My former property manager is living in my property without a lease.

Submitted by 1stTimeLandlord t3_10ognci in baltimore

First time poster.

Throwaway account.

I own a home in Baltimore City and I started renting it out March 2020.

When I first moved out of the home, I hired a Property Manager (PM).

The first tenants she found decided to not renew the lease, the PM needed a place to stay, and I allowed her to move in. (DUMB MOVE, I'M AWARE).

Surprisingly, she does not pay her rent on time. I'm not some investment banker, I live month to month like the rest of us - and it is REALLY stressing me out financially.

She has not signed a lease. She has not given me a security deposit.

She's been in the Property since September.

How do I get her out of the house?

What are her rights? My rights?

What Baltimore City institutions can help me?

Thank you so much.

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Comments

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Bismark1871 t1_j6eyvu0 wrote

Simple answer, you need to retain a lawyer and proceed with evicition.

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addctd2badideas t1_j6f29hm wrote

When you say you hired a property manager, are they a representative of a company or just a single individual?

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ScreenAlone t1_j6f9j4m wrote

Don’t have any insight but damn can you imagine just chilling in a house knowing you are pulling something over on someone and being ok with it. Especially someone you met personally.

Do they have friends over? What do they tell them? Do they answer the door or your calls? They just go about their life as normal? Crazy. I’d have so much anxiety it wouldn’t even be worth the free rent.

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MammothBookkeeper418 t1_j6fbqsw wrote

Replying to ScreenAlone (#1,593,366)

Unfortunately there are people out there who think the world owes them something and are more than willing to do this and have no remorse.

I live in Harford County and the property next to me was occupied by a squatter for months. She knew what she was doing and did not care because she was a single mother, had 2 young children and was trying to get her own business off the ground…so in her mind she deserved to live in a place for free until things “got better” 🙄🤦‍♂️

It was the first time I ever encountered a situation like that. She’s been gone for months now and it still boggles my mind lol

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addctd2badideas t1_j6fkbc3 wrote

Replying to 1stTimeLandlord (#1,592,354)

Did you sign any documents for the management of the property? Obviously a lawyer should be asking you all this but what you should look at is if the business agreement affects the verbal agreement that you had with this property manager. You might have a way to make this a larger civil court issue.

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sxswnxnw t1_j6fo0dk wrote

March 2020 is when the pandemic started. So you moved out sometime before then, and hired this property manager. Maybe they used the pandemic as their reason for being behind on rent initially? I am curious, how long were your original tenants in the house and how long was their lease, since March 2020? Maybe this was the plan all along for the property manager, maybe the original tenants left because they weren't doing their job...

Good luck. That's crazy.

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dej95135 t1_j6fpl8p wrote

Notify the state board for realtors

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Hamburg48 t1_j6gpugd wrote

Squatter story from Baltimore County. Local small 20 acre farm. Owner and wife would go to Florida for three months December > February. On their farm a small cottage that would be available as barter accommodation for a worker farmhand. Upon returning after months away - a previous worker knew their routine and had moved in to the cottage, signed kids up in school, established residency. After months of pursuing them through the court system, postponements and appeals (thousands in legal fees) they finally got the squatters out.

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moediggity3 t1_j6hq6i7 wrote

Unfortunately there isn’t anyone you can just call to get this resolved. Anyone suggesting a phone call to a state agency has no idea what they’re talking about. The terms of your agreement aren’t included in your post, but because she had permission to stay there, there is at least an agreement in place. This makes her a tenant and not a guest. You also didn’t mention if you’ve asked her to leave. Regardless, start with a 30 day written notice to quit (keep evidence of your notice, either by having a process server deliver it and file an affidavit or having FedEx deliver it, signature required). If she leaves, problem solved. If not, you’ll need to file an ejectment action in the district court and start the eviction process (and it is a process). If you’re looking for an attorney, pm me for a recommendation.

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LukeW0rm t1_j6i6k5b wrote

And I thought bay management was the worst PM haha. Sorry you’re going through this

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kaybeem50 t1_j6intea wrote

Stupid question maybe but have you asked her to leave? Tell her you found tenants who will sign a lease or whatever.

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mmscheeler t1_j6jhhxc wrote

As was mentioned above start with a 30 day notice to vacate. Send it certified so you have proof it was sent. Even if it gets returned. If she hasn’t moved at the end of that notice you will want to begin the eviction process of tenant holding over. In between now and then you will want to begin filing failure to pay rent notices. You will have to wait five days after the first of to file and there is a notice that you intend to file and that is a 10 day notice. Send that in the second of the month you should be able to find the letter on the courts website. You will want to keep track of what you a spending to get her out as those likely can be reimbursed to you. Do you have an agreement in writing?

Edit- here’s the notice of intent to file document.

Second edit- I am not an attorney but have worked in property management in the Baltimore area for 10+ years.

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