Cue Elvis.
When I'm nervous, upset, or stressed, I get horrible butterflies in my stomach. It reminds me of high school. Will I get picked to be on the "cool kids" badminton team? Will he ask me to dance? It's awful.
I have those butterflies these days. Remember my post with mention of being a landlord and how much it truly sucks? Well, it really, really sucks. Our tenants have bailed on us, breaking their lease and not paying their March rent. Yet they're still living in OUR house. I advertised the house on Craigslist (LOVE that site) and had a ton of interest, both as a rental or a purchase. Because I am a nice person, I opted to schedule one block time of showings in the form of an open house instead of having showings every day and annoying the crap out of our tenants. I should have just annoyed the crap out of our tenants. They saw the Craigslist ad and freaked. Flat out refused to leave the house so we could do the showings, told us what horrible landlords we were (because we didn't fix the fence, mind you) and how they didn't intend to leave before April 15th. I have never told them that I was a REAL ESTATE ATTORNEY for 7 years. They have no idea what they've gotten themselves into. I know people. People who are actual licensed attorneys (while I am still licensed, I am considered "inactive"). I contacted a former colleague from the firm I "retired" from and asked for his help. Tomorrow our tenants will be receiving a nasty-gram from him outlining the big heap of trouble they've gotten themselves into, and the world of hurt that awaits them if they don't get the hell out of our house.
I'm not a vindictive person. I don't wish them any (ok, much) ill will. I just want them out of my house. My greatest fear is that they've damaged the place somehow, and we have to sue them. I don't have the a)time, b)energy, or c)MONEY to sue them for damages. Ok, mostly c. Their nasty attitude toward us put me over the edge last week. No, we didn't fix the fence. No, we aren't the type of landlord to just pop in every month to "check on the place". These people had an option to buy this house from us; why would we try to interrupt their quiet enjoyment (sorry, had throw in some legal terminology just to prove I still remembered it) of the house? So, a nasty-gram they shall receive and it's gotten me totally freaked out. What if they refuse to leave? What if they take our appliances? Loads of "what ifs" are running through my head all the time and making the butterflies come out with a vengeance. I know that taking legal steps is the right thing to do to protect ourselves, but it leaves me with that icky feeling inside. Now I know why I wasn't a litigator. I wouldn't have been able to handle it.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
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9 comments:
I must have missed something somewhere, about the fence. Did they call and tell you there was a problem? In all my years of renting, I always felt it was our responsibility to call the landlord when there was a problem. It isn't their job to come checking around. In fact, we don't want them to. So we always call promptly when there is a problem and understand that sometimes, it takes time to fix things.
One small section of the fence got removed by our lawn guy prior to the tenants even moving in, and because of the winter, he didn't fix it. The husband said he'd fix it, but didn't. Our next door neighbors asked about removing that fencing to put up a new once, to which we said SURE, but never did. So, the small section of fence remains there, just not attached.
I think I would be one big ball of nerves if I ever had rental property. People scare me. :) Good luck getting this taken care of!
Hey, thanks for your note!
THIS is the reason that I am reluctant to let my husband get in to the rental business. He has always wanted to buy a duplex or two....I could not handle the stress.
Good for you doing something about it!
Breathe! In, and out. In ... and out ... OMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
We love you.
Those tenants are SCREWED! Good for you for hold that lawyer card close to your vest. If they broke the lease and haven't paid the rent, they are WRONG.
Tenants don't own the property; they are guests that pay money. Now, I totally have a scuzzy landlord and my bathroom looks like I live in a ghetto and the sink hasn't worked properly in over a year AND the ceiling has collapsed more than once AND there are tiles falling off the wall due to encroaching mold of unhealthy varieties, but I still pay my rent on time.
Keep us posted.
Breathe ...
Oh, yikes. That is REALLY the last thing you need.
Sounds like you totally have the upper hand though, so take Aunt Nettie's advice and BREATHE...
Good luck!
OH MY WORD THIS IS MY FANTASY!!!! Do yo KNOW how many times I've been in a situation and wanted to say "well bummer for you that I'm an attorney who SPECIALIZES in this area of the law." OOOOOH I'm actually gleeful and living vicariously through you RIGHT NOW.
Oh, and that sucks. I'm sorry. We're tenants and our landlord's a bit crazy. (When I say crazy I mean chased the neighbor's harmless dog around the yard with an axe crazy. So really. Crazy.) Keep us updated. I'm interested to see how this plays out. And in the meantime I'm totally a Real Estate Law Attorney...
Hugs, Kristin! Good luck and I really hope everything works out quickly for you.
My best friend had a tenant once that just left. Abandoned all her stuff, clothes, etc, and just left. They later found out that she was living with her parents across town, but in the meantime they were legally stuck having to go through the entire process of evicting her, even though she had abandoned the property already! People are so crazy. It sounds to me like these people expect a parent rather than a landlord. How pissed would they have been if you had shown up all the time demanding entry to inspect the place?! They totally need to get out.
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