What A Mess!!!

At one of the communities I oversee, the manager approved a tenant who was to move in April 1. She left the keys with maintenance (he's been fired) with a note to get money before giving the keys. He didn't, she moved in and has paid anything since April 1, including utilities.

So, we file an eviction and we get an e-mail from the "sub-tenant" that she has some concerns about the apartment.

Turns out, she sub-leased the apartment May 1st from a Craigslist ad. We screened her and she doesn't qualify for the apartment herself due to bad credit.

So, we have made an offer to the original tenant to pay $1000 and we will release from the Rental Agreement.

If she doesn't, we are turning her over to the authorities for fraud.

Any comments? Has this every happened to you?

Sandy,

Yikes! That's quite a mess indeed. Are you able to find the lessee to serve papers? Collecting any amount from them doesn't sound too promising. I hope you can get the apartment back quickly!

Matt

Hi Sandy, yep - agreed, it's a mess. I would move to evict both the leaseholder and the person who says she sublet the apartment, since I would call her an illegal occupant. I have caught several illegal sublets (I troll Craigslist just for this reason) since our student housing properties allow Sublets, but market communities do not. How does the lease address subleasing or assigning a unit? If it doesn't then I would update the lease. If it does, and doesn't permit it, then all the more reason to evict all parties.

I understand firing the maintenance person for not collecting the payment, but is it normal practice to allow the Manager/Leasing to not handle all these details?

I go to the root of the problem and that is allowing the maintenance person to collect money. Now I want to place in a; however, if the maintenance person is wearing more than just the maintenance hat and is also involved in the management portion of dealing with the termination and acquiring new leases. So, that is to say management, assistant manager, and or leasing agent, then I would not have had him involved in the process.

Now, I know some job descriptions have the "and other duties as assigned" catch all phrase, but then the management shoulders some of the responsibility of ensuring the proper training is conducted.

It may be possible that the maintenance person that was fired may also be seen again from a legal point. Every state is different, but these days given a perceived injustice and the right lawyer who knows where that all can go.

Yes, the tenant you want out and the sublet person as well. There should be language about subletting and so, this is one where, the one that sublet would have to go after the person that sublet to them as your contract is clear about subletting. So, yep fraud is the key word of the day!