Legal Procedural Question

[Tarlo Farm]

NOT legal advice. Instead of calling me, my derelict soon-to-be-gone evicted renter broke into the lower level of my building to re-set breakers. Broken door jam, called police, filed a report. Report was sent to the local prosecutor today. Cop advised I call the office and tell them yes, I DO want to pursue the B&E charge. And I do.
Any suggestions? Should I really have to do that? It's a small community, and this is a relatively slow time of year for law enforcement. What should happen next?

[piedmontfields]

Think about what you want to achieve: Your derelict renter gone and out of your property? Your derelict renter punished?

Think about how you want to spend your time and energy, too.

[carpevita]

True-- your goals inform your actions especially in times like this.
Just for clarity--what does re-set breakers mean and why would a former tenant want to do that?

[Tarlo Farm]

They were using space heaters - on my dime - and the things draw so much power, they tripped the electric breakers.
They have already sucked so much time and energy from me, but I get so angry when I think of letting them get away with more, and duping some other kindly person.

[angela9823]

Tarlo,
Do you normally pay their electric bill? If so, I don't know that I'd pursue this matter. The reason is that you can't really tell a tenant that they can't use a heater to warm their place unless it is specifically written in the lease agreement. Why did they feel they needed to use that? Is the place naturally cold? Perhaps you guys live in the same place and you keep your rooms cooler than they do? I doubt they will rule in your favor if this is the case. No, they shouldn't have broken into the door, but they do have a right to use electricity and keep warm. If they are paying an agreed upon rent amount that may include electricity, why should they not have use to space heaters? If I'm misinterpreting this entire thing, I'll apologize in advance.

[hoopoe]

:...get away with more, and duping some other kindly person..."

In my heart that is why I would pursue this type thing. they will roll down the road and suck off some other landlord and make a hassle for the other tenants

Took my landlord far to long to respond to the hash oil cooker downstairs, and for 1/2 year we put up with the stench and the hazard. Boy did they get an eye-full when they went in to clean out the apartment.

No legal advice, just a pat on the back and atta- girl

[Racetrackreject]

I agree with Hoopoe, I would file. That way, it would also be on their record in case any future landlords ran a background check and could possibly save that future landlord from getting into a similar situation with them.

[Idofly]

I'd report it and dog it to the end- I wish other folks had done so in the past. My brothers and I have had to deal with my mothers bad tenants when they turned out to be complete jerks with a bad history that showed up later through the course of legal action because other landlords/property owners didn't fully pursue them. One was even a doctor who used his brothers SS# to hide the fact that he had trashed 2 previous rentals. If either one of his prior landlords had fully pursued the fraud and damages it would have shown up versus us having to pay a PI to dig into it.

On another note...space heaters can be dangerous, especially so in the hands of irresponsible tenants who didn't pay the electric bill or gas bill and got shut off. We always had it written in the contract that they could not be used except in lieu of a furnace repairman showing up after one of my mothers tenants got their electricity turned off and then ran an extension cord from the neighbors garage without their permission. (Mom had to pay for that too...)

[Tarlo Farm]

I had some time to kill... So I went to the prosecutor's office and the receptionist encouraged me to write a short note to the assistant who got the paperwork.. I did.

Angela, the gas (heat) is/was in their name. Her name I believe. The building has a "sub meter" that is connected to the apartment and monitors just the apartment, though the single bill is in my name. Everything worked well with my former renter. The deal was that they would pay for the electric they use. In that case, I didn't care if they used an auxiliary heater. The new space heaters are pretty nice (think Eden Pure), but still big hogs.

I now understand why he didn't care to record the meter reading when they moved in.

Before going into the apartment today, I snagged a local cop who joined my nephew and me as we entered the apartment. Two windows were wide open. It was 38 degrees out. Evidently they don't intend to pay their DTE gas bill either.

I've since found out they let another single mom with two kids live in a room I expressly said they could use ONLY as a playroom, no one was to sleep in it, since it doesn't have an egress window. I deliberately didn't put an egress window into that former bedroom because I didn't want that many people in this apartment.

I was such a sucker.

Oh, and BTW, they haven't paid a dime since September 28th. Though they have DISH tv, pizza takeout boxes, toys and tools.

[angela9823]

That explains it! I'd say more people around here don't heat with gas so I forgot that people do but have to pay the gas bill first!

DH owns eight rental houses. It is unreal what people will pay for instead of their rent. >:-(

[kande50]

DH owns eight rental houses. It is unreal what people will pay for instead of their rent. >:-(

And if you suggest to them that they could not only pay their rent but could afford much healthier food for their children if they cut back on their cable TV services, they're horrified. Cut back to basic service? There's nothing they want to watch on the basic channels, and besides, the kids like the shows on the premium channels.

[Tarlo Farm]

Yep. The DISH went up before they moved in.

[viscountessleftfield]

I thought that the breaker box had to be accessible to the tenants at all times? Isn't that a fire/safety code?

[Tarlo Farm]

Evidently not. Not here. Electrician is the one who suggested I do what I did. Now I'm thinking of just moving it to the outside and making it an entire separate item.
Spent seven hours cleaning today. TEN big bags of garbage out, plus HUGE bag of stuffed animals to a local thrift store and equally HUGE bag of awful towels, blankets, sheets, etc. Now for the kitchen and bathroom...

[viscountessleftfield]

I'd probably ask an attorney before I pursued criminal charges. It's been against code in all the states I've lived in because it's a fire hazard.

[Tarlo Farm]

Ya know, as my law school graduate nephew said, "Breaking into a building is still breaking into a building"

[Moutaineer]

I think what Steff is saying is that you might want to check you aren't opening a giant can of worms for yourself before you persue this further.

(Not that you don't have a legitimate beef against these people!)

[Tarlo Farm]

So imagine this: Thousands and thousands and thousands of apartments in the country built pre...ummm-1980, few with separate meters. You think they need to provide access to tenants? I don't. At the very least, I'm grandfathered in.

I would think the fire danger would come from fuses (and tenants putting pennies in, instead of fuses), not from breakers that will trip when overloaded.

Regardless, probably moving the whole shooting match to a separate unit.

[viscountessleftfield]

Multi meter, single service buildings have different rules. And, if it's a single apartment over a commercial building, it may be a use that is not allowed and it may not be grandfathered in - if your tenants really got ugly and got their local tenants rights people involved. Just make sure all of your ducks are in a row, sometimes things come back to bite!

[Tarlo Farm]

They're so long gone I think we'll have a hard time finding them now. A bunch of mail came today; one from an attorney from a town 30 miles east, two from an out-of-state-bank, one from a court 30 miles north of here, and one from the local hospital. Can you say "train wreck"?