Please help now! Tenant threatening home

[cowgirltuff]

I have been renting out my second home for the past year. I was desperate to have the home rented because my mother became disabled and I had to take care of her. They signed a three year rent to own contract. They were supposed to give a security deposit but couldn't do it upfront, they were supposed to give half the first month and half the second but it never happened. They have been late with rent every single month since they moved it. They cut down five acres worth of trees and never leveled the area, they changed multiple things without asking. So now they are getting a divorce and this is their last month, he has left her and she said she couldn't afford the second half of rent this month. But she can afford to rent another home a city over. So I talked with her tonight saying I really needed that other half and she blew up, she said she would ruin my home, she threatened to take everything and if I step one foot on my property she would have me arrested and that she was going to sue me for everything I had. What can I do?

 

[jharris352]

She can't have you arrested. There is a clause in your lease about safeguarding your property. Evict her if she is in violation of your lease. Before you file for eviction, notify her that you are coming in for an inspection. If you need the police ask them to show up. Take pictures of the entire house. Then file for eviction. If she damages anything you should have a landlord policy not a regular home owner's policy it will help. Then if she does anything to your home she can be arrested for vandalism or conversion. Evict her and be done with it. Good luck.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

You need to consider what is the safest thing to do about your property.

We are nearing the middle of October; even if you begin the process of eviction now it is likely your tenant will not be served until the end of the month...by which time she will already be (hopefully) moving out.

If you do fear she would do great damage to your place if faced with an eviction, I would wait until the end of the month, let her move out, get the address of her new residence and then consider suing her for owed rent.

If she does not move out at the end of the month, then begin the process of eviction.

Your problem is that you have allowed your tenants to do whatever they have wished in the time they have lived in your house; you have accepted late rent, did nothing to evict them after they cut down five acres worth of trees, made changes without your consent. It is no wonder she believes that this is her house.

Gail