Eviction Of A Person Who Has No Lease
Greetings,
I am working a short sale for a property where the owner was selling to another and in Dec 03 the 1st check was written by the new buyer. It bounced and all since then have bounced. In the mean time she put her 30 year old daughter in the house with her 2 kids. Can I change the locks and make them go away? There is no lease and she has not made any payments. I am working with the bank to stop the foreclosure and do not know how to proceed.
I defer to your infinite wisdom on this Texas matter.
Zenobia
What i usually do with tennants that are not leases, like when i buy preforeclosures and allow them to stay for a month or so. I have a constable deliver a 30 day no fault notice to quit. Basically its a legal document stating the end of occupancy. if they don't leave after 30 days, then you can take them to court
Having no lease does not mean that the occupant has no rights as a tenant. Even if you think they do a judge might find otherwise.
Treat the situation as an eviction. File the correct paperwork. In situations where there is no signed agreement then the period for the tenancy is assumed to be something. Find out what that is in your state as some of process normally depends on the period.
As to changing the locks. You would have to enter without permission. This might be criminal. Same for the locksmith.
An alternative is to speak with the person and pay to rent a moving van or similar compensation. Most of what you offer to pay is only delivered when she, her children and all their stuff is in the street or on the truck. Then have the locks changed.
If you want it to be really tight have her sign something acknowledging that she no longer lives there and has no claims to anything that might have been left. It is more of a CYA step then really needed.
John
[addsig]
Thank you so much for the replys. In the end it was not necessary. The lender decided to foreclose on the property due to the lengthy problems prior to my getting involved.
Oh well, Win some and Lose some!
Seasons Greetings
Zenobia79