What Happens to Evicted Tenants?

By Lambert Munz MPM© RMP©

Eviction is a slow process that gives tenants anywhere from

thirty days to three months of free living while the courts walk

through the legal steps. Most of the time, the tenant leaves in

the middle of the night right before the final hearing. Even

though the landlord gets a judgment, it becomes a useless piece

of paper. In order to collect, the landlord must track the

suddenly invisible tenant, find any assets or locate the place

of employment.

New right to privacy laws make tracking difficult. After all,

where does the tenant go, now that they no longer live under the

evicting landlord’s roof free, like an adopted wayward adult

child?

There are two types of evicted tenants. The first is seriously

down on their luck, maybe the tenant lost a job, had a family

crisis or severe illness. Regardless of the reason, they have no

experience living life without an income. This type of person

pays as much as they can but it never is enough to make a full

month's rent. When eviction time comes, they move in with a

friend or family, live in their car or find a location in a

vagrant village or homeless shelter.

The second class of evicted tenants is the professional

deadbeat. They not only know the system, they perfect their use

of it like a fine art form. This group has a job when they move

into the rental, they have plenty of cash in their hand and they

pay on the spot. Their last landlord sounded sincere when you

called, gave them rave reviews and has a sound reason that the

two parted ways. They had adequate experience on the job,

working for a small company for several years. The problem is

these are not real people or real jobs. They are friends and

family that pose and give false information.

The second class of evicted tenants may have a job, but it is

never the one on the application. They didn’t leave the

wonderful previous landlord on the application, they were

evicted by a different person for past due payments. They make

it their profession to move every seven months. The pattern is

clear, two months payment in advance as deposit and the first

month’s rent payment. The second month comes and the rent is

paid a little slow and flows into the third month with a partial

payment. Eventually the well dries up and the landlord dips into

the deposit. When a year passes, the tenant lived at the rental

long enough to use the deposit and remains four months in

arrears. They move right before the enforced eviction. In the

meantime, they saved enough to move to the next unsuspecting

landlord that doesn’t have access to their history and begin the

scenario again.

How does this happen? Most landlords are individuals, not large

corporations with access to all the background information and

credit reporting. These are “Mom and Pop landlords” that want to

believe the person that so convincingly tells the tale. They

have no weaponry against the professional deadbeat that hones

the story to perfection. The wayward tenant usually finds that

the individual managing their own property is an easy mark and

they know what to say to make the situation appealing. Without a

thorough background check by a professional, the landlord loses

valuable time and money with these professional cons.

We experience limited inquiries from new landlords of former

tenants. This reinforces the lack of investigations by DIY

landlords. Our eviction attorney claims that the evictions are

with many of the same people over and over again.

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