On 2/1/2011 9:14 AM, Robert Green wrote:
We've been thinking of renting our current home rather than selling in this
down market while we rent in some of the places we're thinking of retiring
to. Unfortunately, movies like "Pacific Heights" where a bad tenant who
knows all the tricks of staying in a place without paying rent, haunt us.

Yesterday I saw a 'People's Court' episode where a deadbeat had managed to
stay, rent-free, in a Section 8 rental for three years by using a loophole
that says a tenant can't be evicted from Section 8 housing if there are code
violations. Every time he was about to get evicted, he just broke something
to forestall the eviction process, eventually plugging all the sinks with
rags and flooding the place.

How can you drive a bad tenant out from a rental in such situations? How do
you prevent them from completely trashing the place on their way out? I
know that tenants should be checked out thoroughly beforehand, but even so,
people can have no record of evil behavior but still turn evil. While I'd
probably NOT rent to any Section 8 tenants, I could easily see someone
losing their job or some other such tragedy and so decide they wanted to
live in my house rent-free for as long as they could get away with it.

I'll entertain all solutions, even extra-legal ones (as long as I can
implement them without getting caught!).

--
Bobby G.



Might help to talk to the sheriff, or whomever does evictions...may know
some loopholes, history. Check the local codes for rentals. Get a good
application that requires job and housing history and take a personal
look at where they have lived. Gotta be careful of stuff that implies
discrimination, as that can include family size or ages of kids. Lease
sometimes can limit number of people who reside, as can some building
codes. If you have a network of friends or church members, they might
steer reliable applicants. Attorney advice? Advertised as being
worthwhile, but I am a doubter ) Just doing a google search on a name
sometimes turns up news of arrests or suits.