State Specific Question About: NEBRASKA NB)

I have a hearing on Wednesday the 23rd to evict a tenant for the bad conditions in his apartment. In the meantime, he's causing as many problems as he can.He threw the circuit breaker to the Air Conditioner two times (he admitted doing this in a text message). This also took out the lights in another tenant's apartment. I was able to take care of this and restore the AC, but today the AC went out again for no reason that I could find, and I think he did something to the control panel in his apartment.

I am not sure what to do. I emailed my attorney but of course it's the weekend.

He wouldn't let the pest control person in on Wednesday and and refused to let me in to inspect the property. My attorney told me to have the police go with me to inspect the property. I did and he would 't let us in. The police said that he could refuse to let us in even though I'd given the 24 hours notice specified in the lease.He also said he wouldn't let any Service One people into the apartment.

Any advice on what to do?I Or do I just have to wait until the eviction hea

The police should be able to arrest him. That's ridiculous that they did not. He is causing harm to your other tenant's health. Maybe one of your tenants should call the police. If you do it's a landlord tenant issue, maybe if one of them do it becomes another kind of crime and the police have to do something. He is certainly a disorderly person. Sometimes the police just won't do anything. Get one of your tenants to call. The breaker issue putting the AC and the lights off are dangerous and the tenant who was affected should call the police.

I was reading and thinking my reply was going to start with " This isn't a matter for an attorney". Then I read on and your attorney gave you advice which didn't jive with the Police.

I would say the problem is the attorney.

Stop texting the tenant. Put your notice in writing and deliver it, send it, and enter the apartment.

If you are unable to enter the apartment, document the event in writing.

The 23rd isn't too far away.

You can't fix the problem that this apartment has control over another apartment's electricity. This you will need to address at another time.

First, thank you all for your answers. To the person who told me not to text the tenant, but to post the notice and go in, the police already went with me to the apartment after I gave 24 hours notice and he acknowledged to them that he'd received it. He stated we could not come in and they told me that they would not escalate the situation and that if he wouldn't let me in, there was noting they could do. They said I'd done all the right things, but that they couldn't help me unless I needed to get in for some type of emergency and he still wouldn't let me in.

Thank you to the person who suggested that I see if the affected tenant will call the police. I will see if he will do that.

Just to be clear: this tenant doesn't control the electricity to the other apartment: he went into the basement where the electrical box is located in order to throw the breaker. When the police met me at the apartment, they told me all I could do was lock the door to that area to keep him out. This means that none of the tenants can use the laundry room for now.

Thank you for your prompt help.

Cyndi,

Stay calm. Document these issues. Wait it out until your hearing.

Police handle CRIMINAL problems, and LL/T is CIVIL. The police cannot force the res to let you in.

Don't worry about inspecting right now.

"Bad conditions" alone will not likely get you an eviction. UNPAID RENT is the easiest to evict on.

Call the elec util and confirm the service is still on. Then look at the meter. OUR elec co puts a red tag on meters they have shut off.

If you are month to month you can send him a 30 day notice to vacate.

Stay strong.

Good luck and keep us posted.

BRAD

I had a tenant ask me to re-paint their apartment. Then when I showed up on schedule, he changed his mind and said, "I will let you know when we are ready". They had tons of cloths all over the place and needed to box them up or put things in the center of each room so I could paint around them.

A month later he reported me to Housing for not painting. I made an appointment and instead of me showing up, I had my licensed painting contractor and crew show up to do the job. My tenant also refused to allow the painter to do the work. My painter wrote me a letter and sent me an invoice for $200, a cancellation fee.

I then ended up in eviction court and since the unit wasn't perfect the judge gave me 30 days to paint and return if the rent isn't paid.

Again the tenant turned away my painting contractor.

So I filed a report with "Housing" and followed it up with a police report. I paid the Sheriff and the Police to serve the tenant at work, in front of clients, a letter filed with the courts giving the tenant notice I'm going into the apartment within 24 hours to paint the unit.

Then the next day when I showed up to paint and I was denied entry once again, I entered anyways and the tenant called the police on me. Finally the City Attorney got involved and saw I had made many attempts to paint and the tenant was only trying to get a free ride and not pay his rent. The tenant was ordered to show up in court for the above issues. His employer fired him for not being at work and causing a scene at the company.

I got my day in court and was able to evict without re-painting the unit.... It didn't have to be perfect after all to conduct a non-payment of rent if the tenant is the proximal cause of the repairs no being made.

Thank you for the supportive comments and helpful advice.The "bad conditions" that are the cause of the eviction is that the tenant:

1. had unreported bedbugs that started to show up in other tenants' apartments. I have pest control services come and spray every other month and that is how I discovered this: the company documented it for me on an invoice.

2.The tenant was had food, left out long enough to decompose, after meals and was collecting garbage throughout the apartment. The pest control company documented this on an invoice for me and stated it was to the point of hoarding. The smell is so bad that the tenants in the apartment above them thought mice had died in the walls.

3. The pest control company stated that the apartment conditions were the source of insect and rodent infestation that was affecting the rest of the building.

4. One of the people living in the apartment is incontinent. The smell of urine from their couch, the open garbage bags in the apartment where they throw her used Depends in and in her bed is so bad you can smell it throughout the building. Being actually in their apartment induces a gag reflex.

After the first report from the pest control company in May, I showed the tenants the report and told them what had to be cleaned up. They responded by saying the pest control people were liars and that I was a liar. They became abusive an threatening to me every time I showed up at the building. After the male tenant told me that I better always hope I see him before he sees me, I let them know that all interactions were going to be either recorded on my Iphone or had to occur through text.

They didn't like that but too bad. Even the texts the male tenant sends are so bad, that my attorney is presenting them to the court as part of the affidavit.

At the next appointment in June, the pest control company reported conditions were worse than in May. So I consulted my attorney and gave them a 30 day notice to clean the apartment up.

I had the pest control company inspect at the end of the 30 days and they reported that the apartment remained dirty and cluttered with visible dead bedbugs throughout.

So I served the eviction notice.

I hope between the violations of clauses in the lease that require them to maintain the apartment in "good, clean condition," and the clause that requires them to "dispose of all garbage in the outdoor receptacles provided," plus the clause that "the landlord or their designated agent may enter the apartment to do any and all work the landlord deems necessary to the maintenance of the property after giving the tenant 24 hours notice. Or in an emergency situation without notice...." That this will be enough to get him evicted. Also, since the notice was served, he's done the other things you already know about to other tenants and affecting their ability to live in their own places.

Thank you for all your help!

Cyndi

Cyndi,

YIKES!

Do you have photos for court?

A 2 Minute In Home Visit prior to final approval would have shown you the stink and stuff in their previous home, saving you the THOUSAND$$$ this will cost to turn over.

It has certainly saved me TONS of grief!

BRAD

Hey Cyndi sounds like you're doing the best you can with a tough situation.

I don't know if the comments about what you should've done or how it's going to cost you thousands to fix this bother you as much as it upset me . You wrote to this message board asking for support and advice and instead you got criticism.

I had the city inspect the building before I bought it in 2016. The building was code compliant at that time and all work since has been done by licensed contractors.

The circuit breaker for the house is in the basement laundry room which everyone had access to until the tenant threw the breaker for the AC and turned the system off.

That was the same day he refused entry to the pest control people and to the Service 1 person who went to see what the problem was with the AC.

He sent me and the tenant in Apt 4 (who also has AC supplied by that AC unit) a text telling us what he'd done.

The tenant in Apt 4 has developmental disabilities and was afraid to fix the breaker.

Because of past threats from this tenant, when I went there to fix the breaker, and to inspect the unit (as contractors were being refused entry), I took the police with me.

I hope this clarifies the question people have about the circuit breaker.

There are thermostats in every apartment. The controls are locked so that tenants can set the temperatures between 69 and 74 degrees, but can't turn them off or go higher or lower than those temperatures.

The electrician thinks the tenant took the cover off the thermostat in his apartment and touched wires together to turn the AC off in that way. We can't get in to see it so I'll have to wait until after the hearing tomorrow as hopefully he'll be evicted and I can make repairs.