landlord/tenant Q&A

LAURENE H. YOUNG, (B) MPM, RMP, REALTOR
Young Hawaii Homes, Inc.
2011 President, Oahu Chapter
National Association of Residential Property Managers

Q. I own a small apartment building and one of my tenants, who lives there with his wife, has 3 months remaining on his lease. He is current on his rent. He gave me a letter a few months ago stating that he needed a comfort animal, so I allowed it. He has been verbally abusive to some of the other tenants a few times, but they just try to avoid him. But, just the other day, I don’t know what set him off, but he got really angry, broke down the neighbor’s door, punched holes in several walls and threatened him with a knife. Thankfully, he didn’t seriously hurt anyone. He was taken to jail and his wife is quite shaken up. What can I do about this situation?

A. This is a very serious situation and demands immediate action. The landlord can immediately move to evict a tenant without notice if (1) the tenant violates state or country laws relating to health and safety, (2) the tenant or any of the tenant’s guests purposely destroys or extensively damages the rental unit or any part of the premises, or (3) the breaking of a house rule causes or threatens to cause injury to a person. Since the tenant threatened another person and caused extensive damage to your property, you have grounds for immediate termination of the lease.

This tenant sounds like a perfect candidate for a comfort animal though it seems like he needs further help. Even if your tenant may have a mental disability, he is not allowed to infringe on the rights of others to have safe and quiet enjoyment of their property. When he first started being verbally abusive to other tenants, you should have sent him a written notice of the violation, giving him 10 days to remedy the situation. Let the tenant know that, if he continues to violate the rules after the 10 days, you will terminate the rental agreement and sue for possession of the unit. If you must sue to regain possession, the tenant will also be liable for all court costs and reasonable attorney fees. Also include a statement that states that if the problem is corrected but recurs, eviction proceedings will begin immediately without further notice. If the situation gets better for a couple days and then recurs, you can still end the rental contract. According to Section 521-72 (b) of the Landlord Tenant Code, “if the breach complained of continues or recurs after the date specified in the notice, the landlord may bring a summary proceeding for possession within thirty days after such continued or recurring breach”. You don’t need another 10-day notice to the tenant but you must go to court before those thirty days have elapsed.

Now that this tenant has damaged your rental property and also physically threatened other people, you should evict him even though he has a few months remaining on his lease. I would file a motion with the court and not rely on any promises he or his wife make to move within a certain timeframe. Court dates are determined by the district, so you would likely get a date sooner in the Honolulu area but may have to wait longer in other areas. You or your attorney would send a process server to his home to notify him or his wife of the court date. He might be in jail, but his wife can still be served. If the tenants do not show up on the court date, you will automatically win. If the tenant appears and contests the eviction, another court date will be set where you would both argue your cases.

If you win, you will be given a writ of possession. It takes another couple of days, but when the sheriff has that writ, he can then go to the tenant’s home and evict the tenant. Often, when the sheriff shows up, tenants complain that they cannot move in just one day and the sheriff may allow them an extra day if they have a lot of things, but I wouldn’t give this tenant too much time to move. As you can see, even though the tenant does pose a danger to other tenants and has damaged your property, it may take several weeks to finally get him out of the premises. In the meantime, the victims could file temporary restraining orders, but still might not feel safe and may decide to leave too. It’s probably better for everyone involved to allow those tenants to break their leases early if they want to, especially if the tenant gets out of jail and moves back into the unit.

You can deduct the costs of the property damage and eviction process from the security deposit of the tenant who caused the damage. Unfortunately, you can’t recover from him the lost rent from other tenants who may leave because of his actions. You also probably want to wait until he is gone before you try to rent out the other units, which will cause an even greater financial burden. Good luck to you and stay safe.