Fellow landlords, how would you handle this tenant?

[andyt11]

I"m not really sure why the eviction notice cannot be enforced by the police? Is that not how it works?

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by andyt11

I"m not really sure why the eviction notice cannot be enforced by the police? Is that not how it works?

The landlord and the tenant appear to have issues. The story is poorly written but it does appear that the police are unwilling to evict this pos.

Rebekah Caverhill says she has been billed for renovations the man did inside the home and that he had a lien placed on the property.

The lien on the house would not be legal, billing for renovations is not legal, the lady is being taken advantage of.

[pksystems]

Pay some people to hang out around her house. When the POS leaves, she gives them permission to enter her property and change the locks.

The guy isn't paying the agreed amount of rent, so his lease/rental agreement is void. The police should have tossed him already. He's a squatter.

[Bill Douglas]

I had a situation like this once. I had a pleasant manner about me and said I wanted to do some maintenance and the rent was another issue. Once I was inside I told them to f-off and let a borer bomb (smoke bomb to kill termites) in the living room. I told them not to eat any food in the house and to wash clothes before they wear them. Plus the house is going to be wrapped in a bubble and fumigated to kill borer on Saturday so I recommend you get out before then. They were gone in a day or two.

[porsche4life]

Just rent trailer houses.... Easier to evict them, if they won't get out, just hook up to it and start moving it, they'll get out then!!!

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by PorscheA

Doesn't work in Canada.

You also can't 'forcibly' evict someone, or make them suffer undue hardship otherwise the owner will be in trouble. If someone doesn't WANT to leave, it is hard to evict people in Canada.

That seems bizarre. Here in the U.S., "you" (i.e., the landlord) can't personally forcibly evict someone, but our courts and sheriffs certainly can. Court issues the order, sheriff enforces it. That doesn't seem like a very radical concept.

I guess since there's no guns in Canada, it would be dangerous for an unarmed Sheriff to try to evict a potentially dangerous tenant, though.

[gordner]

Originally Posted by McLovin

That seems bizarre. Here in the U.S., "you" (i.e., the landlord) can't personally forcibly evict someone, but our courts and sheriffs certainly can. Court issues the order, sheriff enforces it. That doesn't seem like a very radical concept.

I guess since there's no guns in Canada, it would be dangerous for an unarmed Sheriff to try to evict a potentially dangerous tenant, though.

Good luck finding an unarmed Sherif in Canada, we are far from no guns up here.

[pksystems]

Hypothetically. If someone were to kick in the door to his "embassy" I'm assuming he would not be calling any of the local authorities.

He should have his own law enforcement correct?

He doesn't follow the laws of the land, so he shouldn't expect them to help, altho he seems to not mind placing a lien with the locals.

[Bill Douglas]

What you have to remmember, and what is on your side too; is it's a civil matter, not a criminal matter. So if you lock them out and carefully place their belongings on the front lawn you will get told off and a small fine but not a criminal conviction. Plus the tenant may get really angry leaving you in a position to use self defense

[speeder]

Originally Posted by J P Stein

.....and here you are again, writing on the wall...... and who is speeder?

Every once in a while, (actually about half the time in this thread), someone gives good advice. I guess it would be lost on you, though.

[GWN7]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

What you have to remmember, and what is on your side too; is it's a civil matter, not a criminal matter. So if you lock them out and carefully place their belongings on the front lawn you will get told off and a small fine but not a criminal conviction. Plus the tenant may get really angry leaving you in a position to use self defense

Actually as mentioned the tenant laws vary from state to state and province to province.

Here if a tenant disappears (owing you rent) you are required to move their belongings to a safe storage facility (at your cost) for a minimum of 60 days. Then have a auction and sell their goods. Then send the money to the government and they decide how much you get.

[zehnd]

Freeman Wanted

The man who an Alberta senior says claimed her rental property as a sovereign "embassy" had a warrant issued for his
arrest in Quebec when he stopped showing up in the middle of his assault trial.

The tenant, who goes by several aliases, was on trial in Montreal in May 2010 when media reports say he failed to show up and a warrant was issued.

The charges stemmed from a Sept. 20, 2007 incident in which a landlady was allegedly thrown down a flight of stairs and broke several bones.

The man in that case also claimed the landlady's residence was an embassy as part of a sovereign movement, according to reports from the trial.

He and a co-accused faced a number of charges including aggravated assault, according to the reports.

Freemen Rental Embassy 20130922
Rebekah Caverhill is interviewed at her home in Sylvan Lake, Alta., Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. The Alberta pensioner says she feels like a prisoner after her rental property was claimed as an "embassy" by a man she says identified himself as a Freemen-on-the-Land, a growing movement of so-called sovereign citizens that is raising concerns with authorities both north and south of the border. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

Alberta senior, Rebekah Caverhill, has been locked in a two-year battle with the man, who she says identified himself as a follower of the Freemen-on-the-Land movement, changed the locks on the house and has refused to leave.

Caverhill says she has been billed for renovations the man did inside the home and that he had a lien placed on the property.

The tenant did not respond to an email request from The Canadian Press for a comment on the Quebec warrant.

Requests for comment from CBC News on the tenant's doorstep also went unanswered.

A Calgary police official declined to comment on the Quebec warrant. A police spokesman said earlier this week it was consulting with Alberta Crown prosecutors office about whether criminal charges could be laid in the case.

Meanwhile, in Calgary court Tuesday, the tenant was ordered to vacate Caverhill's rental property by 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

A representative for the tenant appeared before Court of Queen's Bench Master Judith Hanebury. A master is a judicial official that handles matters in civil court that would otherwise fall to a judge.

The representative initially refused to give his name in court.

"He [the tenant] is in lock down," the representative said. "This has been turned into an international incident. There have been several thousand death threats."

"What is your birth name?" Hanebury asked. "I want the name on your birth certificate."

The representative replied: "I'm not that name."

Hanebury ruled the representative was not eligible to appear on behalf of the tenant.

"I can't hear from you if you won't give your name," Hanebury said and approved an eviction order.

The Law Society of British Columbia and B.C. Notaries have both issued warnings about Freemen. In a bulletin last year, the society said the group may number as many as 30,000 in Canada.

RCMP and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police are developing awareness materials for front line officers and the movement is the subject of upcoming policing seminars in Vancouver and Toronto.

The FBI considers the movement a domestic terror threat in the U.S. but a Freemen-on-the-Land spokesman told The Canadian Press earlier this month that violence is not advocated and has no place in the movement

[J P Stein]

>The charges stemmed from a Sept. 20, 2007 incident in which a landlady was allegedly thrown down a flight of stairs and broke several bones.<

She shoulda' sent the fellas with no necks as her ambassadors without portfolios.

[porsche4life]

Nice thing about the US post 9/11 is that the FBI would have liberated these "freemen" with a full tac team.

I say if they want to be so free, we send them to some place like Siberia and give them a few hundred square miles to be free on!

[recycled sixtie]

I think that I would be correct in saying that these bad guys target a soft target like a little old lady to rent from. Years ago my 80 yo mother rented to a drug addict who did not pay rent, had a dog and the poop ruined all the carpets. Huge loss. She finally got the bailiff to evict the tenant. If your mother wants to rent out a home it helps if there is a man around to vet the prospective tenants. A male presence can be a deterrent for these clowns....

[speeder]

Just to be clear, I sympathise with wanting to pulverize some of these people, it's just that you really need to watch your 6 in these situations or it could backfire in some terrible way.

One of my good friends owns a nice rental in Minneapolis, it is the upper duplex unit above the house he lives in with wife and kid. A few years ago, he rented it out to a very pleasant young woman who always paid the rent, no trouble, etc. After she had been there for 6 months or so, her ex-BF who it turns out she had moved cities to get away from showed up and basically moved in. Officially, he was just "visiting", so it was a sticky deal as far as his tenancy.

It was one of those abusive relationships where the woman truly was a victim of this guy and did not have the spine to really break it off completely, I think she was just terrified of him. Before long, however, she just disappeared...ran away, leaving this creep living in the apt. upstairs. He was not on the lease, would not answer questions or even talk to my friend who owned the place and lived downstairs, etc.

We did not know if she was ok, didn't really have any hard evidence that she wasn't and my friend had a bad situation on hand. The guy had an aggressive, intimidating manner and looked like he'd seen the inside of a jail cell or two. He did things like clean his shotgun out on the back porch, while being completely unfriendly and uncommunicative. This was a nightmare.

I wanted to have a third friend of ours, (actually like a brother to me), somehow catch this guy outside of the apartment sometime and just beat him so severely that he would either die or be in a coma for quite a while, and just clean-out the apartment and rent it to someone else in the meantime. If he came back, he'd just be some tresspasser, his name was nowhere on lease.

I can't remember how exactly it was resolved, (not with killing the guy), but it was a true nightmare for a while. I sympathize.

[red-beard]

I had to evict a tenant back in the late 1990's. A friend had a friend who needed a place. I later found out I was landlord number 5 in 2 years. He was paranoid. Changed the locks without telling me which is illegal. He had 2 huge dogs. And he claimed I was going into his apartment without permission. He was out in under 6 months...keeping his average up...

[JJ 911SC]

Calgary Freeman arrested at house he called his embassy - Calgary - CBC News

Now in jail, awaiting a transfer to Quebec to face assault charge...

Calgary Freeman wanted in alleged Montreal landlady assault - Calgary - CBC News

[Tobra]

Dad used to have some rental properties. He had a few guys that would handle situations like this, rather large guys. Canada has some messed up laws, it sort of sounds like.

[GWN7]

This story was on the news tonight. There are still a bunch of squatters in the house. They said they will be out by midnight.