The Business of Landlording

On September 1, I filed a Dispossessory Warrant (the first step to eviction) against my tenant, VC as she hadn't paid her rent since July 1st. It cost $76.50 and approximately 3 hours of my life to get the eviction process started. My time being more valuable, of course. On September 8th, she got served and was given 7 days to respond. Today is the seventh day and being that I hadn't received any 'response' –in person, in writing, or via phone, I called the magistrate court to find out what my next step should be. I was told that the next step would be to file a Writ of Repossession (to get my property back) on Monday. Apparently, she still has the whole of today, the seventh day to respond. Fine. They tell me that on Monday, I will need to file the Writ and wait 48 hours to make an appointment with the Marshal to supervise the repossession (the kicking out of my tenant and handing over of my property). I sigh because all this sounds like a lot of wahala (trouble). Before I get off the phone, I ask if they could check to make sure she hasn't responded.

Sho nuff, she has responded. In fact, she sent her response to the magistrate court just yesterday, the 14th. Geez Louiz. What now? Tenants can typically respond two ways – 1. to say why they can't pay their rent 2. to say that they are withholding rent because of something that the landlord did ( e.g. failure to fix a major thing – which is not the case here). I ask the court clerk what my tenant's response is and she says that they don't have it, I should be getting it in the mail. Gee, thanks! She then says, "Oh, wait a minute. You are due in court on the 21st." OMG! For what? I have to be in court on the 21st so that we can both face a judge. If this doesn't put you off the business of landlording, I don't know what will. All this is happening just as we are thinking about renting out another property. I won't let this incident put me off completely because I still think that we can continue to rent out certain property while they appreciate in value and then re-sell when the time is right. My plan is to have all this documented so that the next time I get a non-rent paying tenant, I'll know exactly what to do. When I have the time, I will put together a timeline of these events and then do a separate timeline of what to do the next time a tenant does not pay by the due date. No more waiting for them to do the right thing before bringing up the 'E' word. My advice is to do it immediately in the form of a pay or quit letter so that you don't have to waste all this time. My guess is that she is dragging this through the courts even though she knows that she will be found in default in order to gain some time while she finds a new place to live.

Side bar - When we first decided to be landlords, I thought, wouldn't it be nice to send them birthday cards on their birthdays and hampers around Christmas time? You can forget that now. I'm taking all that back. In fact, get me someone on Section 8 (government housing program) next time. The government checks are always on time. Or so I've heard.

My next move is to go to court on the 21st and hear what her response is. That's a real bummer because I would have to take time off work to meet the court date. This thing is getting more complicated than it should be. Before she got served, we decided to call her and settle (as in, leave quietly and we won't come after you; just give us back our property). However, she did not pick up her phone and is still not returning calls. I asked the court clerk what to expect and she said that judgement will most likely be in my favor and that if I accept to be paid, I'll have to drop the Writ of Repossession that I planned on pursuing. Also, she says that if I decide to accept her money, I will have to honor the remainder of our lease. I will accept the money if offered because her lease ends in September. If the lease were any longer, I'd want her gone because she really can't afford the place. All this is hearsay. I have to find out what her claim is in her response and then go from there.