HOA and tenant evictions

Started by AndrewP4 • 19 replies • 884 views

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AndrewP4 (Iowa)
Posts: 4

Posted:

I'm curious as to the resolution of the following situation - a unit owner in the association rented out their unit and subsequently filed a claim in small claims to get their renter evicted. The renters belongings were removed from the unit and placed in front of the building, but not blocking access to the building. It doesn't like any effort has been made to remove these belongings and when an inquiry was sent to the unit owner by the HOA, he responded by stating "call the police, they're the renters belongings". Isn't the unit owner responsible for their tenants? or actions taken towards their tenants? Is there any recourse for the HOA? (this is in the state of Iowa)

Thanks in advance.

AugustinD
Posts: 5,144

Posted:

I agree the owner has responsibility for what happened here here. Fine or cite (with a violation) the owner pursuant to any violation of the covenants that has occurred. If the owner does not like it, then he or she can pass along the costs of dealing with this to his or her tenant.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

This means this was a Sheriff's eviction. Part of the eviction process. When you evict a tenant there are 2 notifications. 1 is a notice for intent to evict. The 2nd notice is the actual eviction. The notices are typically 10 business days a piece. (Depending on your state). If the tenant still does NOT leave, there is another 2 week period to gather their stuff and leave. It is during this time that it now becomes a Sherriff's office eviction. Meaning that the police will come in with the owner or maybe tenant to put the stuff outside.

The owner's hands are basically tied as well at this point. That being that the tenant's stuff has become public. The tenant may want to sue the owner for the damages. The tenant's stuff is their responsibility to collect at this point. If not, then the HOA may want to contact the police/lawyer to see if they can have it removed off their property.

Former HOA President

BenA2 (Texas)
Posts: 1,273

Posted:

I agree that this is the owner's responsibility. The sheriff's office puts the property next to the street because the tenant made the decision not to vacate the property with their belongings but you have no control over tenants. Evictions are done on behalf of the landlord, so he is responsible. If he is unsure what he can do with the property legally, then he should contact the sheriff or an attorney.

If he refuses you can probably have it hauled to the dump and send him a bill, but I would check with an attorney first.

GenoS (Florida)
Posts: 4,276

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By AndrewP4 on 05/02/2018 6:16 PM
I'm curious as to the resolution of the following situation - a unit owner in the association rented out their unit and subsequently filed a claim in small claims to get their renter evicted. The renters belongings were removed from the unit and placed in front of the building, but not blocking access to the building. It doesn't like any effort has been made to remove these belongings and when an inquiry was sent to the unit owner by the HOA, he responded by stating "call the police, they're the renters belongings". Isn't the unit owner responsible for their tenants? or actions taken towards their tenants? Is there any recourse for the HOA? (this is in the state of Iowa)

Thanks in advance.

Fine the owner if the junk outside violates any of your covenants or rules & regulations. I think that an owner is responsible for the transgressions of his tenant in most states. Start the fining process before considering what to do with the "stuff" that's outside. Once the owner gets wind of that the "stuff" will disappear pretty quickly.

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

Typically Sheriffs and Constables know when they are executing an eviction not to place the belongings of the person being evicted on or in common areas so the person
being evicted don't trespass on private property to retrieve their belongings. Personally, I would stay out of it. If the belongings are in common areas then the unit owner could
be charged for the clean up. BUT you have to prove it's his former tenants.

KellyM3 (North Carolina)
Posts: 2,239

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By AugustinD on 05/02/2018 6:52 PM
I agree the owner has responsibility for what happened here here. Fine or cite (with a violation) the owner pursuant to any violation of the covenants that has occurred. If the owner does not like it, then he or she can pass along the costs of dealing with this to his or her tenant.

Yes indeed.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

Keep in mind they are now EX-Tenants. There is no more contract between the owner and the Tenant. Never one between the HOA and the tenant.

Think the owner may not know what to do either. They aren't allowed to touch the tenant's belongings most likely. Could set them up for a lawsuit. The tenants may sue the owner over this.

Now the police did what they were supposed to do. However, maybe they did not know it is an HOA situation and that is common property. Normally when they put the items out of a property, it's at the front curb area or front yard.

I would call the sherriff's office who did the eviction and ask them what the HOA can do about the belongings on their common property? What can you all do to remove these items if any? The tenants have basically ran out of time to pick up their things once they hit the ground (literly).

So yes call the COUNTY Sheriff office or if you have a lawyer, ask them. There are some laws in place when it comes to evictions and tenant's rights. It may be that you can remove the items at pleasure. Just make sure to take pictures!!!

Former HOA President

JeffT2 (Iowa)
Posts: 880

Posted:

You used the words unit and building. So this is a condominium?

Almost all condos have a provision that no one may place anything in the common elements without permission.

I agree with the unit owner to call the police (or sheriff). You will likely get some answers on how and when to proceed. And you may be able to force the unit owner or renter or sheriff to move the stuff, since it was placed in the common elements and you have control over the common elements, or you may be able to move it and send them the bill.

I agree with the other posters. I'll add that many of the answers and the association's rights, remedies, procedures to fine or to assess the owner, owner responsible for tenant, will be found in your Declaration (to your association's advantage).

BenA2 (Texas)
Posts: 1,273

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MelissaP1 on 05/03/2018 5:08 AM
Keep in mind they are now EX-Tenants. There is no more contract between the owner and the Tenant. Never one between the HOA and the tenant.

Think the owner may not know what to do either. They aren't allowed to touch the tenant's belongings most likely. Could set them up for a lawsuit. The tenants may sue the owner over this.

Now the police did what they were supposed to do. However, maybe they did not know it is an HOA situation and that is common property. Normally when they put the items out of a property, it's at the front curb area or front yard.

I would call the sherriff's office who did the eviction and ask them what the HOA can do about the belongings on their common property? What can you all do to remove these items if any? The tenants have basically ran out of time to pick up their things once they hit the ground (literly).

So yes call the COUNTY Sheriff office or if you have a lawyer, ask them. There are some laws in place when it comes to evictions and tenant's rights. It may be that you can remove the items at pleasure. Just make sure to take pictures!!!

AndrewP4 (Iowa)
Posts: 4

Posted:

So we've come to somewhat of a resolution on this....

I formulated an email and sent to the owner that basically stated that the belongings were his responsibility as far as the HOA was concerned, how he handles the tenants is between him and the tenants. The property was left on the common grounds of the HOA and whether he or the tenants removed them was up to him. If he did not act, then we as an HOA would hire someone to remove the items and in turn assess the cost to him. He responded that he didn't know what his responsibilities were (I think he bought the unit not knowing what the responsibilities were as a landlord or what owning a condo entails).Anyways, today, all of the items including the furniture were stuffed either in the dumpster or piled around it. We plan to have the waste company remove it and in turn bill the owner.

Thanks for everyones input.

DouglasM6 (Arizona)
Posts: 724

Posted:

Next time just put a sign that says "free stuff" on it. LOL.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

This happens to be a common issue seen on Court TV shows. Which details what can happen to the owner if the stuff is left out in the open. So putting "Free Stuff" is tempting, your inviting a lawsuit. It's why this owner most likely did not know what to do. They can't touch it nor can they store it. We all know it's the tenant's property. However, they still have rights and a timeline.

I had to remove a tenant in my property. He did not pay rent for 5 months. Took awhile to kick out. It got to the point where almost had to get the sheriff department to remove them. Which would have put their stuff on the front yard. If I had decided to "store" the items instead, then I could charge the EX-Tenants the rent and storage fees. Which they may never come to pick up. If I put it in a storage pod, then could not pay the rent on the pod till it went up for auction.

Now could the HOA do this because it's on their property? Maybe not. It could be considered theft. Maybe they could advice the owner to take this route. It will rid the yard of the items and still give the tenants every opportunity to get the items. Once that time period is up at the storage unit for not paying, then it would get auctioned off. If the stuff stays and owner keeps paying rent on it, then they could sue their tenant for that expense.

Former HOA President

DouglasM6 (Arizona)
Posts: 724

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MelissaP1 on 05/04/2018 3:55 PM
This happens to be a common issue seen on Court TV shows. Which details what can happen to the owner if the stuff is left out in the open. So putting "Free Stuff" is tempting, your inviting a lawsuit. It's why this owner most likely did not know what to do. They can't touch it nor can they store it. We all know it's the tenant's property. However, they still have rights and a timeline.

I had to remove a tenant in my property. He did not pay rent for 5 months. Took awhile to kick out. It got to the point where almost had to get the sheriff department to remove them. Which would have put their stuff on the front yard. If I had decided to "store" the items instead, then I could charge the EX-Tenants the rent and storage fees. Which they may never come to pick up. If I put it in a storage pod, then could not pay the rent on the pod till it went up for auction.

Now could the HOA do this because it's on their property? Maybe not. It could be considered theft. Maybe they could advice the owner to take this route. It will rid the yard of the items and still give the tenants every opportunity to get the items. Once that time period is up at the storage unit for not paying, then it would get auctioned off. If the stuff stays and owner keeps paying rent on it, then they could sue their tenant for that expense.

You're over thinking it, as usual. Someone puts a sign on the stuff that says "free stuff". It's not the owner that does it, it's not the HOA that does it, it's "someone". Every neighborhood has a "someone". he's the one that leaves the mess at the pool, in the gym. He doesn't pick up his dog's poo, etc. You let him put the sign on the stuff, and if the ex renter wants to bring a suit against "someone" they certainly can. The courts will need to identify "someone" and so far, in the history of the world, "someone" remains largely unidentified.

AndrewP4 (Iowa)
Posts: 4

Posted:

Well played.

In Iowa, once the tenants are notified and subsequently evicted, the property is their responsibility, if they make no efforts to remove or fail to notify anyone of their intentions, then it transitions to abandoned property. If left on HOA common property, then the HOA can decide how to dispose of it. (Finally figured this all out with info from here and doing a deeper dive into the legal aspects).

Although there is some ambiguity in the law for abandoned property and my original post was regarding the confusion on the chain of responsibility in the scenario. I think we got it ironed out, much of it was headed to the dump today...

DouglasM6 (Arizona)
Posts: 724

Posted:

Oh, and TV court is staged and scripted.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

No TV court like People's court is NOT scripted. They are real cases. The litigants just agree not to sue each other in court but appear on the show.

Plus they do have a bunch of lawyers behind the scenes verifying those are applicable laws. Certainly not going to have a court show that puts out wrong legal advice. They'd be sued.

The OP is now educated and knows what they can do now. Since it's on HOA property, the HOA can do what it wants with it. It may not be the case in every case. They did get legal advice and are doing what was advised. The owner also probably did not know what to do, and will from now on.

Former HOA President

AndrewP4 (Iowa)
Posts: 4

Posted:

I would have to agree with Douglas. None of the cases appear on the court record for the state in which they are held. They are more of an arbitration hearing between two people that are screened for entertainment purposes. It's just another form of 'reality' on TV that people watch and actually believe that it truly is real and that's how things work. Few of these shows exemplify reality and stage drama for ratings purposes and a voyeuristic public....

GenoS (Florida)
Posts: 4,276

Posted:

It's definitely binding arbitration. Both sides get paid from a pool of money. Nobody ever ends up writing a check. The winning party gets a bigger slice of the pool pie, that's all.

DouglasM6 (Arizona)
Posts: 724

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By AndrewP4 on 05/07/2018 6:01 PM
I would have to agree with Douglas. None of the cases appear on the court record for the state in which they are held. They are more of an arbitration hearing between two people that are screened for entertainment purposes. It's just another form of 'reality' on TV that people watch and actually believe that it truly is real and that's how things work. Few of these shows exemplify reality and stage drama for ratings purposes and a voyeuristic public....

^^^^ That is exactly correct. It's like the Jerry Springer show, cept with a judge.

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