Landlords or anybody, Selectfire???
Oakie
Member Posts: 40,510 ✭✭✭✭
I couldn't evict my tenants because of the covid moratorium by Gov Murphy in NJ. When it finally lifted, I got an eviction on them. They owed my two years rent at 2,400 a month, plus they brought in eight large dogs and 13 cats. They peed all over the house. We had a not pet clause in our contract. The tenants kicked in all the doors, broke the frames, Destroyed all the hardwood floors and threw cinder blocks thru the built in pool liner.
After all this destruction and no payments, The courts made me hold all their possessions for 60 days. I called them and allowed them to come every weekend from 8am till 5pm and most week nights. They never showed. Today is the 60th day. They called me this morning and said they wanted to come get their possessions, and demanded that I take a day off for them to come collect their stuff. Uh, NO. Here is my question. Should I throw away all their stuff and sell the valuables, or just hold on to it until the civil suit is over. I never had a tenant do this to us before. They have a ton of pictures and photo album's, of their seven kids. As much as I want to toss them, My heart says to give them back to her. Trying to no let my anger get the best of me, but they did over 50,000 in damage and back rent. I will feel an overwhelming guilt by selling their stuff and tossing it out, But I'm not a storage unit either. Have any landlords come across this predicament???.
PS, My insurance and their renters insurance, won't pay, because it is considered vandalism. Thus the civil suit. Oakie
Comments
Why do the good people in the world have to take it on the chin for scum? I hope the courts make you whole.
Wow, I thought I had it bad when I had to do just $7K in repairs. I was fortunate that I had a good friend that was a contractor. He & a helper replaced 5 sheets of flooring from the bath tub leaking into a bedroom, restored the whole bathroom, including the plumbing. My son painted the whole place for what he owed my on the Corvette I sold him. The ugliest part was replacing all the carpet. My local carpet guy tore it all out and I sealed the whole floor not with Kilz but something recommended by a member that would do a better job with the smell. It cost a fortune but worked great.
At $50K I wouldn't be easy to deal with. I would ask your lawyer to amend your suit to add $400.00/month for storage until the suit is settled.
Let us know how this turns out.
Even if you get a judgement against them, that kind of trash will never, ever have any assets you can collect on/from.
Trash is trash. No other way to look at this. This so sucks for you. Sorry!!
wow
I hope it works out for you .
I think SF is on unpaid leave . not sure why and not my place to question
I'd put them to work fixing and cleaning things to "earn" the photo albums and such back.
One thing I do know is people like this tend to get HUGE tax refunds.....so don't give up getting money from them. You'll have to follow it all the way through the courts and once they've failed to pay you can garnish their wages and their tax refund will be sent to you without them having any control over it.
I thought about buying a couple rentals....but after reading stories and hearing what people have to deal with I know I don't have what it takes. You guys that have rentals are angels.
SCREW them. They deserve NOTHING. I wouldn't give them ANYTHING back. In fact, I'd light that stuff on fire, in front of them. Too bad.
F-around and FIND OUT.
I'm sick of scumbags taking advantage of people. It is 100% BS, and I am done with it.
If my renters tried that crap......hooo boy. Would NOT be pretty.
Merc
This so wrong. Sorry you gotta go through this. Best of luck.
Secure photos & anything of value where they can't get it. Toss the garbage & continue the lawsuit. It's a shame you cant sue Gov. Murphy.
I imagine that if you gave them one more day, they would not show. They will have an excuse, and want you to give them another day. I've had it happen over and over. I feel sorry for Stupid people, but they make their own environment. And I have sold all of their stuff, the faster the better and less to deal with. I worked for a Man that owned 60 apartments.
Legally you have to give it back. The contract was for the house and the personal items are their property. What a crock of *
they still owe you the money and I would sue for the damages. Honestly the likelihood of you ever getting the money is about .0001% but file for a judgment anyway
only the Lawyers win in the end.
and s-f as much as I hated that corvette I do miss it … was just a constant for so long … but play nice or you’re out the door
Seven kids … well there’s your sign
Just DANG!! Sorry for your nightmare Oak. Sure wish I had any answers that would help. I feel your pain.
Document the damage and sue them. They are likely getting $10,000+ in tax "refunds" every year with that many kids.
This is a total abuse of the system when they stopped the evictions. People had the money to pay the rent but decided not to do it since there was no punishment.
Locust Fork, having 3 rentals for 10 & 15 years I'm afraid my halo is slipping. If I were 40 years younger and 75 pounds heavier I would punch the guy that told me being a landlord is easy money.
You are injecting emotion into a business transaction. The result, you got burned and may get burned again. If it is 60 days then "dispose" of the junk as you see fit. Just make sure you have your dates correct and check with your lawyer or the courts first.
I had to evict a tenant. Her items left here went into the burn barrel including a bunch of big $$$ purses. I simply did not care, the cost to me was too high but the fire sure looked good.
ADDED:
You can get a judgement for ten million bucks. You will never see a dime, these folks will skate, hide income, dodge you any way they can until the seven years is up. You are going to have to argue with your insurance Co. and have a lawyer check the small print to see if they are trying to trick you.
There are much better ways to invest money than in owning residential property rentals.
Thanks everyone. My wife told me to stop being a softee and trash their stuff. She wants to sell anything of value and try to recoup some money. I gave them this Saturday only. I told them that they have to start with the trash and junk first. I know they won't show, so I ordered a 40 yard dumpster for this Friday. Come Sunday, everything is gone. I really hope I earned my wings, after this mess is done!!!!! Oakie
Sorry you are dealing with all this Oakie......one of the happiest days of my life was selling my Dad's last rental house. Two days with a dumpster and finding a home for a cat and a litter of four kittens they left behind made it even more fun..
I think you went out of way for them
I would have a tough time tossing pictures as it's not the kids fault but everything else see ya
Years ago even the photos would not been considered to try and keep
but old age has softened me up
I have industrial rental buildings. Had my first eviction this year. Pain in the rear to say the least. I give all potential tenants a pre-lease form to fill out. Asks for ALL banking info., past landlords contact info., year end statements on the business on & on. Easy to let them in but not too easy to get them out! This really seems to help filter out the iffy's.
I don't know. One guy bought a new Corvette with his rental money.
Yeah. What a waste! He coulda bought a FORD.
I've read a few of these trashed rental stories before, plus I helped a friend clean out a house he owned after it was trashed by renters. No thanks.
I plan only do short term rentals with our lake house - VRBO / AirB&B. I'm sure they could trash a place just as easily though.
I had a side business several years ago doing rental property repair . I did turnarounds between tenants . Unbelievable what folks will do to property that they don't own . Convinced me I did not want to own any rentals
Unfortunately your state NJ might be like mine. The tenants can do no wrong only the landlord.
Based on that I would tread lightly without a clear court order that you can sell or trash their property.
I have had friends that paid tenants dearly even after they did everything the court stated. The tenants went to court after the fact and the court still ruled for the tenant and the landlord had to pay the tenant damages.