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Is it legal to evict a tenant with written consent of the tenant?

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lucky13th

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

My mother owns a home which she rents in the form of rooms and or whole floors. She has a tenant who has built up balance equivalent to three months rent. She wants to evict him and has gotten a signed self-written consent from the tenant to allow her to change the locks and possess his possessions till he pays rent. I am wondering if this is legal?
 


justalayman

Senior Member
then no, you cannot change the locks. How is the guy supposed to get in and out if you change the locks? If he does not intend on staying, then he needs to just move out and go from there.


If you want the guy out, you evict him according to the laws. Don't play around with this or is will surely come back to bite you in the butt. Follow the laws in place. That is your only true defense to some future claims the guy might make in the future.

I see no harm holding his possessions as collateral if the statement allows it but unless it gives you the authority to do something with them, you are still bound by the landlord tenant laws concerning a tenants property.
 

lucky13th

Junior Member
The guy has been playing cat and mouse with my mother for several months. He pays his rent in negligible amounts every couple of days but never fully and repeatedly tells her that he will pay in full on so and so date but never comes through with it. When asked to move out, he says he will but never does. I know that the most legal method (if there are any other legal ones) is to sue the tenant and get an eviction order, and I repeatedly tell my mother that but she is stubborn and due the cost of getting an attorney.

She apparently got this idea from a patient that in that handles this kind of stuff as a government employee I believe. I suppose the tenant can't simply sign over his rights? I believe he signed the notice because he believed it wouldn't do much and has no intent on moving out nor paying his balance unless forced to.

So that's our situation. Is there any additional advice on how to handle this situation?
 
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justalayman

Senior Member
So that's our situation. Is there any additional advice on how to handle this situation?
just suck it up and evict the guy. Figure how much you are probably going to lose because you won't be able to collect from the guy, add whatever you will likely lose by allowing him to stay there without actually paying and compare that to the costs to evict him. If it is cheaper to evict, then evict him.
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
first off does your mom have any written leases ?( even if they are short term) and with this one tenant what was his orginal term week by week , bi weekly or month to month ? If he hasnt paid the rent NYs especially NYC is very tenant friendly , if she doesnt want to take him to court for the money then she can with proper written notice tell him he must move out , so if he was originally a month to month renter then she must give him proper notice to vacate that follows that route and its best for her to get a post office box for her return mail address unless she has a locked mail box of her own and send to him his notice in certified mail telling him to get out , the Po box thing is if he refuses to pick up his mail or sign for it then it will be returned to somewhere that it wont vanish or be stolen , same with any court docs.
 

lucky13th

Junior Member
My mother is renting without a written lease. The tenant was to pay his rent at the beginning of each month for the month.

When the tenant is given the notice, what would happen if he still doesn't vacate his room? Perhaps I'm thinking too ahead of myself, but given his attitude, there is a high chance he'll simply disregard the notice.

But back to the present, the notice has to just notify the tenant he has to move out? Is there a mandatory length for the grace period given to him before he moves out?

I believe my mother has given him notice to move out/pay his rent or she would take the matter to court. She did not follow through due the cost of hiring an attorney, and I think he ignored it regardless.
 
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justalayman

Senior Member
You serve a pay or quite notice. I do not know how long it must give the tenant to pay. Most states are generally 3-5-or 10 day notices.

If the tenant fails to either pay or leave the premises, the LL's option is either to forget about it and continue to get shafted (like your mother has apparently done) of file for an eviction.

are you in New York city? They have their own rules you have to follow.
 

lucky13th

Junior Member
Thanks for all the advice. I guess the only solution is to convince my mother to quit her crazy scheme and file for an eviction.

I'm just frustrated over why this arrogant idiot is still there. My grandmother used to live in the same building and eventually had to get a restraining order on the tenant. If it was me I would have started the eviction process the moment he was late even if my loses were to triple just to spite him. Though in this case that would have been the best course of action as my mother just, as you have said, keeps getting shafted. It sucks how pro bono NYC is to tenants. I understand it's to protect tenants from similarly arrogant land lords but creeps like him hiding under the law ticks me off. Sorry for the minirant =/.

If there is any further advice anyone can give us to make the eviction process smoother, information to further increase our understanding of the eviction process, or even to find a good attorney, it would be greatly appreciated, because I, and probably my mother, lack experience with the legal system. Thanks again for all the help.
 

Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
Your mother cannot evict anyone without a court order granting such (and that includes changing the locks).

Attached are the steps to initiating the eviction process for failing to pay rent in New York (the steps may vary a bit depending on whether this is in New York city or New York state):

Summary Proceedings (evictions)

It's important that the landlord (mom) follow the legal steps to evicting a tenant or she might find herself being either 1. sued or 2. stuck with the tenant when the court declines her request for an eviction.

Gail
 

atomizer

Senior Member
Tell your mom to stop taking partial payments. Accepting partial payments can screw up any chance of a successful eviction.
 

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