This tale of a Connecticut Landlord ends well and there is a lesson to be learned. Many landlord tales don't end happily because the authorities will tell you there is nothing you can do when your home is trashed by tenants or you lose thousands of dollars in rent. This tale was written by a client of mine who rented out his home In Ledyard. He really is a very nice man.
June 17, 2010
Once upon a time a young girl rented a nice house in Ledyard from a nice man. She had a boyfriend and two young children. She seemed so nice.
But the young girl had trouble paying her rent, and paying her utilities. The nice man kept the utilities current so they didn't get turned off, and he gave the young girl plenty of leeway in paying her back rent.
After a few months the young girl decided she didn't want to catch up on her back rent. She quit talking to the nice man. He had no choice but to begin an eviction process. After almost two months the young girl, her boyfriend, and her two young children were forced to seek refuge somewhere other than his nice house.
But his house was no longer nice, it was a pig sty. There was trash everywhere. The carpets were soiled, the doors were broken, there were holes in the walls, the cupboards were broken, it was as if a tornado had hit his nice house. The nice man called the police and they filled out a report. The District Attorney filed charges and ordered the girl arrested. Unfortunately no one knew where she had gone.
Fortunately, she and her boyfriend had a habit of beating each other up. So one day when they were having a dispute the police were called. When they took her name and looked it up, found the previous charge and they arrested her. Unfortunately the young girl made her $1000 bail and went back into hiding. She missed her next court appointment, and the next one, and the next one, and finally a judge ordered her bail revoked and signed a new arrest warrant. Once again the young girl was found and arrested. This time the court required a $2500 professional bond (bail bondsman money). This time the young girl showed up for her court appearance.
When the young girl came to court she asked the judge to let her attend "pretrial rehabilitation". This is a program that would allow the young girl to be given a period of probation during which she would complete a rehabilitation course. Then, if she completed the course satisfactorily, the charges against her would be dropped.
Unfortunately for the young girl, the process allows the nice man the opportunity to tell the court what he thinks of this process. The nice man is invited to the court to tell the judge "if (he) think(s) the Defendant should be given accelerated pretrial rehabilitation."
The nice man will attend the next hearing and he will tell the judge exactly what he thinks of granting pretrial rehabilitation to this young girl.
As a side note, the nice man looked up the recent court records of the young girl and her boyfriend. It turns out that her boyfriend was arrested last Friday for possession and sale of controlled substances (two felonies). He's in jail under $50,000 bail that he has not met. His next court date is next week. The nice man is considering attending the hearing just to see who shows up and what happens to the young man.
In all of this there are two innocent young children. Who cares for the children? The nice man will request the court to place the children in a proper home environment. These people should not be raising children.
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Update July 13, 2010
The little girl didn't show up for her court appearance on 7/2/2010. The nice man did show up. The nice man talked to the court investigator and had her felony charges entered into her record along with several photographs of the damages done to his property. Then the nice man was permitted an opportunity to talk to the judge. The judge listened politely and then revoked the $2500 bail, ordered the little girl re-arrested, and set her next bail at $1,000 cash only.
The little girl probably knew she had made a mistake not appearing in court on 7/2, so she went voluntarily to court on 7/6. She threw herself on the mercy of the court and the nice judge decided to sentence her to:
24 months of probation
Court supervised rehabilitation (whatever that is)
PLUS
Pay the nice man $8,450 for damages. Payments to be made $100 / month.
Now these payments are part of the terms of her probation. To successfully complete her 24 months of probation she must comply. The nice man is very happy with this judgment.
The nice man went to court on 7/13/2010 and was given a copy of the courts judgment against the little girl. This paperwork gives the little girls address. With this information the nice man will be able to get the Department of Children and Families to investigate the living conditions of the two young children living with the little girl and her boyfriend. He will also be able to file a small claims case against the little girl and against her boyfriend for back rent and utilities.
The boyfriend has made his $50,000 bail. His next court appearance will be 7/19/2010. The nice man will go and observe the proceedings of this case.
Sometimes a landlord can get justice.
To be continued.....
Linda Davis has been selling real estate in Ledyard CT for 33 years. You'll find Linda's complete profile on her Online Business Card.
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