Alright guys, little background first. I'm married, almost 5 years, we have a 1 year old kid, and hopefully more to come. We moved into the house we're in now shortly after getting married, so we've been here for a little over 4 years. The stairs come up right next to the back wall of the garage so we took the opportunity to turn the basement into an apartment. Had a separate entrance built, leading into the garage, put locks on the door leading into the remainder of the house, and put the essential kitchen appliances down there. Had everything inspected and approved by the village as well, so not like we're doing something shady here. The tenant never enters into our portion of the house.
We've had great tenants these last 4 years. This last guy had a well paying job, but was going through some tough times. Was going through a divorce, fighting for partial custody of his kid, etc. Everything was fine until he lost his job. Instead of finding a new job (which he was more than capable of), he decided to file a lawsuit against them saying they should be paying his workers comp, because he was injured on a jobsite while working for them. So these last 6 months or so, he's been getting paid a decent amount just from workers comp, and of course his back is still hurting. Even this wasn't so bad, a little sketchy, but he paid rent and didn't bother us too much.
Well then his attitude starts changing, he starts dressing differently, and he just seems high all the time. First major incident: He totals his vehicle about a mile away from the house. I don't know the specifics, but he somehow rolled his van going around a 25 MPH turn. He walks back to the house after everything is sorted out with the police, then remembers he left his backpack in the van, so he hops in my wife's car (who leaves the keys in her car when parked in the garage) and drives over there before they tow it. It was in the middle of the night, so he didn't want to wake us... It's an understandable story if it's true, but he left waffle pieces all over the car, syrup over everything, and there's a big white stain in the back seat. We find out he took the car not because he told us, but because my wife found the mess. We were probably too nice about the situation, and sort of let it slide, but we made sure it was understood that he is never allowed to take our cars without permission.
Fast forward a month, he takes my wife's car again. You would think she would learn not to leave the keys in the car, but that's besides the point. Same thing, doesn't tell us, leaves a mess in the car, and the passenger side mirror is busted. At this point we know there's something wrong with the guy, and for all we know he used her car to rob a bank. To cover our butts, we file a police report. He admits everything to the officer, but still he claims he just took the car to get some cigarettes, but somehow managed to use up 1/4 tank of gas, and hit the mirror on the garage pulling out. He's charged with trespassing, $1,500 fine, up to 1 year in jail if we press charges. We told him we wouldn't press charges if he packs up and leaves in the next week or two, which he agrees.
Now it's 3 weeks later, he actually wrote us a letter a couple days ago saying how sorry he is, and that he really does respect our property, but adds a little section in the note where he says he talked to his friends at the police station and the way the trespassing charge was handled was not done correctly, and that he's not worried about the charges. The basement isn't sound proof, we can hear him, and in the last couple days have heard him mention several times to his "friends" who come over about his drug sales, and how he's now a drug dealer. Not sure what kind of drugs, probably just narcotics that he gets for his "back pain". We see cars pull up to the driveway, he walks out and walks back in and they drive away. Always at night.
The way I see it, I have 3 options: Decide to proceed with pressing charges for trespassing. I'm not sure how this would work, but can see it not quite working out how I would hope. But maybe this is the quick and easy solution. Not sure if he would even be sent to jail, or just fined? I'm guessing he can still probably deny the charges and say he was coerced into admitting it.
Or possibly see if I can get the police to catch him in his drug dealings. This one would for sure get him out of the house, but might be difficult to prove. But I've also been told this can really screw up property values, and we were planning on moving soon.
Lastly, I could proceed with just a standard eviction procedure. This would probably take about 6-8 weeks, possibly a little faster considering some of the circumstances, but also possibly slower if he fights it. He hasn't paid this months rent.
Yes, I know this is a machining forum, but we've got one of the smartest, most diversified groups out there! Hopefully some of you have some sort of experience in this?
This guy isn't the same guy he used to be. I'd like to say he would never do anything to hurt us, but I would have also said he never would have hopped in one of our cars for a joy ride, let alone do it twice. So I want to make sure I'm safe about this. I do know he has several friends who are involved with his dealings that stay here occasionally over night.
We've had great tenants these last 4 years. This last guy had a well paying job, but was going through some tough times. Was going through a divorce, fighting for partial custody of his kid, etc. Everything was fine until he lost his job. Instead of finding a new job (which he was more than capable of), he decided to file a lawsuit against them saying they should be paying his workers comp, because he was injured on a jobsite while working for them. So these last 6 months or so, he's been getting paid a decent amount just from workers comp, and of course his back is still hurting. Even this wasn't so bad, a little sketchy, but he paid rent and didn't bother us too much.
Well then his attitude starts changing, he starts dressing differently, and he just seems high all the time. First major incident: He totals his vehicle about a mile away from the house. I don't know the specifics, but he somehow rolled his van going around a 25 MPH turn. He walks back to the house after everything is sorted out with the police, then remembers he left his backpack in the van, so he hops in my wife's car (who leaves the keys in her car when parked in the garage) and drives over there before they tow it. It was in the middle of the night, so he didn't want to wake us... It's an understandable story if it's true, but he left waffle pieces all over the car, syrup over everything, and there's a big white stain in the back seat. We find out he took the car not because he told us, but because my wife found the mess. We were probably too nice about the situation, and sort of let it slide, but we made sure it was understood that he is never allowed to take our cars without permission.
Fast forward a month, he takes my wife's car again. You would think she would learn not to leave the keys in the car, but that's besides the point. Same thing, doesn't tell us, leaves a mess in the car, and the passenger side mirror is busted. At this point we know there's something wrong with the guy, and for all we know he used her car to rob a bank. To cover our butts, we file a police report. He admits everything to the officer, but still he claims he just took the car to get some cigarettes, but somehow managed to use up 1/4 tank of gas, and hit the mirror on the garage pulling out. He's charged with trespassing, $1,500 fine, up to 1 year in jail if we press charges. We told him we wouldn't press charges if he packs up and leaves in the next week or two, which he agrees.
Now it's 3 weeks later, he actually wrote us a letter a couple days ago saying how sorry he is, and that he really does respect our property, but adds a little section in the note where he says he talked to his friends at the police station and the way the trespassing charge was handled was not done correctly, and that he's not worried about the charges. The basement isn't sound proof, we can hear him, and in the last couple days have heard him mention several times to his "friends" who come over about his drug sales, and how he's now a drug dealer. Not sure what kind of drugs, probably just narcotics that he gets for his "back pain". We see cars pull up to the driveway, he walks out and walks back in and they drive away. Always at night.
The way I see it, I have 3 options: Decide to proceed with pressing charges for trespassing. I'm not sure how this would work, but can see it not quite working out how I would hope. But maybe this is the quick and easy solution. Not sure if he would even be sent to jail, or just fined? I'm guessing he can still probably deny the charges and say he was coerced into admitting it.
Or possibly see if I can get the police to catch him in his drug dealings. This one would for sure get him out of the house, but might be difficult to prove. But I've also been told this can really screw up property values, and we were planning on moving soon.
Lastly, I could proceed with just a standard eviction procedure. This would probably take about 6-8 weeks, possibly a little faster considering some of the circumstances, but also possibly slower if he fights it. He hasn't paid this months rent.
Yes, I know this is a machining forum, but we've got one of the smartest, most diversified groups out there! Hopefully some of you have some sort of experience in this?
This guy isn't the same guy he used to be. I'd like to say he would never do anything to hurt us, but I would have also said he never would have hopped in one of our cars for a joy ride, let alone do it twice. So I want to make sure I'm safe about this. I do know he has several friends who are involved with his dealings that stay here occasionally over night.
