landlord. dealing with tenant issues

Bboarder · Apr 17, 2017

Hey all, I posted a thread in WC that was closed as it didn't sit well with a few members. But I told a couple of members I would update them as I learned about dealing with the issue. This is a Baltimore county specific issue so I figured here would be most appropriate.

The issue at hand:
Tenant becomes deceased, how do you take back your unit.

What I've learned today.
1. death does not end tenancy.
2. A family member or estate executer needs to remove the belongings and return the unit or continue to pay rent.
3. If the deceased is without family, and no estate exists, you are required to file for eviction under the reason that tenant cannot pay rent (reason being deceased).

The specific reason for eviction is the contents of the unit belong to the heirs of the tenant. So you must establish an eviction to take ownership of the belongings. You cannot move or go through the belongings, and short of making sure the unit is secure, stay out. As a relative could say something went missing, I was told to video the walk through CYA.

Once the eviction occurs, you may remove the contents and remarket the property.

With some luck, you will never need to go through this, but I figured I would post my findings.

JPG · Apr 17, 2017

If your tenant was Section 8 (don't know what percentage if any your tenant paid), how can you "evict". They haven't broken the lease for non payment, criminal activity, etc. The county won't pay next months rent and you received rent for April.

Wouldn't you just be asking the court to take possession of the property? I'd assume that they would make you look for a relative for a reasonable period of time before you would be allowed to remove property. I would think that the housing authority or your rental application has an emergency contact or nearest relative to call.

Bboarder · Apr 17, 2017

The gentleman who passed was on section 8 with the VA, had a VA rep who notified us of his passing. The largest concern of theirs is notifying housing authority that he passed and turn his voucher to another person the VA is helping, so payment has already been stopped. The tenant had a 20% portion and is paid through April, so eviction couldn't be started till Mays rent becomes past due.

No one has any information of relatives; housing authority, va, social worker. His lease and rental app are empty in the relatives/emergency contact section. We are working still on trying to locate a relative as that would be the easiest way to deal with this.

The courts see this issue as best solved through the eviction process. The contents are what become the issue, and speaking with our real estate attorney and the company who files our rent court paperwork both said the same. You can only remove belongings that are yours, only way to achieve that is eviction. It is a screwed up process if you ask me, but it's the path the state, our attorney and myrentcourt advised.

Sundazes · Apr 17, 2017

I was wondering about that thread and the laws/issues. Thanks for posting. I was curious.

protegeV · Apr 17, 2017

sundazes said:
I was wondering about that thread and the laws/issues. Thanks for posting. I was curious.

I was literally reading that thread at the moment it got deleted...

plinkerton · Apr 17, 2017

PM inbound

Minuteman · Apr 18, 2017

Bboarder said:
The gentleman who passed was on section 8 with the VA, had a VA rep who notified us of his passing. The largest concern of theirs is notifying housing authority that he passed and turn his voucher to another person the VA is helping, so payment has already been stopped. The tenant had a 20% portion and is paid through April, so eviction couldn't be started till Mays rent becomes past due.

No one has any information of relatives; housing authority, va, social worker. His lease and rental app are empty in the relatives/emergency contact section. We are working still on trying to locate a relative as that would be the easiest way to deal with this.

The courts see this issue as best solved through the eviction process. The contents are what become the issue, and speaking with our real estate attorney and the company who files our rent court paperwork both said the same. You can only remove belongings that are yours, only way to achieve that is eviction. It is a screwed up process if you ask me, but it's the path the state, our attorney and myrentcourt advised.

Is there a clause that could be added to the lease, giving the landlord custody of the belongings, etc if no legitimate heir steps forward, so the property can be turned around more quickly and with less red tape?

67temp · Apr 18, 2017

Since they are saying you have to go through the eviction process does that also mean you have to wait till the eviction process is complete before you can start clean up on the unit (where the deceased was)?

Bboarder · Apr 18, 2017

Minuteman said:
Is there a clause that could be added to the lease, giving the landlord custody of the belongings, etc if no legitimate heir steps forward, so the property can be turned around more quickly and with less red tape?

I will ask our attorney, but for some reason, I'm going to guess that wouldn't hold water.

Jt: after the go ahead from police we bleached down and cleaned the bathroom. I'm going to say if it was a crime scene you probably couldn't till it was released.

67temp · Apr 18, 2017

Btw my wife got the call to work that scene but had declined. Funny thing is on Saturday we were having a conversation in the car and she said "I swear like half the time someone dies they are naked, It's like their clothes magically fly off when they pass even if they are just watching tv."

Bboarder · Apr 18, 2017

67temp said:
Btw my wife got the call to work that scene but had declined. Funny thing is on Saturday we were having a conversation in the car and she said "I swear like half the time someone dies they are naked, It's like their clothes magically fly off when they pass even if they are just watching tv."

Tell Mindy I said wth, it was like a mile from your house.

Alphabrew · Apr 18, 2017

So basically rental real estate is not worth the hassle. At least not for me. No amount of money would compensate me for dealing with this type of absurdity in which all the laws favor the tenant who can't even afford to live in the place without government help.

rseymorejr · Apr 18, 2017

Alphabrew said:
So basically rental real estate is not worth the hassle. At least not for me. No amount of money would compensate me for dealing with this type of absurdity in which all the laws favor the tenant who can't even afford to live in the place without government help.

The laws favor all the tenants.

Bboarder · Apr 18, 2017

Alphabrew said:
So basically rental real estate is not worth the hassle. At least not for me. No amount of money would compensate me for dealing with this type of absurdity in which all the laws favor the tenant who can't even afford to live in the place without government help.

Which is why you get a property manager if it's not your full time job.

We have a diverse portfolio, subsidized, market, yuppie and commercial. It's a mixed bag of work, laws suck in this state for the property owner, but thankfully I have a partner who is a bull who walks in velvet slippers. Some tenants consider him like family others el diablo. We've seen almost everything, had hard days and lots of easy one. I wouldn't change a thing.

CrawfishStu · Apr 18, 2017

I've dealt with similar issues in DC and Baltimore in the past. Eviction is always the cleanest way to deal with it.
It can actually get pretty tricky when the family starts to show up and just take all of the belongings. I would love to just have them take everything, but you would basically have to give permission and access to people and that could cause estate issues.
Sometimes the family just showed up and had access to clear out what they wanted and leave keys. Sometimes I had to vid a walkthrough and clear out the fridge to wait months for a formal eviction. Sometimes, I had to get power and gas service in our name for the winter.
Program tenants I had to deal with always had a portion that they were responsible for. So, it was easy enough to file for possession for failure to pay rent. When they are alive and not paying, a HUD lawyer would show up with them and usually try to make it about repairs or whatever. But, my dealing with the HUD rep after a death has always been a clean judgment for possession so I could get the unit cleared.
I had an issue in DC where a family member moved in when the person died in a rent controlled unit. Rent was always paid with MO. So, when rent kept showing up by MO and there was a different name a the bottom along with the unit info, we didn't even notice. They used this to establish tenancy. It was not a fun battle to regain possession or raise rent as if a turnover had occurred. Would not have really been an issue if they hadn't turned out to be shit tenants.

Anyway. It's always easiest to just make it about the rent. Clauses about returning possession have never held up when challenged. I haven't met the judge that was happy about a tenant blankly signing away due process for possession of liability issues.
Good luck.

Glad it is working out for you.

Bboarder · Apr 18, 2017

CrawfishStu said:
Anyway. It's always easiest to just make it about the rent. Clauses about returning possession have never held up when challenged. I haven't met the judge that was happy about a tenant blankly signing away due process for possession of liability issues.
Good luck.

Glad it is working out for you.

I figured you would chime in sooner or later as that was your life for many many years. What you said about the judges was what I figured would be the result.

dgapilot · Apr 18, 2017

That's why I don't have tenants anymore! One unit is now AirBnB, the other is storage.

Tenant laws are bad enough. Don't even get me started on MDE Lead Police!0

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bboarder · Apr 18, 2017

We received a call today from one of our tenants daughters, she had just heard 30 minutes before calling and wanted to get into his unit to see if he had anything detailing his requests for burial as well as any policies for assistance.

My business partner met her at the unit, took a copy of her ID and confirmed with VA (apparently they found her in his file) before allowing her to go through his contents. More CYA.

This story for us is better in two ways. 1, we do not need to file for eviction to take possession of our unit the daughter said she would have the contents removed. 2, while speaking with his daughter we learned that while they were estranged and hadn't seen him since their mothers funeral in over a decade, he had reached out to them at the beginning of the year and they were on speaking terms. Its nice to know we will have our unit back, as business is business, but its also nice to know his belongings will go to his family and he will have someone to bury his remains.

If others found this at all educational, this should be kept open for further landlord/tenant issues.

Stoveman · Apr 18, 2017

protegeV said:
I was literally reading that thread at the moment it got deleted...

I was composing a reply when it got zapped. Truly unfortunate way to go for the renter, but I didn't find the thread offensive and I think this is the direction it would have headed without the slandering.

protegeV · Apr 18, 2017

Stoveman said:
I was composing a reply when it got zapped. Truly unfortunate way to go for the renter, but I didn't find the thread offensive and I think this is the direction it would have headed without the slandering.

You know the mods ain't playing when the thread not only gets locked, but deleted. I must have lost at least 3 posts or more.

landlord. dealing with tenant issues

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

Me Myself & I

Ultimate Member

Me Myself & I

Throbbing Member

Ready to go

Ultimate Member

Member

Active Member

Me Myself & I

Active Member

Me Myself & I

Binary male Lesbian

Ultimate Member

Me Myself & I

Creeper

Me Myself & I

Active Member

Me Myself & I

TV Personality

Ready to go

Users who are viewing this thread

Log in

Forum statistics