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This is a log of the time, money and psychic energy spent to get one
tenant evicted for non-payment of rent and, as evidenced by the necessity to
have a forced eviction, complete lack of respect for the owner of the
property she was renting. It should be noted that millionaire baseball
owners don't have to do all this to get someone ejected from a baseball
game. They just remove them, oftentimes, with the help of the same
sheriff's deputies who can't do that in the case of a tenant illegally
occupying one's property. Many times, these illegal occupants are also
small time drug dealers or professional rent skippers who may never have
gone through the formal application process!!!!
Aug 10 2 110 Bus to preview small claims process for first time.
Aug 17 2 60 Bus to Small Claims Court and back to:
- 40 Administrative hearing to obtain Authorization for:
5 10 Writ of Restitution stayed to 8/21/98.
Aug 17 - 40 Hearing before Court Commissioner for earlier date.
Aug 21 1 30 Bus to Small Claims Court to:
- 60 Judge Kahn (Donegan not around) Small Claims court to:
obtain a 2nd Authorization for a second:
- 10 Writ of Restitution stayed to 9/1/98, which,
fortunately, didn't have to be paid for again.
Aug 21 1 30 Bus to Eagle Moving and Storage Co to obtain:
400 10 LETTER of AUTHORITY for Sheriff. ($54 cancel fee.)
6 15 Lunch at Aztec restaurant on 5th & National.
Aug 21 1 10 Photocopies of documents at Public Library, 8 cents each.
- 5 Entry into the safety building with coins, belt buckle and
various metal items in my canvas briefcase involved a
delay at the ingressing metal detector. In addition, the
private security guards wouldn't allow me to keep my two
inch Slimline combo nail file/cleaner and slicing knife,
so I had them throw it away. They said to return it to my
car. I'd come by bus. Greeting an old acquaintance on
the way in, he showed me an identical knife he was allowed
to keep when entering at another point one floor below.
Am glad these two guards were too dumb to realize what
effective weapons teeth could be!
20 Time wasted at sheriff's cashier discovering that they
don't want to have any paperwork until the effective date
of the Writ of Restitution. Since their cancellation fee
was another $31, I decided to come back on 9/1/98.
Aug 21 1 10 Bus to return home and finally get back to sprucing up the
rental duplex for sale/closing on September 11th.
Aug 29 120 First, legitimate tenant was shown the flat upon
tenant daughter's permission. Tenant made remarks about
not being able to clear a path, first, but didn't order us
out of the flat. She subsequently called the police.
They were ready to cite me for illegal entry.
Aug 29 30 Prepared and gave tenant verbal 12 hour notice of intent
to have an open house the next day - Sunday afternoon.
She wouldn't accept the written notice.
Aug 30 60 Two other police officers came in response to my request
to have tenant informed of my legal right to show the flat
via the proposed open house. No one answered the bell or
their knocks, but when I entered to ensure the flat was
being preserved and protected, both children were found
inside. Neither responded to my several SHOUTS of, "Is
anyone home?" The police came back to talk to the 17 1/2
year old son. Getting nowhere with him, they left their
number with instructions for him to have his mother call
them to discover my rights regarding entry to the flat.
Aug 30 30 11:30 am While making repairs outside the rental duplex,
the tenant's son came at me with a baseball bat.
Aug 30 240 1:00 pm After placing the OPEN FOR INSPECTION sign next to
the FOR RENT sign on the front lawn from 1:00 pm to
4:00 pm, while a half-dozen of her adult relatives were on
the front porch, I gave the tenant an additional notice
regarding repairs to the inside of the flat needing to be
made to begin on September 1st and thereafter - the day
she's been ordered by the court to vacate the flat.
Later, the police came and, contrary to the law, told her
she could keep me from entering the flat with whatever
force was necessary.
Two prospective tenants came and were prevented from
entering the flat by the existing tenants' relatives and
friends gathered on the front porch.
Aug 31 60 A sergeant will mediate to call the tenant and inform her
of my rights of entry.
Sep 1 120 The tenant began moving out of the flat in mid-afternoon,
forcing me to lose the deposit with Eagle Movers but still
allowing enough time to cancel their need to come to the
scene.
Sep ? The police mail me a citation for illegal entry into the
flat on Aug 29th. Although the law cited indicates that
my entry was legal, it is the first I'm made aware that
the City of Milwaukee actually has an ordinance regarding
entry by landlords - an ordinance that isn't included
among those referenced in the "Landlord Training Program"
run by the city (that I attended)?!
MINUTES
DATE $COST SPENT ACTION & COMMENTS
---- ---- ----- --------------------
Jun 16, - 30 Tenant receives her first FIVE DAY NOTICE TO QUIT OR PAY
1997 RENT after her sister and niece move in, and she's still
unable to pay the rent on time. They move out and the
tenant agrees to debit $50 from her last month's rent
credit to pay for the two month's they were there.
Apr 11, - 10 Tenant informs me she will be moving to Minnesota in Sep.
1998 I request that she give written notice as soon as possible
and advise her that the "FOR RENT" sign will go on the
lawn by June in anticipation of her vacancy. She pays the
April rent in full four days early and $200 toward the May
rent due the next month.
May 15 30 Tenant stops paying rent and starts making promises to pay
everything owed in another week;
Jun 1 - 30 When no payments are made for SEVEN weeks and the $320
balance on the May rent carries over to June, a FIVE DAY
NOTICE TO QUIT OR PAY RENT is prepared and delivered to
the tenant at 2:00 pm.
Jun 6 20 instead of $320 due 5/15, she pays $65;
Jun 20 20 instead of $775 due 6/15, she pays $55;
Jun 28 20 instead of $720 past due, she pays $40;
Jul 5 20 instead of $680 past due, she pays $77.
Jul 15 - 30 Having become quite obvious that she's stringing out
payments which are less than the rent due prorated on a
weekly basis, I finally decided to begin formal eviction
action for the very first time in my life. She may have
hoped I was dumb enough to let her debt, then at $1123.00,
continue to grow until it became evident she wasn't moving
out in September, either!
Jul 16 - 60 Coincident with the response to an overnight burglary:
the tenant receives 14 day notice terminating her tenancy;
the tenant signs a 31 day notice of move-out by 8/16/98;
the tenant received a loan from me of her security deposit
in order to apply it toward and receive receipts for the
May and June rents.
Jul 16 - 30 Tenant's last month's rent credit accumulated to date is
applied toward the June and July rents. She signs a note
to repay the security deposit and remaining balance of the
July rent by July 31st.
Jul 27 1 60 Bus to Clerk of Courts and back to:
Jul 27 62 5 Pay Small Claims filing fee and get eviction papers.
Jul 31 1 60 Bus to Process Service and back to:
Jul 31 18 15 Pay for and have eviction papers served and to set
the Small Claims hearing date to one day after her
promised 31 day notice move-out date, 8/17/98.
Website link/location/URL: http://Ruben.Ciriacks.com/evict.htm