We live in the "Live Free or Die State"—there are tenants from H@## who think they should “Live Free” while the landlord “Dies”
I am a reluctant Landlord forced to rent a duplex in Portsmouth that didn't sell and had 2 abusive tenants who organized to simply not pay the rent for months. I have won the evictions of both, and small claims in the district court in Portsmouth, and they were still able to live in the unit. I did not received rent for now 6 months. This is well over $20,000 owed and because of the legal system here that favor tenants it has ruined my credit and now my Duplex and personal home are at risk of foreclosure.
Here is my story--and my solutions.
Current due process can kill.
My duplex in New Hampshire like many in the state is impacted by the worst real estate market in over a decade with lending criteria and fewer investors available. Compounded by a contractor who was way over budget and late to complete (which after 2 years is still not complete) I was forced to find tenants since the units did not sell and the market has changed. This is becoming a big problem of many owners of multi-family homes as well as homes where owners have moved and have not sold their home yet. In this market it is not about being able to make money renting but just to kep up with mortgage payments.
I had two tenants who both checked out fine. They organized and retaliated to a "demand for payment" and "eviction notice" on June 10th by filing a bogus petitions against me within days. --- after each did not pay for 2 months and in violation of several other aspect of the lease from day one. Both tenants verbally threatened to take me to court if I didn’t reduce the rent or simply waive rent payments. One tenant actually personally threatened me in front of my 12 year old daughter and contractor, then filed a completely fabricated story of the events when he refused entry of the contractor. The other tenant threatened me later in front of my daughter (both do not have children and it amazes me that any person could stoop so low so as to do that in front of a child) Both tenants claimed they had withheld rent but violated several rules on witholding rent which in itself voids the tenants right to withhold any rent. In both cases the reasons for withholding rent were not even remotely viable.
I won decidedly both eviction cases. By that time no rent was paid by both tenants for over 3 months--equivalent to 6 months rent--keep in mind I had no way of paying the mortgage if one tenant didn't pay one month.
The judge took 10 days to make a decision. Upon receiving the writ of possession, the tenants waited 7 days to respond with “an intent to appeal” to the supreme court (a half hour before the deadline). The tenant has 30 days to actually write an appeal to the supreme court and send a copy to the landlord (which they waited until the last minute to do) however I only had 10 days to respond to what I proved to be lies. The Supreme Court takes up to 2 months just to review the case.
An "Intent to Appeal" is just an "intent to financially ruin landlord"?
Upon filing the “intent to appeal”, the tenant is required to pay the district court the CURRENT RENT on a weekly basis only from the date of the appeal. The landlord does not automatically get that money—so now I had two abusive tenants who did NOT pay rent for 6 months, the court denied to pay the landlord the money being collected for the current month(s) and it could take another 2 months for the Supreme court to even look at the appeal. In some cases it could take years.
The judge denied my request for receiving this money stating simply that it was under appeal, even though RSA 540:25 and Rule 5.1 allows it --when only the past months not paid and the eviction are under appeal. Seems ironic that the money held by the court is for current rent when the judgement is for past months of unpaid rent--no late charges are being added or paid for. My mortgage and utility companies don’t care about my predicament. Clearly the system doesn’t seem to care either.
One of the tenants admitted in court he simply decided not to pay. He was ordered to pay all the rent within 30 days and failed. He then went to court again a month later, showed he had the money and again the court gave him 7 more days--He defaulted, It took another 2 weeks for a decision to set up yet another court date which he didn't show up for. In between he left the unit without notice, defaulted on his court payment, was arrested for loitering and instead of taking him in he was able to leave on a personal bail (for which he did not pay) and again skipped the trial and is now on the lamb and in serious trouble--ironically he is in more trouble with the courts for a loitering case that has no direct impact on anyone than doing deliberate threats to a taxpaying citizen (in front of a 12 year old child) and non payment of thousands of dollars of rent and eviction which has a direct financial and emotional impact on that citizen (and a child).
The other tenant, well he owed over $13,000 in rent and late charges, the decision was to mediate (knowing he would "play the system" and appeal to the Supreme Court, and delay payment for possibly years with nothing in place to protect the funds from disappearing--and that the banks had an eye on foreclosure). This was the very first landlord/tenant case used for mediation in the district. And even though this tenant saved a clear loss in small claims on his and his roommates record for 20 years, and paid over $5000 less than owed he still is taking me to court.
ironically the only thing that I was told from people in the court system and attorneys was that I should feel lucky to have even recieved anything. There is something wrong with a system with that attitude prevalent amongst people involved in protecting the rights of citizens. No wonder these nonpaying tenants play the game.
Can the Landlord evict the court for not paying the rent??
There is no incentive for a tenant from hell to be anything less than evil. The tenant who is blatantly “playing the system” is wasting our taxpayers’ money and the courts time, and can force the landlord’s property to go into foreclosure. Who should be held accountable. What responsibility does our own court system play in protecting the landlord from total financial destruction when the court itself is refusing to release the money collected for current rent. Can a landlord evict the court system for not paying the rent?
In the meantime, landlords loose their shirts, their credit, and maybe their home, while these tenants from Hell get a slap on the hand and can legally get away with not paying anything. To get them out mediation usually results in even more thousands lost. All this delay prevents the landlord from being able to advertise and arrange for a paying tenant to take the unit since it is unclear when he will have possession.
A Fair Change will save time, money, and prevent abusive tenants
Here are my suggestions regarding non paying tenants who appeal and judgement for not paying rent.
A) When district court finds tenant to be in violation for non payment writ of possession will be granted as is now.
B) If tenant decides to appeal to the Supreme Court then tenant pays all money not paid to the landlord in the judgement into an escrow account with the court upon filing the "Intent to Appeal"
C) Shorten the time frame to 10 days that tenant has to file to the Supreme court--Time is of the essence.
D) Tenant also pay into the court the current rent on a weekly basis as is required now
E) Landlord is paid for current rent and late fees as spelled out in the lease agreement for each week during the appeal period through the court (why should he be punished even further and destroyed financially when it is previous months that the judgement is for).
F) Once appeal process is complete, and landlord prevails then he should have all moneys paid directly to him immediately as determined by the court--the same goes for the defendant if they win
G) Tenant pays all court costs, all late fees as spelled out in their lease agreement, plus damages and attorney fees to the landlord.
H) All tenants found guilty be placed in a deadbeat tenant site assessable to everyone for free.
Benefits:
1)All the money held in escrow during the appeal process could generate a lot of interest income for the state of New Hampshire which could offset the court costs to the state or much needed Mediation services
2) This will force abusive tenants to think twice about playing games. It shouldn’t impact them financially since they were obligated to pay the money anyway. The landlord is financially hurt the first month the tenant doesn’t pay. By time the landlord is dealing with an appeal to the supreme court, he has most likely lost 3 months of rent payments already—that is devastating enough.
3) Forcing tenants to escrow all moneys owed will streamline the process and future court dates that would be scheduled for deadbeat tenants not paying.
4) This will also allow the plaintiffs or defendants to get paid back what is due in a much more timely fashion.
Who will help
I appeal to the common sense to all those involved in making and enforcing the laws with all of their brain power, intelligence and influence to see the injustice served here. I have yet to find anyone who works for the district or supreme court system to disagree with me. Nothing I am suggesting would impede on the rights of a tenant who is dealing with a bad landlord. It will prevent tenants from getting in further financial trouble by not having back rent owed if they loose the appeal. More importantly it will weed out the abusive tenants out of the system and shorten the ever increasing demand on our court system against frivolous charges.
Currently only the landlord gets hurt here. I speak from experience.
I encourage all who have been impacted by idiot tenents to speak up. I know of one owner with 3 kids, who rented part of their own house to people who started dealing drugs out of their own home. These tenants were arrested on multiple occasions, have'nt paid rent, and are able to live in their home without paying rent, putting their own life at risk, because of the flaws in the system. amazing.
Senator Jack Barnes of New Hampshire is helping me to pass a bill for these changes. A great man. A huge Red Sox Fan so don't mention those other guys in NY.
A decent website dealing with landlord protections and posting deadbeat tenants on a dead beat tenant list is The Landlord Protection Agency
A decent website for collectons and credit bureau reproting of these non paying tenants is www.acollectionagency.com
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