Hi, just trying to get equipped with any possible additional knowledge. I’ll keep this super brief:
“Investor” purchased 2 mobile homes in my park for probably a $3-4k investment. No one lives there. No one has mowed this year (I’ve since mowed.) Condition of homes is deteriorating.
Sent investor a lease but they objected to the rent and a deposit and wouldn’t sign. Any further attempts at communication were ignored so there is no lease.
We are close to $10k past due between the two homes and costs. Months ago I offered like $1k-$2k for titles and was ignored. I properly sent 5-day notice, filed eviction, served etc. We are coming up on our 3rd court date.
The investor asked the judge for time to move the homes. I objected and the judge kicked the can down the road. After court, I called the first few movers in google and found one to move in 3 weeks for $4200 (2 homes) and they haven’t heard from the investor.
Sent us to mediation and I said I would take $5k and titles. The investor said no. The mediator asked if hypothetically he owed nothing and just had to turn over titles, and he said no. (I know I would not get the $5k, but I would like it to show money was owed should anyone start background checking the investor.) The investor had no ideas for solutions. Mediation is confidential so the judge won’t know this.
So far the investor asked for more time for to hire an attorney, said he wasn’t served properly, said he wasn’t offered a lease, said he wasn’t offered the right lease. Basically, he’s going to throw every monkey wrench at the situation. This person is not making good decisions. You can’t apply logic to this person’s situation. Occasionally the judge seems flabbergasted at the why of this.
Any ideas how I can expect this to play out, or anything to be ready for in court?
I have talked to several attorneys. The person I use for house evictions doesn’t want to brush up on mobile homes. Another person I watched in my earlier court date will be out of town for part of the time until our next court date and will not have time to brush up on mobile homes but he can pick up after if I want. He definitely did not currently know anything about the mobile home process when we talked but I’m sure he can learn.
In Indiana a land owner can file for an abandoned title if a home is left on property without permission for a few months (I forget the exact amount of time, but it’s not that long).
It is actually quite simple. The eviction and abandoned home title are 2 separate things, and a “mobile home tenant” eviction is no different than an apartment tenant in most cases. In Delaware, the difference is a 5 day or 7 day notice, but nothing substantial. I would keep it very simple and file for eviction due to non payment of rent. After the eviction, once the tenant is gone, you can work out the abandoned home process. Seems like the 2 parts got commingled in your case making them more complicated than they should be. Not sure where you stand legally right now, but you may have to start over and simplify the case.
60 days in Indiana, but 60 days is after the eviction for non-payment of rent. Like I mentioned to Sisyphus, you file eviction as if the home didn’t even exist, then deal with that later.
Hire a good attorney. Pay him to do all that is needed.
The best first step is always to do everything possible to work things out reasonably. You’ve done that. Once that doesn’t work, you’re wasting money and time and emotion doing anything but hiring a good attorney and proceeding full blast. Anything else will be a waste of life, throwing good time and money after bad. It’s always hard to due, because suing sucks, but once it’s clear that it won’t settle, don’t hesitate. It’s the same as with needing surgery-it sucks but waiting makes it way worse. Breathe deep and hire the attorney and go all out.
I’m actually in Illinois. I called the state association and they said this is a difficult county for evictions and did not have an attorney recommendation that worked in this county.
We are well into the eviction process for non-payment of rent with several status hearings already under my belt. We had one more since I originally posted. I was just trying to get some ideas of what the investor would throw out in court so I could be prepared with documents etc to set the record straight, but they are truly unpredictable. Last time they asked for the case to be dismissed. No grounds, could it just be dismissed. The judge quickly denied the request and moved on.
I have the ball rolling on the Abandoned Mobile Home Act which is sending in to the DMV for the official word on owners/lien holders to start the notification process. I think if I did that first it would have lead to the evictions case so it doesn’t really matter which came first. Don’t assume this investor is making sensible choices.