I know you are anxious, but if I were you, I wouldn't change the locks just yet. You should wait until you get the "warrant of removal", that way you have no legal entaglements.

If I were you, I would cut your losses. Tell this rat bastard you won't sue him for back rent, and have him sign a paper saying he will be out in a week. You aren't gonna get that money anyway, as this guy is seemingly a deadbeat, and even if you won the seperate civil suit, there is no guarntee you will get the money paid to you anyway. I know it sucks, but the law is on his side.

Here's an update:

My deadbeat actually showed up to spend the weekend. The audacity of this guy... I have made it abundantly clear that I have other prospective tenants lined up and he is costing me a good deal of money every day he refuses to pack up...

Anyway, I ask him when he's moving out, and he says "today," like he says every day. So I print out a "Lease Cancellation Agreement" and he signs it without flinching.

Never actually removes his mattress and his TV, or returns keys, of course.

But I'm pretty sure I own the apartment now, right? He signed the lease cancellation! He doesn't have any protections any more, as far as I can tell.

I am planning on changing the locks tonight and storing his mattress/TV in a spare bedroom for him if he ever wants to claim them.

Is there any reason I can't do that now? I still plan on keeping my eviction court date in two weeks, to make everything proper and official, but I don't need to keep letting him show up at odd hours after he signed a lease cancellation and owes me two months rent!

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Had a very similar situation- Basically the landlord seemed to think I was a guest in his house, rather than a tenant. Strolled in any time he wanted. Told my room mates & I that we weren't allowed to take showers after 10pm because the water disturbed him while sleeping (we were all waiting tables at the time, washing off foodsmell at 3am was the norm). Really a total joke.

It never got to the point that we had to do something about it. We just ignored him completely & went about our business, and he didn't push the issue. But yeah, been there too. Annoying as hell.

GWB

I guess I let personal experience color my reaction to New Heights.

Years ago, I moved into a place with a stringent list of house rules a mile long, which didn't faze me, as I pay my rent on time and am a quiet and courteous tenant.

But the landlord was a bully who micromanaged the lives of his tenants, showing up without warning, letting himself into apartments, writing warnings if somebody wasn't keeping his/her personal (private!) living space up to his standards of tidyness and basically breaking every tenant law on the planet (including keeping my deposit after I returned a spotless apartment to him).

and god forbid I ever requested anything of him, like occasional maintenance, etc.

I've had much better experiences renting from people I know and like. Mutual respect is a great incentive, for renters and landlords. But maybe I've just been lucky?

Anyway, NH, if you're as good on your end of the bargain as you demand your tenants to be, then my apologies for doubting you.

Nice timing

How "Serial Evictees" Game A System Meant To Protect Renters From Abuse

http://consumerist.com/5036774/how-se ... rotect-renters-from-abuse

I remember a Fox 5 Shame, Shame, Shame report (i couldn't find it, i guess it was too long), the tenant never paid but lived in this house.

The landlord could not do anything. He even removed all the doors and windows thinking that they would leave under those conditions, but they didn't.

The tenants kept saying that they did pay. I think the landlord was waiting for a long time for the sherif to come. I don't think they ever got evicted.

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I thought passing bad checks is a crime. I'm not sure if it is or not but if it is, meet him at the door with his mattress and TV next time he shows up to flop there and tell him to take a hike or you're calling the cops. No keep the TV, just give him the bedbug ridden mattress.

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New Heights sounds like the landlord from heaven to me. I am guessing that if he's no bullshit with the rent, he's also no bullshit with making sure any problems with the units get fixed in a hurry. If you don't like his policies, you simply do not rent from him. Free market.

Apologies, NewHeights, if you're a her.

GWB

I think New Heights sounds like a well organized landlord. You can't get emotionally involved with your tenants - it just doesn't make business sense at all.

Tenants will use you like a door mat if allowed. I set a business tone up front, do background checks, and enforce late fees for late payments - always.

I don't buy sob stories. I have a ton of my own and my mortgage company doesn't buy them.

Quite the contrary. As a matter of fact all my tenants love me. Over 30 plus apartments and havent had to file eviction in over 2 years.

Aside from a credit check, which I think is a must, you should also ask for a list of references, maybe even the number of a current employer. There's really no stopping the individual from giving you a false number, but that hasn't happened to me yet.

I also buy a stack of leases from staples and add additional stipulations into them, such as, if payment is more than five days late, a late fee is charged, etc....

I have all propective tenants fill out an application that I create myself. It includes name, ss#, references, salary info, years he's been employed, # of individuals that plan on moving in, how long of a least he's willing to sign....

Good luck!

New Heights you sound like the landlord from hell.

That list of rules would (and should) scare away your best potential tenants.

There's a big difference between a good tenant going through a bad patch and a con artist who will make your life miserable.

A little common sense and due diligence will weed out the criminals. Nothing short of a crystal ball will sort out the rest.

There are 2 types of landlords that get screwed,
nice ones and depserate ones.

You have to remember its a business. I can tell by the tone of a potential tenants voice if they are full of crap.

The other day a guy was supposed to meet me for a viewing and he never showed up. Next day he called me
and said his father is sick blah blah blah blah. Next the rent will be late because is cat has the runs.

I also had a tenant that buried her husband 1 month and her mom the next. Problem is I never met or heard of her husband and 1 x in six months she lived there.

I eventually evicted her after that sob story.

Tips

1. Strike the fear of God into the potential tenant. "if rent received after 10th day of month you will be evicted."

2. Always get 1 & 1/2 months security and 1st month rent for move in. Dont give keys until all checks clear.

3. do thorough criminal/credit and proof employment check.Get paystubs and bank statements.

4. Start eviction process if rent not received by 10th of the month. After that date do not acccept even late rent. Let them bring it to court. after 5th day late fee added.

5. If even 1 check bounces, going forward eithercertified bank check or cash only. No personal checks.

6. Last but not least leave your feeling out of it

Con artists are really common - they often don't even think of themselves as con artists!

Though I don't own any rental apartments in Jersey City I do know that a landlord really needs to do a thorough background check, an employment check & a credit check -- you can use a management company's services (likely under $40) and pass the charge on to all applicants for these checks -- or you can also set up an account with a cheaper internet company like this one and then do some of the calling yourself.

http://www.mrlandlord.com/onlinechecks.html

There are also lots of free forms and advice at sites like these:

http://www.mrlandlord.com/

http://www.thelpa.com/lpa/free-forms.html

I also think that in your case since it is a two family -- and since you live in one of the units -- you have even more rights as far as renting goes -- do some research it is worth it.

A $10 credit check will save you lots of grief. We used to go on "instinct", my wife is social worker who's good at smelling BS, but we've avoided several potentially disastrous tenants recently with credit checks. One was a cop in a divorce with awful credit, imagine how messy that could get!

Mrlandlord.com has worked well for us. there are others.

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Thanks! I had read these posts, doesn't sound like the same people. My building is totally legal/up to code. There have been no girlfriends, damage, or children so far, just nonpayment. And this guy is really professional, not a slob. Articulate, well-dressed, drives a BMW, really SEEMS to have his life together, which is why I let him kept making excuses for so long. I reckon he has a lot of experience getting creditors to extend deadlines.

you're not the only one...

http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewt ... hp?topic_id=14211&forum=8

http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewt ... hp?topic_id=14263&forum=8

could be the same people.

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Definitely a credit check next time! I do have the HR contact, but at this point, I have no idea if he just has a buddy who works in HR there. I can't garnish wages, but the collection agency can after a judgment if there are actually wages to be garnished. I don't know how somebody can juggle a real job and a fraudulent lifestyle. Maybe landlords are so glad to be rid of him, they never go through collections and court judgements? It is a major pain and waste of time.

If you still have the contact at his place of work, can you call the HR and see if you can garnish his wages or something? At very least it busts him at work. I understand your frustration. Some people just look for places that don't do credit checks just for this very reason. Sometimes just the threat of a credit check will weed out the scammers.

I was curious if anyone else has experienced this...

I own a two-family house in the Heights, live on one floor, and rent the other. My last tenant moved out in June, so I listed it on Craigslist and showed it to about ten prospects until finding what I thought was the perfect tenant.

This guy was ideal: early 30s, single, black professional, worked in pharma industry, needed a second bedroom for his office, well-dressed and well-spoken. He owned his house in Philadelphia but work kept sending him to NYC and Northern NJ, so he wanted a JC apartment a local place to stay and do business.

He paid the one-month security and June rent, but never moved in. He threw a mattress on the floor and brought in a TV, and himself or a friend or two would show up and crash 2-3 days per week randomly. He told me work was keeping him traveling and he would move in soon.

That didn't bother me until the July rent check bounced. And so did his second check, even though he "cleaned up his bank account". He had a litany of sob stories - sick parents, victim of bank fraud, friend stabbed him in the back, etc. etc.

I was sympathetic with his horror stories and extended deadlines, but August came with no payment. With a heavy heart, I filed eviction paperwork even though I felt bad for the guy with sick parents, bank fraud, etc.

I promised him not to evict, and to even eat the lost rent, if he would just pick up his mattress/TV (he never brought in anything else) and sign a lease cancellation. But now he won't even do that. It now seems clear he never intended to move furniture in, and just wants to keep an unpaid crash pad as long as posible. The threat of eviction and damage to his credit have no effect.

In conversations with other small landlords, and from internet research, there seem to be huge numbers of these "Serial Evictees" who have no credit or assets, and just sign leases all over the place they don't intend to pay, and maintain free apartments as long as possible.

My eviction court date is in two weeks, then I can get the sherriff to evict. I will lose about $2000 if a collection agency can't retrieve it after judgement.

I've been very troubled by this whole experience, not to say struggling with my mortgage payment. Does anyone have any advice on this? I imagine this con artist will sue me if I do anything such as disrupt utilities, change locks, remove his mattress, etc. I am consigned to simply wait for the court to process the eviction, swallow the loss and move on.

How common is this? Yes, I know to do a more thorough tenant screen last time (all I did was call his employer's HR). Maybe some of you have rented to the same person?? I heard these people will keep ten or so leases open at a time, and can drag on eviction for up to a year!

Are these con artists dangerous? I've been professional throughout this whole affair, and there has never been shouting or threats, but I fear that someone who is capable of lifestyle theft of services is capable of anything. I have no idea how I can prevent him from destroying the apartment out of spite if he decides to.

Any advice for my upcoming court date?

Thanks...