Hi - my tenants have only been renting for 3 months, and they are already not paying rent. I should have know better to rent the home to friends....

So here is what's happening: I gave them the 7 day notice, and after that I had no choice but to file for the eviction and rent due, due to non payment.

The wife recently sent the husband to jail and got a PPO. She now has no money, 2 kids, and (you guessed it) no job. She recently filed for State assistance.

My questions are:

1)can the State halt or stop the eviction in any way?

2)what kind of defenses can she bring, to stop the process?

I'm trying to prepare as much as possible.........

Kelly,

Instead of eviction, have you tried to talk to her and maybe see if she would leave on her own? I always make an attempt to talk before taking legal action like an eviction.

If she had relatives, maybe she can take the kids and move into with them?

It might, as Roy said, be to her advantage to just go home to Momma.

I have never seen the state welfare agencies stop an eviction for someone trying to get on the welfare rolls so that shouldn't be a problem.

I did try to talk her into leaving on her own, with no success... She has been telling the neighbors that she is planning to live "rent free" there for the next year, because I will not be able to kick her out... These low lives know how to work the system. that's for sure.

And I have to say, Michigan SUCKS. I found a dozen places that help the tenants with legal issues (for free). YET, no-one cares about the landlord that has to pay the mortgage on the place..... you have to hire an attorney, and we all know how that goes..

wish me luck...

The Social Services do NOT stop evictions; they just provide legal advice on how to stall and/or defeat them.

Most common defense: The place is unihabitable because of __________ (infestations of roaches or rodents; broken plumbing [such as stopped toilets and/or drains, no water, no hot water, no water pressure, broken pipes, broken faucets], broken electrical [such as bad outlets, bad switches, bad light fixtures, bad main electrical panel [always blowing fuses/tripping beakers whenever I try to microwave and run the big screen TV at the same time], broken appliances, no A/C, no heat, ....).

The best response to this is: (1) Property was in great condition when T moved in, and this problem is due to the T's own abuse of the property -- here are the photos to prove it. (2) Tenant never reported this problem to me, and never gave me a chance to fix it. (3) If there was a habitability problem, T was required to pay the rent into Court, and there is no indication that T did so. So, please, Judge, throw this defense out and give me an immediate writ of possession.

You should have photos of the place before move=-in, and photos of the place looking as it does now, copies of any letters of complaint/repair requestrs, etc.

You need to be able to prove that the place was in habitable condition when they moved in, that you did all requested repairs in a timely and reasonable manner, that you did nothing improper, and that the rent was not paid. (I hope you never slept with the woman, because she'll claim that was for rent.)

They should be unable to stop the eviction provided that your place is decent. Just continue what you have started and you should be fine. Let us know how it goes. Good luck!

- John...

Good luck - maybe Mr. LL should organize a hotline of volonteers where distressed LLs get a sympathetic ear and be referred to an Association / local LL or eviction law firm found to be good.

There is a psychological term: DKE = Dunning Kruger Effect. Stupid people are too stupid to realize how incompetent they are. It has to do with ego and lying to ourselves. Seems you have a patient as a tenant. So she is telling herself all that?

Alas, Detroit is bad and I would hate to experience their court system. Still, over time, no pay - no stay is still valid. Or else more LLs would throw in the towel and leave town or the state.

We all know, it boils down to the RENT MONEY.

But they will talk uninhabitable / slip and fall / anything goes. I dread the vandals who wreck the place, then complain. One guy stripped the insulation of electrical cables he bared first after removing switches. then he was in there talking to cops when i came by. Previous renter was an engineer in charge of a $ 50 m RE budget on the Marine Base. And why would I do crazy stuff - to get thrown in jail & deported and have his family become the owner of the complex?

We need more common sense in evictions!

Join a LL Group, I've gotten tremendous support over the years here and in person.

THANKS ALL.

As the eviction saga continues....

now, she's trying to say that the 7d notice was invalid.... I gave it to her mon around noon, and told her she had until noon on monday of the following week to submit pmt. She claims because I stopped by the home at 11am on the due date, that it was too soon... should I have waited until tuesday

to file the eviction???

Im going crazy now...

Actually, she may be correct on that. I actually always wait the extra day after the 7-day notice just to be safe and avoid this.

"Tenants and Landlords: A Practical Guide" states the following:

"If the notice is delivered personally, the

time of the notice begins to run the next day."

So, if you gave it to her personally on a Monday, then that says that the time of the notices BEGINS the NEXT day (on Tuesday). Therefore, the 7 day notice would take you at least until the NEXT Tuesday (and some STILL argue that they have until midnight and you therefore can't file until the NEXT day (Wednesday)).

So, in that case, she sounds correct to me. You filed too soon after the 7-day notice. :(

- John...

This really sucks..... should I call the court in the am and see if they can change the filing date?........

or should I just start ALL over..?