Fed up with tenant rights! (rental, inspection, period, landlords)

[JJNewbie]

Originally Posted by DVDFreaker

"Anyone have any ideas what I can do to make his life hell?" You need help!

I do need help. You got any suggestions or are you just looking to take shots at me from your moral perch?

[JJNewbie]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

Do you really need someone to tell you that you need to call the police IMMEDIATELY?

20yrsinBranson

[JJNewbie]

Originally Posted by elgusano

Yeah!

How dare you suggest that a criminal be inconvenienced?

That being said, are walkthroughs legal everywhere?

Even if they're not, I'm sure there's a "maintenance" clause that would permit entrance to eyeball things.

I know...I wished I had thought of that before. It might have kept him from leasing from me. This was my first time.

[JJNewbie]

I did checks and checked his rental history. I'm pretty sure that he just had his drug buddies take the calls. I checked Public Data and didn't find anything on him. I'm just looking for advice from someone that tell me how to inconvenience him as much as possible.

[Poltracker]

Call the cops. Sue him for the damages including any environmental clean-up, an outstanding judgement (assuming you win) will appear on his credit report and make it difficult for him to rent from the next landlord or get credit to purchase a home.

[Katie1]

Why? If you called the police thats really the only thing you can do. Now IF he damaged your property you could keep his secutity deposit. But you start harrasing him YOU would be the 1 the police will go after. Why not put your property in a rental mgrment hands.

[truckzter]

From my landlord friends I've learned that some state laws favor renters and some favor landlords.

I found a link to Texas Landlord Rights, but I can't guarantee it will be helpful.

Here is an article from MSN about 8 pitfalls to avoid for new landlords.

And this one on MSN is about how smart landlords handle rentals.

Though I agree you should call the police, you should have pictures of damage, and maybe you can get a free consultation with a lawyer. And take the person to court.

[elgusano]

Walkthroughs should be legal.

After all, the landlord is liable for some actions of renters.

[dynimagelv]

If you make his life a "Living hell" I can guarantee that he will slap you with an order of protection followed by a lawsuit....

Tenant doing illegal things does not give you the right to respond with illegal things.

Time ta put yer big boy slivies on and do it the right way.

[greenmountaingirl]

Oh hell no. The day my landlord expects to investigate my apartment like he's my daddy and as long as I live under his roof..... No apartment in the world would be worth my landlord thinking s/he had a right to sniff around my apartment, even living the boring upstanding life that I do. If you are THAT suspicious of absolutely everyone, including the people YOU rent to, I suggest you get out of the business of making money off renters immediately.

Seriously? That is ridiculous, regardless of what caliber tenant you have living in your building. And just try to pull that stunt when it's not clearly stipulated in a lease (or communicated to the tenant as an expectation BEFORE THEY SIGN THE LEASE). It's called forced/non-permitted entry, and you have ZERO rights within the law to do so. If you suspect illegal activity, use your brain and call the cops--let them take care of the situation. Otherwise, you're committing your OWN crime, and really, what are you going to do, arm yourself on your little walk throughs? Let the folks responsible for the law deal with it....and geez, don't you think that a misdemeanor/felony citation MIGHT make your eviction go a little easier?

False claims like entering for "maintenance reasons" will also not fly in court unless it is an immediate and urgent need for entry--flooding, gas leak, etc. Otherwise you are legally obligated to give notice, period end of story.

So much I'd like to say about the ludicrous and often frightening abhorrence of renter's rights by owners, but really, what's the point? OP, I'm not saying this is you, but 8 times out of 10, the owner has not done due diligence and just wanted the rent money---put the wrong tenant in the unit, and then has a hissy fit when the rent doesn't come in or the property is damaged. Then comes the bitchfest about renter's rights instead of admitting culpability for the situation.

Bottom line, OP, for hell's sake. Call the cops if you suspect drug use. As for a former tenant, take the guy to court---but be DAMN sure your accusations can be backed up with proof. You better have pictures before/after, and proof that there were drugs being grown and sold out of the apartment. Otherwise you have one big old libel lawsuit on your hands. And if he was selling drugs, you know the dude's got money for a lawyer