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pkvh t1_j1wpzt0 wrote

Reply to comment by HyruleJedi in weird situation by SmokeAdministrative7

Do not change the locks on someone who had legal residence at a place.

It is illegal and the courts will look poorly on you.

The tenant can also call the sherriff/police and have them break down the door and you as the landlord are required to get a new door and lock for them.

There is one legal way to evict someone, and the courts will look down poorly on any other attempts.

However, If the tenant vacates ( shows good evidence they've moved out of the property/ no longer intend to inhabit it) then you can change the locks on them.

You must securely store their property for up to 30 days I think and allow them to retrieve it. You can charge a reasonable storage fee.

There are so many limitations in Vermont

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Vaderiv t1_j1wwx0s wrote

Years ago this guy this local guy that had a bunch of rental properties and someone quit paying and would not move out he would send a construction crew by and remove all the windows and doors and then they would leave. Can’t do that anymore. It took my brother 3 months to evict a tenant who quit paying.

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HyruleJedi t1_j1wv99x wrote

It is 100% not illegal to change locks after a lease has expired and appropriate documentation(by state) has informed them of their expired lease.

You are wrong. The last two places I moved out of had painters and new locks installed as I was moving out

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pkvh t1_j1wwq4y wrote

This is because you vacated the property willingly.

If the tenant is refusing to vacate, you cannot attempt to evict them by changing the locks.

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HyruleJedi t1_j1wzy2c wrote

And your assuming they never leave the house

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pkvh t1_j1x0w4h wrote

There's a legal definition to vacating a property and leaving the house to go to work does not meet it.

This is like landlord 101 in Vermont.

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LiberaceRingfingaz t1_j1x0h2w wrote

Not only is that definitely illegal unless the tenant willingly vacated, but it's even illegal to kick a friend out of your house and change the locks if you've let them stay there for over 30 days. Technically anyone who is permitted to stay at your residence for 30+ days is a tenant, and is (legally) subject to the same eviction proceedings that you'd have to go through if you'd rented them the place and they refused to leave.

Your locks were changed because you willingly moved out. If you had refused to move out, it would have been completely illegal to change the locks until eviction proceedings had run their course in court.

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