Tim - I realize the bad check probably puts you in a bad position financially. The thing you want to make sure you do is follow the process, and avoid 'overreacting' to the situation, if that is possible. You will have to go to some effort to fix this, but you already know that. Your strategy should be to minimize the amount of effort you need to go through to resolve this issue. In the worst case, you will need to have the person evicted to find another renter, and that can be a long process.
Sending a certified letter is a great start, I would do that today and use an express service that registers when the item has been delivered. I would cc the state's attorney's office. Try to avoid be confrontational, it is possible this person just made an honest mistake and may want to make up for it somehow. It would be in your interests to contact a real estate attorney in NC. You can probably save money in the long run by having someone explain your responsibilities under the law. They may know of a more expedited way to make things happen. Let me know if you want me to proofread a letter, or if you just want to talk about all this. M -----Original Message----- From: Heald, Tim [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 9:58 AM To: CF-Community Subject: RE: Bad Checks and renters We have a lease, I need to give it a real good read over the weekend. The DA wants me to send a certified letter demanding payment before anything else so they can begin criminal proceedings. I really don't want to have to evict her, as I can't afford the mortgage without a tenet, and I really don't want to sell the place. This is the other reason that I would prefer to figure this out peacefully, I can't afford lawyers and all this crap. I mean we are pretty much broke (the bad check put us at a negative balance). If I take money out of my other accounts I have a huge penalty (tax and early withdrawal). So basically I'm screwed. Timothy Heald Information Systems Specialist Overseas Security Advisory Council U.S. Department of State 571.345.2235 -----Original Message----- From: Jeffry Houser [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 9:55 AM To: CF-Community Subject: Re: Bad Checks and renters : grumbles: Welcome to my world. I played Property Manager on my sisters condo for two or three years (or so). I had to evict 3 roommates during that time; one was a drunk who caused significant damage to the place. Two days before I leave out of state for a wedding he comes home drunk without keys and decides to break in; smashing the back glass sliding door and almost kicking in the front door. Enough of my trip down memory lane... You need a lawyer. Evict her. I'm not sure about the legalities of North Carolina, so you'll want to get a lawyer located there. I'm not sure where you are located in relation to North Carolina, but.. I hope you have a lease. The process in Connecticut is that you have to send a notice to quit (some legal body, usually a Sheriff) delivers that. That is a document that says "Get out now." Then after some period of time (10-15 days?) you can send another legal document (I forget the name) which says the same thing as the first. Then if they still aren't out you can sue them to retake the premises. This will usually go into some form of arbitration; whereas they'll agree to get out by a certain date. If they still aren't out you can have the sheriff come with movers and remove them and their stuff. The one time I went through the full process it cost me (or my sister, rather) around $3000 and took just under 3 months. I have a good friend who is a lawyer who does this stuff, so he did it as a favor to me. Lawyer fees are probably 1hour for notice to quit, 1 hour for the next "legal doc", and 4-8 hours for the court day. To do this stuff remotely, you'll probably have to assign right of attorney for that specific property over to a lawyer (or family member or trusted colleague in the area). You'll need to be there for the arbitration, and probably the "Sheriff and Movers" eviction. On the other note, if they get out after the original notice to quit the whole process will take less than a month and only a few hundred dollars. If you have a lease (written by a lawyer), the tenant probably waived their right to a notice to quit. However, the lawyer will probably recommend sending one anyway, because if they leave after that it is significantly more cost effective. At 09:06 AM 7/25/2003 -0500, you wrote: > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
