Well. I went before a Magistrate Judge yesterday to legally evict a tenant for breech of contract regarding pets and 2 months unpaid rent. The judge awarded me $2600 (2 months rent at $1300) as well as $50 in late fees($25 per month). Tenant has 7 days to clear his belongings....and I he has to pay me prorated rent for all 7 days at $44 a day.

Aside from some aggravation...would you like to know what this cost me? A whole $73 filing fee for the Disposses Warrant. That fee was added on to the judgement as well. Also awarded the entire amount of his deposit which was $1000 plus and additional $148 because my itemized damage list was $1148 with material and labor. Judgement of $4079.

The process cost me a whopping $73. If he doesn't have all his belongings out in 6 days from today, I simply meet a Sheriff at the property and put the rest of his stuff on the street side. If safety is an issue, than I just back away and allow LE to bring in their personal to deal with that.As far as getting the judgement paid, the tenant (after the hearing) told me he would have to arrange a payment plan. Okay...cool. We will figure that out in the days to come. If he doesn't pay accordingly, I have additional options. The judgement is following him around...not me.

What you fail to understand is that it costs next to nothing to remove a tenant when you follow the process. My monetary expense was $73 which I was awarded back in the judgement. Unless there are just crazy circumstances involved or you can't follow a simple process, paying an attorney to handle your eviction is very stupid. Magistrate Judges hear the sob stories everyday and during a hearing, they don't really care about all that stuff. They go by the language of the contract. Have you paid your rent?" Well...uh..no sir because I was getting harassed." How were you being harassed and how did that affect your ability to pay your rent? "Um...uh...well they were sending me texts and calling me all day asking about the rent. Made me almost call the police it was so bad." So you didn't pay the rent because you were late and he was contacting you about the rent? "Well...um...that, well it was to many times and I had told him I don't have the money." Judges don't care about that stuff. Unless you have a super good reason like repairs needed but not made by the owner....none of the drama in your own life is a reason to pay.

Again....$73 to get him out.

1 ...

Report Post

Posted by WildTchoupitoulas

Member since Jan 2010

44071 posts

Posted on 4/22/14 at 12:49 pm to Dick Leverage

quote:
If he doesn't have all his belongings out in 6 days from today, I simply meet a Sheriff at the property and put the rest of his stuff on the street side. If safety is an issue, than I just back away and allow LE to bring in their personal to deal with that.

How much does the sheriff and other LE staff cost?

And how is you turning to LE any better than the BLM turning to LE?

quote:
What you fail to understand is that it costs next to nothing to remove a tenant when you follow the process

I don't fail to understand that, I've evicted tenants. What you fail to understand is how the costs can escalate when the tenant refuses to leave. You simply pass the costs off to the sheriff and other LE. How handy.