get a lease and customize the paragraphs as needed to your expectations, as long as the expectations are within the law.
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