Multiple drug charges (felony) in rental

Homeowners are responsible for the behavior of their visitors and tenants, so if they can't behave and you want them gone, you need to go after the HOMEOWNER. Unless your documents say otherwise (read them), the association can't convict the tenant on its own because the lease is between the homeowner and the tenant, not the association. However, your documents may have language prohibiting homeowners from creating or harboring nuisances that affect the 'quiet enjoyment, safety, etc.," of other residents. This may enable the association to sue to OWNER - hold his/her feet to the fire and perhaps he/she will get rid of the tenant, unless he/she likes paying fines (if you have them - keep reading your documents), attorneys fees (the owners and the association's if it asks for reimbursement of legal expenses) and whatever other damages were incurred from the tenant's conduct (e.g. trash removal feels.

By the way, homeowners can also use this language to file their own lawsuits against the homeowner/landlord, so make sure the association gets involved ONLY if abuse/misuse of the common area and/or multiple homeowners are involved. Otherwise, if it's a neighbor/neighbor dispute, the association may need to stay out of it and the homeowners find a way to fix this themselves.

Also stay out of issues that are police matters - if drug dealing, meth cooking and that stuff is an issue, homeowners should be told to call 911 if a crime has been or is being committee or there's a fire, injured person, or something else that requires immediate attention from the police, fire department, etc., homeowners should call 911. The police should also have a non-emergency number where people can report suspicions.

That said, you're going to need proof, so homeowners may need to come forward with specific incidents, not just suspicions,.

Thanks for the feedback. We had noticed suspicious vehicles leaving the house in question but were not aware of the drug charges until the Home Owner brought to our attention. That's when the court records were checked and found that so many drug charges had been made in two different situations. It's all public record. The main concern was the speeding vehicles leaving the house and the loud mufflers on one car in particular. The home owner was aware of the tenants past, so this really is not shock that it happened. But now it seems the board is going to have to act for the safety of the residents and their peace of mind. Yes, I'm on the board.

Depending on the terms of the lease, the landlord may or may not be able to evict.

All the Association can do is institute monetary penalties against the owner for the actions of their tenants. If this is done often enough, the landlord may get the message. If it's not being done at all, there is zero incentive for the landlord to evict.

When there are issues that require police involvement, call them. In fact, have more then you call them, encourage all neighbors to call. This way it will appear to be an actual issue vs a personality conflict between two people.

Keep in mind there is something called "Tenant's rights" as well. Renters have rights too. Which sometimes outweighs the owner's ability to evict. Believe it or not, a renter in some states can stop paying rent completely upwards to a year without being evicted! That is because they can counter respond to the eviction notice. Think of it as a kind of "counter suit".

For Example. Renter stops paying rent. Owner files to evict. The Renter responds stating they are not paying rent because they have no heat. A responsibility of the owner to repair. The court may say since the owner did not take care of the necessary repair for the premises to be inhabitable, the renter could withhold rent. The eviction process would have to start over again... Which can keep going on if the renter has valid reasons of withholding.

Now in a HOA situation many owner's do not put into their rental agreements the renter is to follow the HOA rules. Which means if the renter violates a HOA rule, the owner can't evict them. It's NOT in the terms of the contract. So the owner is being fined by the HOA for the renter's violations but can't evict because the renter is NOT in violation of the terms of the agreement. Again another way they can "fight" eviction under Tenant's rights.

A HOA just has to keep calling the police. Plus keep the owner's feet to the ground and informed what is going on. The HOA also needs to understand that an owner can't overnight evict a tenant. It takes upwards to 30 - 45 days to evict even in a non-contested eviction. 20 - 30 day notice period. Add on a 2 week time line for the sheriff to get involved if the renter doesn't move out their stuff.

I had to evict a troublesome tenant. It took me 5 months and ended up putting the house up for sale to get them out. They did not pay me rent either.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/development/article88318857.html

Got a link to the law that allows the loss of property?

https://www.raleighnc.gov/business/content/HousingNeighborhoods/Articles/RentalRegistration.html