Lawyer authorization

[MIKEPIN]

FL

I am the owner of a property.

I filed eviction on a tenant who got a 30-day notice (month to month tenant) on 3/1 and did not pay rent on 3/1. On 3/3 we gave her a 3-day notice to pay or move by 3/6 and on 3/7 we filed the eviction and had it served the same day.

Now I get this message:

I was retained by xxxx relative to the eviction lawsuit that was filed against her. Before my office files a motion to dismiss including sanctions and attorneys fees for the improper and unlawful eviction that was filed, I wanted to professionally extend my willingness to have a communication with you to see if we can’t resolve this outside of court. Please advise of your availability and if you have authority to communicate on behalf of the owners. Thank you.

yyy, Esq

Sent from my iPhone

Should I verify that she is, in fact, representing the tenant?

She is about 2 hours away from us and the court.

Any other advice? I have done many evictions, but never had a lawyer against me.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[FarmerJ]

If you followed your states laws then I don't see any reason you cannot move forward. AS to the text message you got , If it was me I would wonder why a supposed attorney would not use a real paper letter sent via say confirmed mail delivery or certificate of mailing or certified mail OR just even plain regular mail. Some tenants wait until the last minute and claim the unit was not habitable or needed serious repairs. You are free to learn if the person who sent you a text has a license to practice law in your state ( especially if it wont cost you any thing to find out ) BUT again I find the whole text thing to be sort of fishy.

 

[MIKEPIN]

I also found the text message very strange. I, however, found a lawyer by that name and with the phone number given - just about 1 1/2 hours away. Maybe she is a friend of the tenant. If she files a motion to dismiss and we ask for a hearing, she will have fun driving here and back.

The house is in good condition (proven) and we have no complaints from the tenant, but I am used to tenants all of the sudden coming up with all kind of repair requests. However, here in FL that usually does not count if they have no proof that they gave us notice.

Also, whatever excuses they come up with usually only work if they put the rent in the court register.


Can I talk to that lawyer or should I ask her for the authorization?

Their 5 days run out soon, so they are in a hurry ....

 

[FarmerJ]

I still cannot imagine why a lawyer would not use real paper sent with a way to track it, this lawyer could have sent mail to you via a one day method or even a courier company to make sure you got it the same day. At this point what would you want as a settlement ? the missing rent ? the missing rent and your filing fee and the tenant to vacate ? ( do you wonder if the tenant wants to try to negotiate being able to pay and stay ? )

 

[reenzz]

I would simply ignore the letter and proceed with the eviction.

 

[MIKEPIN]

Maybe she does not want an eviction on her record? I would negotiate if I got rent and even file a Voluntary Dismissal after she moved out.

We have a security deposit, clearly marked as deposit in the contract. Tenant felt that could count as last rent.

 

[MIKEPIN]

I would simply ignore the letter and proceed with the eviction.

There was not even a letter. It was an email from an IPhone.

 

[MIKEPIN]

I still would like to know if I have to ask her for proof that she was hired by the tenant if I wanted to find out what she has to offer.

 

[Zigner]

It sounds to me as if things are moving quickly. Generally, parties to a lawsuit are encouraged to communicate prior to a matter actually going to court in an attempt to reach a settlement. You can ask for some sort of proof if you like, but why not just take the attorney at his/her word? Your failure to participate in settlement discussions, or to even respond to a request for discussions, might be looked at unfavorably by the court.

 

[FarmerJ]

I was one of those LLs who once I had to go file ,paid the filing fee I wouldn't have backed down and let it go to court, My experience was If it had to go far enough to file then they didn't have the money to stay on anyway and It was likely they might repeat history If I did let them negotiate to stay and pay. If your going to even bother to reply to the text message I would say instead if you have a mail address for this so called attorney to send a written on real paper letter via confirmed mail delivery telling this Attorney you expect full payment of rent owed and your filing fee and for the unit to be delivered to you vacant before court in order for you to formally drop the eviction hearing.

 

[MIKEPIN]

Thanks! Appreciate your help.

She has a 30-day notice anyway, so I am 100% not interested in keeping her.

 

[MIKEPIN]

We are trying to get rid of the tenant as she became a meth addict.

Just found a mug shot of her lawyer. Lawyer was arrested and convicted in Daytona in 2018 for "BATTERY" and "ROBBERY BY SUDDEN SNATCHING". On Youtube someone posted: "Seriously people don't trust this demon. She takes money from clients and doesn't actually file anything. She wins no cases and shes a drug user, meth to be exact."

 

[FarmerJ]

Well Id say to stay your course with going to court and don't even bother replying to the message A so called attorney would know the value of a real paper trail since text messages and emails can really be lost somewhere and sent to mars or some where, Barely half of my text messages are received by the ones I would send / reply to and my cell phone can go days before I see someone called me sosince I have hammered it to co workers heads so many times its not funny that I pay for a normal landline for a reason and they should call me on it cell signal is total crap at home (my cell is more about having to call for help if I need it on my way to work at night )

 

[MIKEPIN]

But I still have a technical question.

Let us assume this case goes on longer. They file an order to dismiss and we have to schedule a hearing. The court is four weeks behind.

Their contract is up anyway on 3/31. Usually, I would file a holdover eviction on 4/1.

Would I add this to this case? How?

 

[MIKEPIN]

Just to follow up.

The lawyer gave me two times when she would call but never did.

I just carried on with the case. Nothing was ever filed from their site. I got the Writ of Possession with no problem at all.

The tenant was kicked out.