lawyer strut...how the hell do you evict someone?
Controller_7
4,052 Posts
Is it impossible to evict someone these days?My grandma has been trying to evict a tenant for months now. The guy is a jerk who is nice to her face and comes up with sob stories, but is a total asshole in reality. Here's what's happened so far. -He hadn't paid rent for about 2 months and she told me about this so we said she should evict him. -she let him know he needed to move out. This was face to face.-he gives her the runaround, never answers the door, no phone number he gives her works.-a month later she gets an eviction notice posted on the door, through her lawyer. He get's 60 days.-He doesn't acknowledge the notice, but instead writes g'ma a note saying "I'll be out by the end of August" which is a month after his 60 day eviction is up, so 90 days. -He doesn't respond to her requests to talk to her and she gets the lawyer to post a notice saying he has 3 days to pay the $5000+ that he owes her or move out in 3 days. He does not acknowledge this. -next step is to legally get him served with eviction papers in his hand. -in the meantime he writes a note saying he's running behind schedule and will be out a week later (this past weekend). Needless to say he's not out.-The servers could not find him to give him the papers.-now it's going to have to go through the process of getting court approval to post it in the newspaper, acting as him being served. He never answers the door, won't answer the phone, hides from my grandma, goes out the backdoor all the time, doesn't have a routine schedule, he nailed the mail slot in the garage closed so people can peek in the garage, he never turns lights on in the front of the house. How is it legal for someone to just stay somewhere without paying rent? He now owes her over $7000, yet it's impossible to get him out. I'm sure there are way worse nightmare stories, but I'm just looking for some advice. I guess we just have to wait until the newspaper thing happens. I don't understand all of this. My grandma is in her 80s and doesn't need to deal with shit like this. The other reason I am so interested in it is because my girlfriend and I heard about her having problems with him and said we would move in there afterwards. We've been anticipating moving for 6 months now. I even gave my notice at my current place and had to take it back. Every update is a dissapointment. It seems like something is concrete and it falls through and he's still there. 
Comments
It's really important that you follow the laws in your state exactly, and don't do anything like go into the apartment when the tenant is out or change the locks or anything else. Tenants rights are very strongly protected (for good reason) so you have to have all your shit perfect to have things work out in your favor.
I'm just so mad because I can't understand why he's such a dick. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
She's got keys and the garage door beeper, but the lawyers said not to do anything, because she could cause more trouble than help.
renters rights in the city (sf) are crazy
Good luck!!!
you sure about that? again, the laws differ from state to state, but generally, i would think that a court would have to sign an order before you can change the locks.
I have an easy solution for you (well, considering...)...as we had spoken before you were interested in purchasing the house from your grandma (over time of course)...but, the easiest way is to have your grandma "sell" the house to you...
you are now the new owner...and can kick his out...immediately....
otherwise you will have to go through all of the legal redtape...in order to get it done...
if you had done the above process when you started...he would have no fucking leg to stand on...as it is now...he has the lease, etc. to hide behind...
I can talk to my dad too...I know he knows a lot about this kind of stuff...let me know though...
or we as the soulstrut posse...can show up to the dudes house...and wait...I bet he'd be kinda sketched with like 40 dudes on his front lawn...asking him where the money is...and are we going to have to help him move...whether he likes it or not...
All true, but this is the most fucked part of the system, and is how SF property owners turn property into condos, raise rents, etc.
Really, the system just needs to be functional enough so that families can't me manipulated and evicted so quickly and easily, but morons who don't pay their rent can be evicted by averge non-laywers like your Grandma.
The eviction process was still in full swing (he even admit to us that he hid from the paper servers), but I started knocking on his (not rightfully his) door and started bugging him. First I had the upper hand and he was nice to me. The second time he flipped out on me and yelled at me, threating to stretch things out longer. It was drama for days, but he's gone.
He claimed to have fixed a lot of stuff and made things look nice, but when we finally got in there it was a fucking dump. Moldy ass shower, burn holes in the kitchen floor, a garage full of trash, a terrible smell, dog hair everywhere, piles and piles of dog shit in the yard, weeds and wild plants everywhere.
The nasitiest shit was this little room in the garage that he must have let the dogs live in. The walls were caked brown and it smelled nasty. He also left a dog house and a rabbit hut. All fucking nasty and smelly.
The best part was when the PG and E guy came today to get a reading on the meter. We tried to open the cabinet and realized the tenant had glued it shut. He had glued the mail slot shut, the electrical meter shut, and blocked anything that would let anyone see into the garage. We had to take a 2X4 and bash the electrical box cabinet open from the other side, breaking the molding.
He took light fixtures, light bulbs, and even a fake plant of my grandma's.
It's all left a "creepy" feeling on the house, but we're hoping that will go away soon. This shit has been an ordeal and it's far from done.
So, if you ever have to evict someone, don't hesitate for one second. Do it quick because the paperwork takes forever.
Glad you're fixed...Unlucky for the next landlord though. I think we need a Biggie "Kick In The Door" gremlin
I've had to show up to numerous homes during evictions to change out locks. Wait until the Sheriff shows and then move in. The most of the time apartments/homes are always a fucking disaster. Its no fun.
Worst though was when I showed up to find a friend being evicted.
oh man. that's no good.
No, it's not in Noe Valley. It's outside of San Francisco.
This guy deserved to be kicked out though. I've been there working on the place and people keep pulling up and taking a look. Some of them ask for the old tenant. This dude has debts all over the place. A guy came today and said "Is --- here?" I told him he doesn't live here any more and he says "oh no, serious? He owes me $2000."
Todays activities:
-carrying 30-60 lb bags of unknown content, many of which are leaking. Some guys were supposed to come and clean it up, but never showed. I kid you not, the guys saw the mess and I don't think they wanted to come back and do that part of the job. Every bag I move makes me afraid of what lies beneath. I'm afraid some rats will run out, or worse...a body.
-breaking down a dog house and a rabbit hut. Fucking disgusting.
a question for everyone. How do you dispose of tires? How do you dispose of a little red party cup full of intact shotgun shells? I can't toss them in the garbage and have it on my conscience that some grabage man might crush them and lose an arm.
as for the shot gun shells, just take them apart and dump the contents out.
what is he going to do? call the cops? let him, because that would be a perfect time to officially serve him with the court papers.
also, if he doesnt have the money for rent, then he doesnt have the money to pay a lawyer to come at you.
have a yard sale, and hope he has records.
see, the problem with this is that if I physically did anything to him it would basically be a free ticket for him. he could probably stay for another year on some tehcnicality. The laws are strange. It's so complicated and really doesn't make sense. You'd think it would be cut and dry and that not paying rent is a good enough reason to get someone out. He avoided the servers and then the supposed final step was going to be the newspaper notification. Even then he would have had 5 days to leave, plus......
a 15 day extension!!!
Rental laws are strange.
yeah don't ever do that because the tenant can take your ass to court and you will fucking lose. My pops threw some people out once, straight up tossing their furniture out on to the street. They ended up calling the cops. He got arrested and had to pay them for "the trama they went through."