A homeowner came to me and needed to sell his home. He was recently divorced and had moved out of his home leaving it to his wife and daughter. Not long after he moved out his wife and daughter moved out too. So he decided to rent out the home to help cover the expenses of carrying two homes. It wasn't long before he found himself not able to carry both homes and came to me to help him out with a short sale.
Tenants were not happy about the sale, confrontational and not cooperative. In fact they told me that they are going to do everything in their power to stall the sale as they considered this to be their home. I listed the property with notations of "tenants in place." True to their word the home was a housekeeping disaster and most of the potential buyers had trouble looking past the mess. I was finally able to get an offer and sent it off to the bank. Once I got the approval, it was then the buyer's agent informed me that they would not close until the tenant vacates. Fortunately for the seller the lease had just expired and the tenants should be moving out, right? Wrong.
The tenants called me wanting to know how they can get their lease extended. I told them that the buyers want to live there and do not want to have the home leased. They really should be talking with the seller and not me. I called my sellers to let them know of the situation and that they need to begin the eviction process because I don't think they are going to be leaving anytime soon and if they don't move out he could lose the buyer. We are also working on deadline to close with the bank. Seller assured me that these are good people and they would not be a problem.
The tenants now have stayed over their lease by 1 ½ months without paying rent and a week before closing -stole the seller's davits. The seller happened to notice davits lying on the ground across the canal and called the homeowner to find out where he got them. Sure enough the tenants had sold them the davits. Seller was able to install the davits in time for closing but what a mess. The tenants did everything in their power to stop the purchase because they were angry at the seller for having to sell his home. It doesn't end here. After the closing the new buyers go to the home and the tenants and neighbors are standing buy the davits looking at them and he had to chase them all away. When he went into the home the alarm went off. The tenants changed the alarm code so they could not disarm the alarm system. They had to disable alarm at the source.
Moral of the story? Be very careful when selling a home with tenants in place. You never know what is going to happen.
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Wow - I can so relate to this! Every short sale I have listed with tenants in place has turned into a nightmare. I am at the point of turning down any short sale listing that has a tenant - short sales are difficult enough without having the added frustration of uncooperative tenants.
The renter forgot they were renters and thought it was the set of a Stephen King movie so added their brand of destruction, living like two legged pigs. Start the eviction pronto in these situations because when they say they will be out, they don't and next thing you know six months with the slow legal process are wasted. And the renter does this for a living, is way way more skilled in knowing his rights than the naive owner with their own personal problems revolving around their heads.
It is a shame that some individuals do whatever they can to stop something; it will come back to bite them in the end. Good news at least the buyer's got the home they wanted.
LOL - I had to look up "davits" in the dictionary to see what they had stolen. Doesn't sound like a simple thing to do.
Terry - After this experience I am with you. I did not even tell you the half of the story.
Andrew - I agree the renters are far more knowledgeable about their rights then the unsupsecting nice landlord. Start the eviction as soon as possible because you just don't know what people are capable of.
Pat - The seller was able to get them out pronto with the threat of prosection hanging over their heads otherwise they would have never left.
Alan - This was not an easy task. They sheared them off and it took quite of bit of effort to do so. It cost the seller about $1000 to get them installed properly.
It never ceases to amaze me how some humans choose to live.
"Moral of the story? Owners should be careful about who they rent their homes to. There may have been signs of behavior patterns in the application process.
"Moral of the story?" Owners should be careful about who they rent their homes to. There may have been signs of behavior patterns in the application process.
I worked in property management once upon a time - the stories I can tell!