From my previous post, it is not going smoothly as I plan or hope. I am out of state landlord. This is month-to-month rent with previous expired annual agreement. I understand other terms are still applicable, yes? (1) Tenant has someone else occupy the place without owners consent while tenant is living elsewhere. He bought a condo. (2) Occupant damaged/alter the beautiful tree by cutting 1/3 to its trunk. These violated the Agreement. I hope to have your advices on a most effective approach.

I spoke with the Neighbor who I was just introduced and who is interested in provide services for me, more on future vacation rental management. She was not responsive on handling the Terminating so I advised her I will have a Realtor (who I worked with in the past) handle this instead. She happened to told me that her husband worked with my tenant in the past and the two men communicate.

The Realtor prepared the 7-Day Non-Compliance Termination Notice dated 11/18, effective immediately with 7-day to vacate. There are 5 non-compliance items.

On 11/15 the tenant texted me advising his last day is 12/31. I think he knew this is coming from the Neighbor giving him a head up. I then sent the above Notice (draft) to tenant’s text. I only has his previous company email, which I emailed but he is no longer there. He responded in text that I told him I was going to give him 2-month notice of ending, and he is being courteous to give me almost 2-month notice. I responded that he breached our Agreement. He never address the non-compliant items on the Notice. He persisted to stay to the end of December. We understand that his sublease/friend is the one who needs the stay while the tenant is not there.

On 11/18 both the Neighbor and Realtor met for first time as they inspect the house. They both disappointed and the Realtor quitted on me. I feels like I should not trust the Neighbor, and she is emotional.

The Notice was posted on entry door of the rental on 11/18. This Notice has my signature but not the Realtor’s signature other than his name for Certification. I don’t know if he missed or intent as he quitted. I plans to certify mail this today to the tenant to both my rental property and the tenant’s recent purchased condo. Would this Notice without Certification question by a judge? Will my certified mail adequate without the certification signature?

At this point, there are 3 and 4 options I have:

(a) Start and continue this process with an Eviction lawyer/team on Monday 11/22. What is a reasonable lump sum fee? If I succeed, would the judge have the tenant returns my expenses for these?

(b) Send a 15-day Termination, None-Renewal monthly rent. This would run to 12/06 or so is this okay?

(c) Wait for sublease person / friend to move by 12/31. What if he drags out? I would have to collect his information and if he/them cooperate. He may not meet my normal requirements with minimum credit score and income. He seems to be a slop.

(d) Report police on the trespasser to remove him once that Notice timeline is up.

What do you recommend and thoughts?

Hire the most notoriously pit bull type eviction lawyer who is local to the rental address. Do this a month ago.

FIRST thing Monday AM! No more delays, no more hoping a neighbor or Realtor will help. As you see, they are NOT helpful. You must take control.

Pay whatever it takes then sue the tenant and put a lien on his new condo.

OR sell it now, cheap, to an investor who will deal with it and wash your hands of it and walk away.

Cannot assume tenant will vacate. End of that discussion.

Also realtors are usually not capable of handling such situations regardless of what they say. I would not assume anything a realtor does on an eviction is actually valid. DJ has it right but be sure you get experienced landlord lawyer, not just some real estate lawyer. You probably have a local (local to the property) landlord association that might be able to help find an eviction lawyer familiar with the local issues.

As to the many questions you included, you should not assume you have all of the options you asked about. In fact, I don't believe the police will remove the person without you going to court first. Discuss it with the lawyer to decide exactly what to do and when. You are fortunate in that the original tenant now has property to attach judgment for money. The lawyer should be advised of that information so it can be included in any contact lawyer has with original tenant. That might be of value once original tenant realizes he might need to pay up.

Thank you all for your inputs. My husband advised on the soft approach as he doesn't want me to spend time on this nor head on a complex task. I sensed that you all / most would be firm on this.

Should I send a letter to tenant warning about proceeding Eviction and back charges? And hoping he would be smart and change his plan?

Let say Eviction and law suit would carry out. Am I required to be present in court at some point or my representor/lawyer can be in placed of me? Will my name be on a court record? I avoid being in social media.

This would be my first experience on Eviction and learning process. I am not quit or sell easily. The tenant wanted to buy this property. The neighbor who wanted to do management also wanted buy or to rent this townhouse for a few months. It is a best lot and unit of this neighborhood. Should I avoid doing business with her?

Thanks.

Thank you all for your inputs. My husband advised on the soft approach as he doesn't want me to spend time on this nor head on a complex task. I sensed that you all / most would be firm on this.

Should I send a letter to tenant warning about proceeding Eviction and back charges? And hoping he would be smart and change his plan?

Let say Eviction and law suit would carry out. Am I required to be present in court at some point or my representor/lawyer can be in placed of me? Will my name be on a court record? I avoid being in social media.

This would be my first experience on Eviction and learning process. I am not quit or sell easily. The tenant wanted to buy this property. The neighbor who wanted to do management also wanted buy or to rent this townhouse for a few months. It is a best lot and unit of this neighborhood. Should I avoid doing business with her?

Thanks.

Not sure what is going on with the tenant wanting to buy or the neighbor. Clearly both are talking out of their butts. I wouldn't sell to either. My name is on multiple court cases but I wouldn't say it is social media.

Start with an eviction attorney tomorrow. Get the eviction done and tenant out of the condo. Because you are out of state landlord, I would recommend to sell your condo while the market is hot and interest rates are low.

No, No, NO!!

You need an attorney IN THE SAME TOWN as the property who has LOTS OF EXPERIENCE doing evictions there.

Why some of you advised me to sell the property?

Why do you care? Get them out and get your property back. That should be your one and only priority at this point.

I spoke with 2 firms this morning, where one I was only connected with a receptionist. I left messages with other two and haven't hearing back from them. I was told that law firms are short staff too, and some don't do Eviction anymore perhaps due to the recent Moratorium.

An attorney advised me that he can't promise an outcome if proceeding the service. He relayed his other experience where tenant owed landlord 20k and the judge was okay for his installment of $100 for judgement. I think he was telling me not have too much hope.

This sounded consistent with what the previous experienced RE Property Manager shared with me, that it is best to try to get them out before the judge, as the judge is not helpful.

It seems as if the fee is going to be in thousands. I am okay for 2k (their retain amount) but I would not want it get toward 10k, or more than 3-4k.

My previous colleague advised me to do the process myself, but I do need a local person for the physical runs. I had experiences in construction as a project manager, which I involved writing, reviewing, processing, communicate and enforcing contract, .. Negotiate and settlements. I am an engineer by trade. I dissolved a false claims of 1M+.

It is a matter of look up the process and follow accordingly closely, but I would have a lawyer take over before the court dates at a minimum. I already researched this Eviction process.

Good news! I finally connected to 2 lawyers that sounded to be helpful. One with a reasonable fee, 1k, that has standard templates .. Additional hourly if tenant contest. I don't know the other fee until tomorrow morning.

Thanks to Ken (NY) on his advice on the other thread. I kept on looking for the lawyers! I was told that many staff are off this week due to holiday.

Colleen,

I am surprised that this would be so difficult for an attorney, assuming that you have already given them notice to move. It also seems that they have also given you clear written notice that they will move. A quick Google search indicates that your notice was not in a correct format.

An experienced attorney in landlord matters should be able to tell you quickly how much notice you have to give for a month to month, based on state law and the wording of your lease. They should also be able to write a clear notice for you and send it out for you.

In my state, 30 days notice is required, factoring in when the next month's rent payment is due. Meaning, that if notice were given today, 11/22, their tenancy would end on 12/31. The same Google search shows that Florida has a 15 day notice, but if you give written notice today, you still would have to wait until 12/31 for it to be effective. An attorney could explain how the dates work to you, based upon when you send the notice.

After their tenancy expires, they would be a holdover. Evicting for a holdover is reputedly the easiest and most straightforward eviction to do. Based upon what you state above, the tenant has given you written notice that his last day would be 12/31, so the need for filing an eviction will probably be unlikely. However, you should be prepared to do so, if needed.

Giving notice of non-compliance for the other 5 non-compliance items can be useful, but may be harder to prove in an eviction. That does not mean notice should not be given. Your attorney should be able to give you guidance on that.

I am assuming from your postings that your professional experience is primarily with large corporations. Landlording is a different world and a different reality. This is probably why others have suggested that you sell.

From experience, I have had to interview multiple attorneys before finding an appropriate one for a case in a particular jurisdiction. Sometimes the big firms are good. Sometimes the one or two man shops are better. Call 10-20 firms, depending upon the size of the town where your rental is. Find one where you can talk directly to an attorney that handles holdovers routinely. Look for a flat fee attorney who is in your local court a lot handling holdovers, not a firm where you are talking to sales people. You will gain greater insight with each call. Some firms may not return your calls, just like plumbers may not return your call.

And whatever you do, do not go into vacation rentals, particularly with the neighbor. Your previous corporate experience is impressive, but dealing with corporations and dealing with people who are occupying your properties are completely different matters. Many sophisticated corporate refugees have lost lots of money expecting that their corporate experience would apply to landlording.