Any Houston LEO's on the board?

[barronj]

Please pm me if so, thanks in advance.

[juiceweezl]

<---- Grabs popcorn...

[David]

I have a friend who is one.

[barronj]

I'm probably just spinning my wheels here, but something's rotten in the state of Denmark. I buy/sell/lease/manage properties in Austin. One of my clients, a gentleman enlisted with the Navy, lives in Italy, occasionally comes to Austin and will call me when he's been to the house. He likes to just drop by. Yesterday, he dropped by & said that when he went in to the house, that someone had split the front living room, and that 5 different families were living there (it's a 3/2 with 2 living rooms), paying somewhere around a combined $3600/mo. (tenant on record is paying $1600)

I leased this property to a lady who's with HPD (14 years), so she could have a place to stay when she comes to town. She has two children, split custody, and the ex lives in Austin. She says the hotels were adding up to the cost of a house, and it would be nicer to stay weekends in a house here with the kids, rather than a hotel. I'm a little skeptical, but it's their money to spend, landlord liked that she was a veteran as well (benefits too), she had great credit and was otherwise spotless, so the owner blessed it.

Now, I've got a halfway house or some shit on my hands, and I'm P I S T pissed.

Not even sure why I need to have a contact with HPD... My head is still spinning. I've had some odd shit happen in RE, but never this. I've driven by the house, everything's quiet; no maintenance calls (go figure), so I haven't been inside. She's had the house for 8 months.

The owner has a heart of gold. Last night, when he told me this story, I saw red, said we have to get these people, all of these people and their dogs (applicant had no pets) OUT ASAP. He's like "go have a beer, sleep on it". WTF?

His email from this morning:
"We talked with this very nice young lady Danielle, 512-xxx-xxxx. She, her husband, child and two dogs have been living here since Feb 2016. I told her about the tree service coming by and she indicated that she would lock the dogs in their kennels so the work could be performed. According to Danielle, she pays a Ms Tiffany Harris. Ms Harris runs several properties in the Austin area"
(Tiffany Harris is not who I leased the property to)

I had a nice day planned, now I have to go serve eviction papers to people who have no idea that their living situation (probably rough anyway) is about to be upended.

[Torinoman]

Wow, thats kinda fucked up

[Broncojohnny]

Sounds to me like that HPD lady subleased it out from under you. I bet she is pocketing the difference in rent. You are wasting your time with a PD contact, they will cover for her.

[Big A]

Assuming that the house is being maintained appropriately, is this really a big deal? Perhaps that is a big assumption, but if the owner isn't sweating it, why should you? Are you going to be held liable for any portion of damages?

That aside, is subleasing prohibited in the rental agreement? I would assume so, just asking.

[Big A]

Sounds to me like that HPD lady subleased it out from under you. I bet she is pocketing the difference in rent. You are wasting your time with a PD contact, they will cover for her.

Isn't it the sheriff, not the PD who would be forcing them to move out, should it come to that? Sounds like a clear-cut case to me, should it come down to that.

[Grimpala]

Assuming that the house is being maintained appropriately, is this really a big deal? Perhaps that is a big assumption, but if the owner isn't sweating it, why should you? Are you going to be held liable for any portion of damages?

That aside, is subleasing prohibited in the rental agreement? I would assume so, just asking.

You can't have 5 families living in a single family dwelling. Fire codes, health codes, laws, etc... This isn't cool in the least, no matter if the owner is cool or not.

[barronj]

Subletting is not allowed, per the lease.

None of the inhabitants have passed any kind of criminal or background screening. I don't lease to anyone convicted of a crime against a person or property, the last thing I want is to have to confront someone who has a long rap sheet. When drugs get involved, a landlord can lose their property, or make it uninhabitable, if someone were cooking meth inside. These are worst case scenarios, obviously.

When the owner went inside, he noticed additional locking devices added to all bedroom doors as well as the construction in the front room, and he was told that the dishwasher and oven are broken. Not only is this additional wear and tear on the house, they are not going to report when there are problems, obviously, and an unreported water leak could be extremely costly. There are 100 different reasons why this is a bad idea.

[Grimpala]

Isn't it the sheriff, not the PD who would be forcing them to move out, should it come to that? Sounds like a clear-cut case to me, should it come down to that.

Typically it is the sheriff, but different jurisdictions have different methods, but I fail to see why the HPD needs to be involved.

If she worked for Xerox, would you call up her boss to complain?

[Big A]

Gotcha, just asking. Definitely not a good situation already then, with all that said. I can't fathom who would think that it's ok to add walls and locks without written consent, aside from the number of inhabitants. More example of how laws and rules only apply to those that follow them, you can't legislate morality or common sense.

[barronj]

Isn't it the sheriff, not the PD who would be forcing them to move out, should it come to that? Sounds like a clear-cut case to me, should it come down to that.

The HPD angle is not to force them out.

When you want to kick someone out of a rental, nothing is clear-cut, nothing is easy. I have to file an eviction notice, they have to be served, then I have to go to court to plead the landlord's case. If someone is in breach of lease, it is easy to evict (because everything is papered up, a 16 page lease that is pretty tidy), I have never lost, but it is a huge pain in the ass none the less.

You are right about the PD not being the one to forcibly evict. After you win in court, if the tenant does not leave, you file another request for possession, to have the constable present while you remove their possessions. One time, it took the constable being present for the tenant to actually get their shit out; they were not happy when they left, but fuck 'em.

[barronj]

I have her bosses email on her application, and you are goddamn right that I am filling him in once I have the ball rolling.

[sosoe]

What a cluster fuck.

Makes me not want to rent my current house out and get another one. Lol