I am going into my thirteenth year in property management. Applause! Just kidding - no applause is necessary. : ) Over the years, the most difficult tasks for me have been conducting move out inspections and discerning any charges to be applied to the account and handling evictions. Both are necessary actions to be sure. I will tell you, I get a kick out of evictions a whole lot more than I do conducting move outs.
With evictions, it seems so cut-and-dried, even though to the Resident it may not seem that way. Obviously, I’m not an attorney so I can’t dispense legal advice, but somehow marching into the courtroom to face a Resident head-on is kind of exhilarating to me and gets the adrenaline rushing through the veins. I liken it almost to being a soldier going into battle, except I arm myself with a very experienced attorney instead of a gun.
In any event, my most recent eviction is being conducted, as I am now waiting on the Judge’s ruling. It got me thinking very seriously about how it had come to this anyway? The case seems simple. Did the Resident pay his rent? Um, not really. He submitted a check for the rent; however it did not clear the bank. So, no, he didn’t successfully fulfill his financial obligation. I thought I had completed my “due diligence” by leaving the actual rental decision based on information from a third party who screens the credit and criminal history. I thought the couple met the Rental Criteria. So what went wrong?
Loopholes! I hate them tremendously! This couple had a lease with another apartment community who did not renew the lease at its end because, my attorney told me, the couple had also written a bad check, then covered it with a credit card payment, which he canceled when he was notified his lease was not being renewed. Did their former apartment community tell me this? No. In fact, when the couple canceled the credit card payment, this apartment community attempted to evict the couple. The case was dismissed because of insufficient evidence regarding the alleged fraudulent payment(s). Therefore, the eviction filing also did not show up during the background check. Another loophole. Apparently the other apartment community did not seek damages or refer their account to a collection agency. That may not have mattered anyway, as it usually takes 65 days for collection accounts to show up on the person’s credit report. Still another loophole.
Even with all the proper checks and verifications, this couple was still able to qualify to live at my community. The one thing I will say is, at least I keep excellent records and documentation so I believe the eviction will be approved and I can go on to the Damages side of the eviction process. Once that occurs, this record will be on their permanent rental history and they should no longer be able to rent another apartment here in this city.
Generally, evicting someone for non-payment of rent is the easiest method of producing grounds for a court issued eviction. The next easiest way to get through the legal mumbo jumbo is when there is evidence of a violent or antisocial criminal act or a drug related offense that merits a felony conviction. The most subjective (at least for a court, in my opinion) is the eviction predicated on Lease Violations. If you are not familiar with these types of evictions, please understand you are best protected by having adequate, experience counsel. I know there are some management companies that think the Manager should tackle these filings in small claims court on his/her own, but I disagree. I can tell you from experience that it is always best to have legal representation.
I do know that in this current case, that one issue that I was able to prove in Court was that these Residents had lied on their initial Rental Application. I was also able to get them to admit their lies. This made me immensely happy, if only for a moment. In the end, it is not inexpensive to have to sue a Resident and attend an actual trial to gain possession of the leased premises. By the time it is all said and done, I will be out over $3000 and this is not a proud fact at all. It makes me feel like I failed the community by allowing this type of person(s) to move into the community. I do hope that you learn something from my experience though, and it is that sometimes people “look good on paper” but may still turn out to be less than great citizens. I am really happy that this is the first eviction I have had to do in years, so I don’t have a history of making imperfect leasing decisions overall.
You want to hear something kind of funny though? Both of them were “Fans” of our property’s Facebook Page and were even joining in on our conversations. I noticed today they had “Un-friended” us. Am I sad about that? Absolutely not!