On 2/2/2011 4:48 PM, Robert Green wrote:
"Steve wrote in message
...

"Robert wrote in message
...
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.

There's not really a hell of a lot you can do, and it depends on the
locality, so you may be better or worse.

If a person even has one piece of mail addressed to them at an address,
they
have proof of legal tenancy even if they are not on the lease.

Yes, in watching these cases play out on TV, it's clear that once a tenancy
has been established, even tenuously, all sorts of "protections" for the
tenant come into play.

It then
becomes a legal matter, and that process is lengthy and costly. I own
vacation rentals, and the laws are a little better, but not too much.
What
I did with one was to pull the AC breaker, claiming it was inoperative and
that I didn't have the money to pay to have it fixed, and they left
without
trashing the place. We get $1,000 deposit, so have a little leverage.

Yes, I would assume the thought of losing $1,000 makes even the most
determined house trasher stop and think whether it's worth it. The AC
breaker idea is an interesting one, and since it's outside the house, I
wouldn't have to enter to deactivate it. I'll keep that in mind.

A
house has to be habitable, and that is the responsibility of the owner,
but
who knows how long repairs take. It is purely a civil matter, so the
police
won't do anything. And if they take you to court because there isn't any
water or heat, you can counter that they aren't paying rent so you have
the
money to fix it. And if they aren't paying rent, what are you going to
lose? If the house is nice, in a nice neighborhood, or close to business
or
conventions or other attractions, you may want to consider it as a
vacation
rental. You get a month's mortgage or more for a week's stay. Contact me
if you need further information.

It's in Maryland, just outside of DC, so there's potential for vacation
rentals as it's close to the Metrorail. Unfortunately, from what I've been
able to tell from the County website, they are oriented toward tenant, not
landlord, protection. It may turn out that the political climate is just so
unfavorable to landlords that we'll either get a house sitter or leave it
empty as we travel.

--
Bobby G.



Talk to your insurance company before you leave it empty. A lot of
policies may not cover on an 'empty' (ie, longer than a 2 week vacation)
house.

--
aem sends...