Want to know how to waste two hours of your time? Get subpoenaed as a witness and then discover that the officer neglected to update you that the court date changed, that’s how.
What a pisser as I had things I needed to get done and pushed them off to do the right thing. What’s more aggravating is this same officer never returned one of my initial calls or emails when this first started a year ago. It seems to be an ongoing saga.
I understand the police are busy, I understand they are often understaffed, but here we have a chance to put a deadbeat away who stole a vehicle at knife point and we’re screwing around. Anyway, I’ll have more updates after the 1st of September when I find out the new and updated court date!
OK, just so you know, this isn’t even an eviction. I had a tenant “allegedly” steal a vehicle from another tenant last year at knife point. I know, I get to deal with great people.
Worse yet, this was part of my pilot project to help young kids get off the street by putting them in some of my shared accommodation properties. Now just to add some perspective to this, I am not Mother Teresa, or even close!, part of this was to help fill rooms and some was indeed to try and help people who needed it.
Quick recap on the project, out of 11 tenants, I evicted or assisted nine of them to leave, the other two will never be allowed back. These were 18-24 year old kids who wanted financial assistance, housing assistance and typically had problems at home. The problem with the system I see is they were never made accountable.
They didn’t have to work for their money, they didn’t have to show up for job interviews, they didn’t have to get up in the morning. Also since they didn’t pay for anything and new housing would be found for them, they also weren’t responsible for anything. No smoking, sure, whenever Bill wasn’t around, no overnight visitors, sure whenever Bill wasn’t around. Anyway you get the idea.
Anyway, I will post more either late tonight or tomorrow as the story unfolds!!!
I follow a fellow by the name of Bill Gray who is known as “The Landlord Doctor”. He is a seasoned debt collector and has some great advice about screening tenants in the following article. I’ve mentioned some of this previously, but it’s always great to get a fresh perspective.
I had hoped to have my eviction package all complete by now, but time has managed to get away from me and the project keeps expanding. Currently I am just finishing page four of the outline up, I already have about a dozen pages written and I have ideas for about a dozen more! My original deadline of December 31st is long past, but I will keep working away.
I was just checking some of the stats earlier today and I have had over 300 hits on the blog all directly related to evictions in Alberta. Obviously people are looking for information, I might as well be the one to supply it! If I have helped you previously with an eviction, or you have suggestions about what to include, I would love to hear from you so I can help guide the next person in a similar situation.
My goal is for the completed work to have the whole process covered from whether you need to provide a 14 day eviction notice to the final steps to regaining possession of your property from a tenant.
What an anticlimactic day. After all the drama, all the issues, all the problems, this latest eviction seems to be winding down with barely a whimper.
I ended up meeting with the bailiff today and we posted the notice, changed the locks and then away we went, patiently awaiting SWAT boy to show up at the property so I could then bring the police in and charge him with trespassing. After such a lengthy eviction and between the drinking, the smoking, the fighting and of course SWAT, I felt he would freak out just a smidgen upon finding he was legally locked out of his former abode.
I even called his cell phone and left a message warning him of the implications of trying to re-enter the property without me present. Now according to the other tenant, he had left the previous morning around 7:30 with his backpack and hadn’t made it home yet, so initially I was concerned he had already taken off, but when we checked his room to verify, he still had some of his possessions in the room.
I made sure my evening schedule was clear, in case I needed to rush over with the police in tow, and then I sat back to wait for the impending explosion. Finally just before 2:00 he called!!
He was calling from a different number, which threw me off initially, and inquired whether I had been to the property the day prior, as he had been away. He then very politely asked if he could leave his items in his room over the weekend and come back to pick them up on Tuesday. At this point he still wasn’t aware of the voicemail I had left him, the trespassing warnings and the locks being changed. Then the conversation took a turn.
He had actually started to take responsibility for his drinking and had checked himself into a detox center the day before, where he was going to be staying until Tuesday. Then later in the day Tuesday, he was transferring into a nine month program for alcohol abuse outside of the city where he would be setup in a group home environment away from the bright lights of the city and the allure of casinos, bars and liquor stores. He even apologized about owing me the rent money and that he wants to make it up, but won’t be able to until he finishes the program.
Wow! Of course he may be blowing smoke, but at least he is attempting to start to take responsibility for his own actions and it’s a positive step, too bad it took such a toll on all of us. He was a totally different individual when I initially met him, so I can only hope the alcohol was the factor that pushed him into becoming such a problem. Of course after all this I felt deflated. I had all this adrenaline ready for the impending phone call, the eventual problems and confrontation at the property and the fall out that was sure to come, then in moments all the hostility was gone and now I’m left wondering about the next step.
I’m pretty sure I won’t be seeing any of the money owed me for rent, damages, RTDRS hearings and bailiffs. I’m more positive than ever that I am burnt out by these properties and I am quite sure this will be a positive turning point for us. We will take this opportunity to move forward, unload some of our properties that have become more work than reward and start to refocus on the areas of Real Estate that have been most effective and rewarding for us. Hopefully SWAT boy uses this as a turning point for himself as well. Anyone out there interested in a slightly used rooming house with great cash flow?
A small village must be very upset my tenant hasn’t come home in a while. He doesn’t seem to get it, I have even tried using little words, but apparently to no avail.
The Villagers patiently await the return of their idiot
He was to be out as per the court order at noon today, so around 10:30 he called this morning to inform me he was going to appeal the eviction. You have to admire his persistence, if you aren’t busy shaking your head at him.
Not sure what makes him think he will win if he can even get an appeal started at the 11th hour. To add to the problems over the weekend he blew up at the other upstairs tenant again, the end result being he broke the mirror attached to his door and the door itself is beyond repair. Nothing your typical great tenant wouldn’t do, right?
Today’s issue was when he yelled at the other guy again, after the fellow shut the door in his face. He then pushed the door open and went towards the fellow who apparently clocked him pretty good in self defense, knocking SWAT boy down and drawing some blood. They had to help him up and guide him out of the room. Just another day at the nuthouse.
Anyway, at this point I confirmed he hadn’t left, filed the appropriate paperwork (affidavit of service, affidavit of default and writ of possession) at the courthouse. Now within 24-48 hours I get a call back that my writ is ready, I get to go downtown and grab it and then I can bring in a bailiff to post it at the property for an outrageous fee and within 24 hours of that point, SWAT boy is officially trespassing on my property if he re-enters or is found sleeping there.
So after all the drama, SWAT boy couldn’t attend his own eviction hearing. Guess when you are busy you have other priorities in life! Apparently he had to work, he even called into the hearing office today to tell them he couldn’t make it, but they felt it wasn’t enough notice to postpone.
It may have also had to do with the fact he wasn’t going to win. Due to the law, he needs one full business day to move out, so he is to be out by Monday November 16th at noon. Oh and I was awarded a judgment of $418.55, along with $25.71 per day from Saturday on until he is gone. I went directly to the courthouse and filed the eviction order right after the hearing so all the correct procedures are in place.
After that I showed up at the property at about 2:40 to check on things and make sure it looked fine, not expecting him to be there, after all he had to work. Even the other tenant informed me he was out, but I knocked anyway. Lo and behold out pops SWAT boy!
I handed him the eviction order and he grabbed it and walked past me and out to the front door where he proceeded to ring the bell a couple of times. Then exclaimed, “oh it does work, I couldn’t tell since you always just walk in”.
Now just so every landlord and tenant reading this is aware, a landlord cannot walk into a regular rental property unannounced. He needs to provide at least 24 hours notice. This however is not a regular rental property, it is a shared accommodation and the only portion the individual rents from me is the room, which I do not enter without providing notice. The common areas are the areas for everyone’s use, the kitchen, the bathrooms, the laundry room and the living room. I do not require notice to access these areas, he doesn’t seem to get that, but now it doesn’t really matter.
So that is the positive news, the reality is he may not leave Monday, and I doubt I will be able to collect any of the judgment monies, although I do have the option of garnishing his wages and attaching an outstanding amount on his credit history. I will see how Monday goes and weigh my options at that time. If he leaves great, if he doesn’t, then on to the next step a affidavit of default and a writ of possession.
This buys him another day or two, but the result ends up the same, although it becomes more fun for me if he does stay on, as I can have him charged with trespassing. And given the chance to make his life miserable, I am at the point I will be all over it!
So far, another successful eviction story, if you don’t count the time lost, the energy wasted or the negative attitude that this creates.
Do you realize the number one search string that brings people to this site is hinged around the word eviction? Ironically for the last three or four months my entire life has revolved around evicting problem tenants who believe they have the right to disrespect my properties, don’t find it necessary to live by societies, never mind my rules and who are trying to take advantage of my trying to initially help them.
Along the way, I have also run into a steady stream of other landlords and investors with similar problems. I haven’t been able to help all of them, but I have been able to help the majority ease their fears and concerns about the process. After some prompting over a bottle of wine (or more) about opportunities out there, a thought came into play.
I guess it’s finally time to take advantage of my experiences and turn them into a tool to help other landlords. I’m currently in the process of putting a package together that will walk people through the eviction process in Alberta, it will explain the steps, the costs, the potential pitfalls and your various options. Anyone out there interested in this? There will be a cost associated with it, but considering the costs that can run up with a bad tenant it will be very affordable.
I’ll potentially be looking for a couple of people to review it and I should have a draft available by the end of November. Let me know if you would like to be one of those people, if I get a flurry of people it will end up being a random draw of some type (with preference going to people with excellent grammar!). With any luck, it should be available for purchase and as a giveaway to lucky readers sometime in December, unless of course I get stuck in more evictions!
If you wish to be updated and you were brought here by the search engine, or have friends who don’t read this blog, but have eviction problems, simply register on the site and you will be notified when it is ready! Register by clicking here. If you can also take a minute and please answer the polls below it would be appreciated because they will help me with some questions I have!
How refreshing, every day my thoughts about people and helping out get dragged further down. Case in point, SWAT boy caused a bit more stress Sunday.
Here I am sitting at home when the neighbour to the house calls. When the tactical unit set up outside the property, they broke the fence so they could accurately point guns at my resident moron. Now the city will fix it, hopefully along with the two door locks they broke, but I have to wait for the claim to go through etc.
Anyway, the neighbour next door is quite fastidious about his property, and he is a nice guy. So he took it upon himself to start repairing the fence. Maybe not a full blown repair as several two by fours have to be replaced along with the fence boards themselves due to the way it was torn open, but at least something to make it look less obvious.
As he is working, the resident moron comes out and tells him to get off of his property. Wow, here is the guy trying to make the place look a bit better, working on the fence that was broken due to my resident moron and he is telling him to get off property that isn’t even his. I’m guessing it was about two minutes later when the neighbor called me, extremely upset. I’m also guessing the guy was drunk again, just to make him even more of a pain.
Right now, my hands are tied as I have to wait for my eviction hearing Thursday. Most probable result is he won’t show up and I have to go through more headaches with bailiffs, changing locks and police. Worst case, he shows up and the hearing officer grants him a Cinderella order so he can stay and try to pay off over the next couple of months.
Since I am whining, I might as well mention my paranoid tenant staying in another property. I collect rent Saturday mornings every week. I have a scheduled two hour window I arrive at properties I pick money up and mosey on to the next place. My paranoid client refuses to hide the money in his room, always has to be out of the property by 9 in the morning (even though he doesn’t have a job as far as I can tell), and has made me make separate trips to collect.
When he wasn’t around Saturday again, I left a note telling him this wasn’t going to work, he had either to leave the money in his room or come up with an arrangement to be there. If that wouldn’t work, it was best he moved on. We had company Saturday and didn’t check messages until Sunday to find out he had left me a message. He had taken my note to the police since it was threatening. I imagine they had to hold back laughter as a tiny little man in a cheap trench coat shows up at a police station telling them his landlord is demanding his rent on time. I deal with freaking morons lately and it seems to be getting worse!!!!!!
Talked to the other tenants yesterday and he apparently called the Better Business Bureau to report me, talked about calling a lawyer and went on and on. Dealing with this crap makes it so hard to get up in the mornings lately. The only positive I can see is it’s going to make a great book someday.
The story of SWAT boy carrys on, and it just keeps getting better, fortunately I am trying to take the positive lessons from this. First I screwed up. Everyone take note, don’t fill out eviction forms when you are frustrated and in a rush. You make mistakes.
It’s embarrassing to mention, but I pulled some doosies on this one, I spelt the tenants name wrong, left out a letter in his name, and didn’t change the date on the form. Unfortunately the tenant noticed this. He had contacted Landlord and Tenant Services to find out his rights (or what responsibilities he could avoid more realistically), and I am not sure if they walked him through the eviction form or he discovered it himself. He contacted me Monday to inform me he was writing a letter of objection against the eviction and if I wanted him out I would have to take him to court. I was pretty upset, but he got me, my error.
Step two, I stopped by the house and picked up the objection letter Tuesday. I had to wake him as he was on the couch with a couple of empty beer cans visible (it was after 12, barely!), so much for the detox sticking. He was a bit off, so I can only assume there were more than two beers involved, he eventually told me the letter was on the table, nope not there, looked around confused and pointed to a side table and then walked over, grabbed it and gave me his hand written letter.
I grabbed it and started to walk away, no sense wasting my time there, I already had my plan in place. This irritated him to no
Little bit angry!
end. He started getting quite upset and asked why I wasn’t going to stay and read it. I told him it wasn’t necessary. Guess I hit the right button.
I quickly read through it and this is where he pointed out the name, the date and the address being wrong (the address was actually correct as I used the titled address, but he doesn’t need to know that). It also said that he wasn’t smoking it was someone else (did I mention ditch responsibility) and that I said it was ok to drink in the house. After reading it I simply said fine and started to walk away.
Once again the mood swing went out of control as he started to get mad and yelling at me about messing this affecting people’s lives. I just kept walking out and he then started to swear at and about me as I continued to leave. I’m a little confused, if I am the worst landlord ever and this is such a horrible place why is he fighting so hard to stay?
Anyway, according to Landlord and Tenant his letter of objection makes my eviction null and void which now means I can just go directly down to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service and file for a court hearing for next week. I just finished my paperwork before starting this post. Twenty pages in total and three copies of it are required for filing.
This isn’t my biggest file I have taken in, but definitely interesting. I will keep you posted!
Because SWAT showed up you moron and that counts as the final strike! The full SWAT story is available here, Has Police Tactical Visited Your Rental Property Lately? So by the title, you can guess I had an interesting day Sunday. I had to stop to collect some rent for November 1st and the yahoo who triggered the police tactical event a week ago finally had some money for me. So I stopped in.
I don’t get it, as much as I like to think I am a smart person, these people, and yes, I have now resorted to calling many of my shared accommodation tenants “these people” just don’t think as I do. He brought up the eviction right away and mentioned the date h was supposed to be out was the 4th, but then proceeded to tell me how he had the money for me so he should be able to stay, and then showed me how clean the place was. He also brought up how he had checked Craig’s list and could get a place just like that if he wanted.
He had also obviously put some suck up time and energy into improving the cleanliness of the property. He even cleaned inside the microwave and the floors and made sure to point it out to me! Nice work, so I thanked him and told him he still had to go. Has anyone else ever seen a lead balloon? I became witness to one right then and there!
To say he was unhappy with me might have been an understatement. He complained about how much work it was going to be for him to move again, he told me how he was comfortable there, how he liked the size of the room. Then he complained about having to call his brother and get his brother to help him move as he had a vehicle and it was going to be a hassle for his brother. I just stared at him.
When he finally realized I wasn’t changing my mind and the only thing moving was him, that was when the comments about how I was one of the worst landlords ever. How I was a certain piece of male anatomy for not keeping a clean responsible tenant (I may have neglected to mention this clean responsible tenant only a couple weeks out of detox, who I had carried during this time as he wasn’t working and couldn’t pay, also smelled of booze while talking to me). It deteriorated a bit more from there, so I started to leave.
I almost made it to the door when one last crack about me not helping people and being a p*^%& made me stop and walk partially back in. As I looked at him, I realized it was just a lose lose situation and anything I said or did was only going to elevate things, so I just turned and walked out to the sound of more yelling and a slamming door from his room.
As I was driving around to my other stops that afternoon, I replayed it all back in my head and after first reminding myself about how many people I have helped, how many tenants I have provide great homes for and how many times I had been ripped off by the majority of these tenants, I just became more irritable. Being a landlord really is a thankless job. You try and provide a safe comfortable place, yet you are a money grubbing land baron in their eyes.
Now the current type of tenant I was dealing with could not ever be deemed a fine upstanding citizen in anyone’s eyes, and I have had some incredible guys stay in these properties as well as our regular rentals, but it just wears a person out. The bad people always leave a much more indeligible mark on our memories versus the wonderful people we have dealt with and unfortunately the bad memories leave a far heavier impact than the good ones. The more I thought about this fellow the more I realized he wasn’t taking any responsibility for anything. I was a jerk (or worse) not him, the police over reacted (still doesn’t quite add up) not him, the other fellow made him drink he didn’t do it himself, he didn’t think it would hurt if he smoked in the house on occasion, and the list goes on. What was he responsible for? Making the place clean and wonderful, but none of the bad things that occurred, they were all someone else’s fault.
This seems to be the biggest fault of so many people these days. They just won’t own up to their responsibilities. I understand no one is perfect, I am far from it, but when I screw up I take responsibility, when people depend on me I take responsibility, when I screw up, I take the blame. If you have to go around hiding from responsibility, pushing blame at others and avoiding being a grown up, you will never amount to anything, or if you do, it won’t last. You will be a fleeting success and as you come crashing down, you will come down hard.
During these tougher economic times, I am seeing more and more examples of this, more and more individuals pushing responsibility away and saying it is someone else’ problem. Whether they believe the government should take care of them or the landlord has to carry the cost of supporting them, whatever the case, they just feel it is not their responsibility and pass the buck.
It should be an interesting day Wednesday, since it’s not his fault my tenant is getting evicted, perhaps it won’t be his fault that he trashes my property. However it plays out, I will keep everyone posted!
Wow, what an interesting couple of days I’ve had. Would you like to hear some of it?
It all started early Monday afternoon when I went to drop off a receipt to one of my shared accommodation tenants. Just to catch you up, I rent out shared accommodation properties to working men in Calgary. Fairly simple accommodations, four or five rooms in a house, each with their own lock, fully furnished including linens, cookware etc. Color TV’s with full cable in each room. Perfect for someone between places, just arriving in Calgary for work, or someone who doesn’t have a large amount of cash saved up for a security deposit and rent.
We have simple rules for the places, originally they were everyone had to have a job, there was no smoking in the properties, no drinking, no drugs and no overnight visitors. With the drinking, we don’t mind if the guys have a couple beer, but our goal was to clamp down on the places being party houses which typically happens with these types of properties. Also by having jobs, that meant no one is hanging around the house all day.
Well over the last 9 months with the slowdown, we have relaxed even more and have taken in people on social assistance, people in need of a hand up and some guys just down on their luck. On one hand, it was meant to help us out by filling up some of our vacancies, a means to stem cash flowing out when it should be coming in. On the other hand, it was also a method to help people and organizations needing help.
So, back to Monday, I arrive at the property, head on in and find two non-working tenants sitting there drinking and smoking with a third female I don’t know. Ashtray’s are out, everyone seems to be having fun, at least until I show up. I literally blew up, if you would have seen me you would have turned around and walked away, I was livid. I explained my position, what they could do with their cigarettes, ashtrays and booze and stormed out to my next appointment.
When I arrived back at the office I filled out the evictions for both tenants and then rushed back to sign in two other fellows into two other places and took a few minutes to drop off both evictions. The party was well broken up by now and just the one fellow remained who was quite shocked that I was giving him an eviction. We had a very short conversation and I left.
I had already given the one fellow a second chance and since I don’t play baseball I don’t use a three strike rule, I will give someone the opportunity to correct their behaviour once, then it’s over. So fellow one was done, fellow two who I had the short conversation with, had been a pretty good tenant up until that point. I was not in the mood to talk to either of them again that day, but by 7:00, the “model tenant” had called and left two messages. I had already discussed with Karen I would give him his second chance if he followed the rules over the next week.
So I returned his call, spent ten minutes listening to him whine about how unfair it was (this is the part I don’t understand, it’s fair for these jerks to smoke in my property stink the place up, cause me to pay for new carpets that are burnt, replace burnt sheets, repaint rooms at my time and expense, but it’s not fair for me to kick them out) and finally told him to shut up and listen as I was giving him one more chance. It took a moment for him to understand, and it finally registered as he became very thankful. When I finally got off the phone, I was worn down and put the phone down for the night to charge.
This morning, I grab my phone to check email and found the fellow had called twice more last night. So after the kids off to school I called to find out what was up, hoping for more apologies, recognition of what he had done being wrong, that type of call. Instead, he was telling me I shouldn’t kick out the other guy, and I should let his stay as well. I spent several minutes on the phone explaining the other guy was done, had his chance and was not staying.
It’s when he told me I should be a human being and to help this other guy out that the conversation rapidly fell apart. I have gone above and beyond what almost any other landlord would do to help people out. I looked back and of the last seven people I helped through these agencies, I have had one person who I have not had any issues with and he is currently there. The people I have helped have included six people who I have evicted, have created five different police incidents, two complaints by neighbours, several thousand dollars worth of lost rent, damage to property, a stolen car, homemade knives and weapons, complete disrespect of my properties and me and this meathead is telling me to be a human being. I told him the other guy was going, I wasn’t changing my mind the conversation was over and I was hanging up, which I did.
About an hour later, I get a call with the same prefix as the area this fellow was in, so I ignored it and let it go to voice mail. I fully expected it was him calling back to plead yet again. Two minutes later my wife Karen calls me to tell me the neighbour just called and the police have surrounded the area, have assault rifles out in the back alley and no one on the block is allowed to leave their home. I immediately grab my stuff and start heading out when the police call me.
I had to run back in check my files and provided names and info on the tenants that are there and when I tell them I am heading over, they warn me to stay two or three blocks away. Since I cannot do anything there, I realize I might as well get back to my desk and wait to hear from the police. Over the next couple of hours, I end up talking to the constable twice more and dispatch once more and finally find out that they have everything under control.
The end result is the individual who I had planned on letting stay called the distress center and told them he was going to commit suicide. Potentially because I wasn’t going to let his “buddy” stay. It also turns out this guy had previous issues with the police, so they sent everyone available, including the police tactical. We talked to the neighbour later in the day and she informed us there were at least 30 police there, what a great way to make an impression on the neighbourhood. The individual was taken to the hospital by the police and was being held to sober up and to assess his mental state by various doctors.
This was a huge call for attention for this guy, a huge waste of everyone’s emotions and a big wake up call for me. I’m tired of helping. That’s it. My problem tenants are all the ones I am trying to help, yet they are dragging me down. I’m angry, I’m depressed and I feel beat down because I cannot help people who obviously don’t want help. Or at least don’t want help if they have to work at it.
The worst part is I am lumping in many good people who are really down on their luck and having to shut my door to all of them. What is wrong with people? Why don’t more of them take responsibility for their lives, for their actions and for how they represent themselves? Is it just that easy to let society take responsibility for them, to make everyone help them out as part of social rightfulness? Or is it just easier for them not to care, to coast through life and take what they need as they need it?
Could my constant exposure to this negative life be tearing at my values? Have I managed to become so callous as to build what could only be called disgust, or a disappointment on the soft side, for people not carrying their weight and abusing the system? Specifically my system lately?
Today is the day I find out how the hearing phase of the RTDRS works. I have a hearing this afternoon where my Affidavit of Service is sworn in (this is confirming I served the tenant with the information I originally filed last week along with the hearing date) and hopefully receive an RTDRS order for the tenant to leave.
Some interesting points, the hearing takes place even if the tenant does not show up, I will still have to file at the Court of Queen’s Bench and for service against the tenant when I win (note I said when!). So there is still a bit of work ahead of me, but this is quite streamlined versus the old process, so I am pretty happy so far. The only issue that may arise is the provincial tenancy dispute officer may decide to give the tenant a week or two to find a new place. Hopefully no longer, and hopefully even less.
The tenant did call me last Thursday to inform me he was still trying to get the money, but I told him he had to have it to me Friday. Of course, his items were still there Saturday, no call or updates from him since the Thursday call and now we are moving on.
More updates to follow this evening or first thing Tuesday morning, follow along if you like!
UPDATE!
The tenant had a conflicting appointment and the hearing has been rescheduled until tomorrow. His conflicting appointment is with the Homeless and Eviction Prevention Fund folks. This is the fund the government set up to help people who are having difficulties affording their rent. He has been meeting with them for the last two weeks, so hopefully today’s meeting provided some funds to him to cover my costs.
Ironically this is funded by my tax dollars, so does that mean my tax dollars are funding me? This isn’t the first time we have had a tenant staying in one of our shared accommodation properties use this service. Unfortunately from past experience not one of the previous tenants who used the service ever used it to help them get on their feet. They have all used it to buy themselves a bit of time before they could skip out. I’ll keep you posted!
Update 2
I attended the hearing today and my tenant was supposed to come in to the RTDSR office this morning at 10:00 to update them on his meeting with the Homeless and Eviction agency. They were also to update him on the new hearing time of 3:00 today. He didn’t show, so we had the hearing without him.
On the good news front, I won! In an effort for fairness which I applaud, the hearing dispute officer has written an order for service which allows the tenant to stay in residence at the property. He just has to make weekly large payments to me until his debt is completely paid and then make timely rent payments until the end of December.
If he suddenly discovers this money that people haven’t been paying him, it’s win-win. I get money, he has a warm comfortable place to stay. If he doesn’t pay the specified weekly amount in the order by 4:30 each Saturday for the next two months. I get to move to the next stage. So just to step back a bit.
After receiving the order, I had to zip down to the court house and get the order filed with the courts. There is no charge for this, so at least no extra expenses built up. In Calgary it is conveniently located two stops down on the Light Rail Transit system downtown. I am going out to try and serve him tonight, this ought to be fun as he is never around when I try to track him down. If I cannot serve him tonight I will try a couple times tomorrow. Once I have served him I have to take an “Affidavit of Service” back to the court house and it will get filed with the original order.
So if he doesn’t pay this Saturday the next step is for me to obtain a “Writ of Possession”. This involves me taking three copies of the following down to the courthouse, a new form called the “Affidavit of Default” along with a “Writ of Possession”.Then within 48 hours I should receive the properly filed ” Writ of Possession” back and I can either go down there myself, with a large friend or two, or a bailiff (I believe I have to pay the bailiff, but I will confirm this for everyone, my large friends like beer) and we should be able to help him move out of the property.
The helpful lady at the courthouse suggested a bailiff if there is going to be any issues with removing him as it protects the landlord better than just having the tenants word against the landlord. I am away tomorrow during the day, but hopefully I can update the post later in the evening. If you have any comments post away!
Update 3 and 4
Looks like we had some hosting issues over the weekend and the hosting company had to restore backups from last week, so my previous updates are in limbo now! So to recap.
My tenant called me Thursday to confirm the Eviction and Homeless Fund would pay the whole amount outstanding for him, it was just a matter of getting a few last things approved. He called me again on Friday to update me that they would now pay him the amount he was ordered to pay on Saturday which was about a quarter of the total outstanding. Now, this raises some more flags as his story keeps changing, but on the positive side, I am further ahead cash wise if he pays.
Later in the day he calls back to tell me that they only gave him $500 which he was going to cash and have for my fellow who collects rent on Saturdays. Just a side note here, I have had other tenants have to use the Eviction and Homeless Fund and I seem to recall the checks always being made out to the landlord so the tenant doesn’t abscond with the funds. He was then going to pay me $40 extra the next Saturday. So my options were to be a jerk and evict him anyway, or take what money I could this week and next week would still be a great time to evict!
So Saturday rolls around and my rent collection fellow updates me that buddy only paid $400 now. Some how $100 disappeared over night, did I mention the absconding? I’m still ahead, but I’m also annoyed. So presently I have every right to go file, get the eviction completed and move forward, on the other hand, maybe he pays me next week? Am I being to soft, to greedy, to patient, or just plain gullible? Leave me a comment about what you would do!
Watch for further updates later in the week! Also, I met another landlord also having problems when I first filed, it looks like she is just at the final stage now, so good luck to you Colleen!!!
Update 5
So to catch up, the tenant was to pay money on Saturday the 15th or the party was over, as per the Court Order. The deadbeat failed to pay, no surprise. So Monday afternoon I zipped down to the courthouse again to file the paper work to have the tenant evicted for defaulting on the order. If you haven’t been to the new courthouse (which is probably a good thing), they require you to walk through metal detector. So you have to take your coat, wallets, coins, phones and even your belt off to go inside. Well there was a pretty high profile case being tried Monday, so there were two lineups about 15 people long just to get in. Didn’t look like a great start.
Once I was finally in I headed back up to the 6th floor where you do your court filing, lined up the mandatory 20 minutes and filed away. Today’s paperwork involved the “Affidavit of Default” and the “Writ of Possession”. You require three copies of each, one you leave behind and the other two you hang on to for a few days. Once it’s filed it needs to be signed and approved by someone hiding in the back and this takes 24 to 48 hours. They then call you and you have to bring your two copies of each item back to get it all stamped and approved. They have a special bin you have to look through with your paperwork, so you grab it, and line up again for another twenty minutes to finally file everything.At this point you can then hire a bailiff to remove the tenant.
In my case after I filed on Monday I received a call Tuesday morning that we needed to adjust the paperwork. So I had to redo the pages I had, make another copy and go refile. The confusion was the eviction date was for the 8th of November, but there were Stay Conditions if he paid on the schedule laid out by the Tenancy Dispute Officer. The clerk and I on Monday thought we needed to use the date of default which was the Saturday, which was incorrect. They also wanted me to expand on what section of the order he breached, what the heck I had to go down there anyway!
Unfortunately it was quite busy on the 6th floor that day, so after about 30 minutes I ended up talking to one of the clerks who was not having a good day. So after having her lecture me about not reading everything on the page and not filling out the new form correctly (I held back and didn’t mention I had filled it out correctly the day before, and they hadn’t been able to advise me about the correct date) I finally was able to file it again. so then late Wednesday afternoon the lovely red haired lady called me to tell me it had been signed off and I needed to come back down.
Unfortunately it was to late in the day, so I am off this morning to go hang out at the courthouse again. More to come!
Update 6 Nov 24th
It’s been quite an interesting few days with plenty to talk about so here we go. I wasn’t able to get to the courthouse to pick up the signed “Writ of Possession” and have my two copies also signed until Thursday afternoon and by the time I made it back to call the bailiffs I was only able to leave a message. I did get a hold of them Friday morning and started the proceedings with them. Just to add insult to injury I am already out all the rent the tenant never paid, the $75 filing fee and the bailiff costs a whopping $350 plus $65 an hour plus $.75 per kilometer to post the notice on the front door. They would also change my locks for me, but that’s extra, and I have locks on our master set that I use, so I took care of that.
The process at this time is for the bailiff to tape the “Writ of Possession” to the front and back door with information explaining to the tenant that coming on the premises is deemed trespassing and he can be charged. Since this was a shared accommodation property I was only able to change the tenants room lock at this time (and leave keys for the paying tenants) and then make sure the window was locked. So at this point I had to sit back and wait for him to call.
So come Saturday morning, my rent collector John stops to collect rent and I had asked to confirm the tenant hadn’t broke in during the night and taken off with his stuff. When he looks in the room, who did he find but the tenant sleeping in the bed. He quickly called me, and in turn I called the police while I gathered my paperwork and notes for the trip up there.
When I arrived the police were already there and one officer was waiting for me, while the other was supervising the tenant packing. We went through all of my forms and various writs and orders (make sure you keep copies for your records!) and after verifying everything was indeed in order he explained they were making sure the tenant left the premises. At this point I was able to go in and change all the front and back deadbolts as I had left new keys for all the paying tenants the day before.
As I was changing the locks I also quickly inspected the door frame of the delinquent tenants room to make sure he hadn’t broken it and it appears he came in through the window. At this point the tenant started asking me if I had received his message and a message from someone else. As always, none of these messages actually existed and were just another stalling tactic. He also complained about how there was no way he could make the weekly payments according to the order as he didn’t make that much a week. Even though he had told me no problem when I served him the court order. I explained to him that if he would have showed up for the hearing as he was supposed to, he could have explained it there, but now it was to late.
After I changed the locks and waited for him to pack what he could carry with him I chatted with one of the other tenants who had been watching TV just down the hall from the days events. Apparently the tenant had told the officer about three variations on the story about what was happening, including that he was in the house while the bailiff was there and no one gave him any information about it and he wasn’t sure why he was being evicted, plus he had no where to go. He just kept digging a bigger hole for himself.
So end result was the police made sure he left, but he could only take his backpack stuffed with what he could carry away and right now I have a room full of clothes (at least three maybe four large garbage bags worth) about a dozen boxes of who knows what and other miscellaneous items. I am stuck in a position where he has the right to have his stuff back within the next seven days, but I don’t have to keep it there. So now i have to spend roughly three hours boxing and bagging his “items” and dragging them somewhere for storage. I can charge him a reasonable rate for this storage and I can dictate when we can meet to a reasonable extent, but he has no money to pay anyway.
The other option is I can leave the goods in the room until he collects them, but if the room is cleaned up I can start renting it immediately. So it only makes sense for me to clean up after the cretin so I can try to make some rent money back.
So just to recap costs (other than the rent money I will never see), filing the case with RTDRS $75, filing at the courthouse $0, parking for the six trips downtown $40, bailiff costs $442.05 for a total dollar cost of this eviction $557.05 plus the unpaid rent, plus approximately 14 hours of filing, meeting with the tenant, attending the hearing, trying to meet with the tenant, meeting with the bailiff and meeting with the police. I still have another three hours roughly of emptying the room and then cleaning it after the fact.
So their are a lot of negatives to this, but the positive spin is I am moving forward and this is almost behind me now. This is just one of those unfortunate costs of operating this type of business. Every now and then a bad apple comes in and causes grief, stress and financial costs to those around them. I am now very familiar with the eviction process and have learned most of the ins and outs, so if you need some help with problems you encounter feel free to contact me!
I should have one more update for this by next Monday and I will also create a separate post with a list of the steps, the forms and the costs all in one bite sized list to make it less of a journal and more of a quick fact list. Thanks for following along and all the email and web comments of encouragement!
If you are reading this you probably have some interest in the eviction process, I feel your pain! Over the last few weeks I have put together some tips for landlords. If you would like to learn from our experience, and yes our mistakes, to make you a better and more profitable landlord, come read through them. They are available at the following link Landlord Tips and Advice, hopefully you find them as helpful as many of our readers already have.
At some point it happens to most landlords. They end up with a “problem” tenant. When you deal in shared accommodation/weekly room rentals as we do, it becomes a bit more common unfortunately.Fortunately a new process has started in Alberta called the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service, or RTDRS.
It was started in an effort to streamline the resolution process by avoiding going through court and incurring costly legal fees. At it’s simplest it is really just an arbitrator who hears both sides points, makes a legally binding decision and both sides have to comply. It can be used by tenants against bad landlords, by landlords against bad tenants and to even help good tenants and good landlords to come to a resolution over issues such as damage deposit confusion.
In my case I went down last Monday October the 27th with my four copies of all my evidence, documents and information, paid the $75 filing fee and my case is to be heard November 3rd at 3:00. How efficient is that? I couldn’t track down the tenant (as usual), so I taped the appearance notice and all the evidence to his door the next day after making a couple of attempts to track him down and he conveniently called me on the 30th to say he was working on it.
So best case I get paid on the weekend or Monday, worst case I get a judgment against him, don’t get my money but I can make his life difficult and possibly garnish his wages. Either way significantly faster than the old process, way more casual and quite a bit less costly versus hiring a bailiff to do an eviction.
I recently added a series of Tips for Landlords to help them reduce stories like mine. They are available here, Landlord Tips and Advice. I’ve already received some great feedback from some of our readers, so hopefully it helps you out as well.
Loading ...
