COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHY ITS EASIER TO KICK THEM OUT BEFORE THE LEASE IS EVER SIGNED 
“Ironically, the stricter the rules are for evicting people (to ‘protect’ tenants), the stricter we have to be on rent qualification and deposit size, which makes it harder for many tenants to rent. It would be easier to take a risk on a marginal tenant (low credit score, less than a full month deposit), if the property code didn’t allow them to bunker down in the apartment for 2 months if they don’t pay rent. A good example of a well-meaning law backfiring.” [Cody, commenting on Palace Lanes Building on Bellaire Locked Up by Landlord] Illustration: Lulu
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I thought the deadbeat tenant had a full 90 days rent-free after notice of eviction.
(plenty of time to remove appliances, ceiling fans, all the copper…)
movocelot: Depends. There are a lot of things an aggressive property manager can do, and a lot of things an experienced deadbeat can do. It’s at minimum 1 month if no ‘fight’ is put up. With minor tenant effort that can be extended to two months. A pro can hunker down longer.
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Then again, there is a lot that a property manager can do within the confines of the property code that most don’t. I know there is a lot I used to (legally) do that I can’t get my managers to do (since they are not quite as concerned about a non-paying tenant as I might be).
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There are large numbers of the population that exist to just move into whatever place will take them with a little move in free, then bunker down for months, then off to the next.
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Remember Crestmont? All those tenants that are “taken advantage of” by that “evil slumlord”? Well your tax dollars went to help them. The city paid for their rent+deposit to get them out. How many of them do you think were paying rent where they were at? Might that have something to do with why the owner couldn’t’ afford to keep the place up? And why they’d stay if the place was so bad?
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We took several of them. What % do you think paid rent on their first month they were responsible? 100%? 80%? 50%? 25%? Nope. 0%. That’s right. After getting a “fresh start” at a nice place with rent+deposit paid for, not a single tenant (at least that were placed with us) paid rent once the free city rent was used up.
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Anyway, I’m getting off topic :)