• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Gypsy tenant- she never pays anywhere!

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

E

emmylou0001

Guest
Let me recount the whole sordid, twisted tale. As a new young Realtor, I took on property management duties for my grandmother. I leased one of her aparments to a woman and her daughter. They listed two references. Both references said that she was a satisfactory tenant. My grandmother keeps the accounts of her property, albiet not very well. My grandmother notified me in February that the tenant has not paid since September. I made plans to evict, but the woman suckered my grandmother. The tenant gave this whole bull-yarn sob story, and my grandmother bought it. As time went by, the tenant still did not pay rent. Finally we filed for eviction. As we were filling out the paperwork, the receptionist informed us that she knew the tenant. They did not meet socially. The tenant has been evicted so many times that the receptionist had become a casual acquintance! The last of the tenant's victims had not been on her references. Anyway, I am having her evicted today. At first, I was disturbed by a woman who would so shamelessly take advantage of an old woman's kindness. At present, I am annoyed by the fact that this woman goes from establishment to establishment like a nomad, leaving debt/filth in her wake. I feel like a chump. I need to know if we can place a landlord's lien, or some other form of legal action. I will work with her other victims in order to stop the tenant. Please let me know is there is any legal action in the state of Texas I could pursue to reclaim anything (even if it is only my pride).
 


L

LL

Guest
With the eviction, you can get an order for the lost rent as damages. Be sure to register this on her credit record.

If there are any good tenant screening services in Texas, have her entered with a brief paragraph about all that she has done. Be prepared to answer questions from other landlords, with names and telephone numbers of previous victims.

The moral of this story is to screen tenants carefully before renting to them. I had experiences like this too, in the early days of my landlording career.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top