DC tenant not paying rent

[Anonymous]

Current tenant in DC has not paid rent since moving into home. It’s officially been a year and we have mediation and trial set for a few months. What should be expected after this? Will they finally be forced to evacuate or will the courts continue to side with the tenant and allow them to live rent free for longer? This has been a frustrating nightmare

[Anonymous]

This is going to drag out for a long time. It’s been awhile since I’ve brushed up on DC L&T law, but if you can report them to the credit bureaus it might get things moving on their end.

Also, when you’re done, sue for damages and renew the judgment with as many garnishments as you need until they die or flee the country.

[Anonymous]

So sorry. Sounds like you got a professional scammer. This is why people should not be landlords in DC. Can you offer to pay them to move? I would have done that like 9 months ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is going to drag out for a long time. It’s been awhile since I’ve brushed up on DC L&T law, but if you can report them to the credit bureaus it might get things moving on their end.

Also, when you’re done, sue for damages and renew the judgment with as many garnishments as you need until they die or flee the country.

Can I report to the credit bureau now while we are in this limbo with the courts? I don’t want anything to possibly affect whatever the decision they will/wont make at our mediation and trial

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So sorry. Sounds like you got a professional scammer. This is why people should not be landlords in DC. Can you offer to pay them to move? I would have done that like 9 months ago.

Yes my biggest regret. We wish we would have done that but we have an under experienced property manager who recommended we don’t. Now we are in deeper mess

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is going to drag out for a long time. It’s been awhile since I’ve brushed up on DC L&T law, but if you can report them to the credit bureaus it might get things moving on their end.

Also, when you’re done, sue for damages and renew the judgment with as many garnishments as you need until they die or flee the country.

DP
What happened if you change the lock and put their stuff in a locker?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is going to drag out for a long time. It’s been awhile since I’ve brushed up on DC L&T law, but if you can report them to the credit bureaus it might get things moving on their end.

Also, when you’re done, sue for damages and renew the judgment with as many garnishments as you need until they die or flee the country.

DP
What happened if you change the lock and put their stuff in a locker?

There is a recent DC Court of Appeals decision similar to this. The homeowner locked the unpaying tenant out. Tenant sued and homeowner had to pay damages to tenant.

[Anonymous]

Board the door shut.

[Anonymous]

When I looked into this, as a private landlord, you couldn’t report to the credit bureau.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So sorry. Sounds like you got a professional scammer. This is why people should not be landlords in DC. Can you offer to pay them to move? I would have done that like 9 months ago.

Why in DC specifically? Are the laws about such situations looser than in other states?

[Anonymous]

Is this tenant on assistance?

[Anonymous]

OP not to scare you but DC is really bad at this. We purchased a Hill row house with a renter in the basement. YEARS, we could not get the non-paying renter our for YEARS and were living above them in a very hostile enviornment which was our own home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is going to drag out for a long time. It’s been awhile since I’ve brushed up on DC L&T law, but if you can report them to the credit bureaus it might get things moving on their end.

Also, when you’re done, sue for damages and renew the judgment with as many garnishments as you need until they die or flee the country.

DP
What happened if you change the lock and put their stuff in a locker?

There is a recent DC Court of Appeals decision similar to this. The homeowner locked the unpaying tenant out. Tenant sued and homeowner had to pay damages to tenant.

Yes. Until you get an eviction order and have the Marshals scheduled, you have no legal right to occupy or use the apartment/house. Setting yourself up for major fines if you do this in DC.

For those asking- yes DC laws and eviction procedures are much more oriented towards the tenant than almost anywhere else in the country

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So sorry. Sounds like you got a professional scammer. This is why people should not be landlords in DC. Can you offer to pay them to move? I would have done that like 9 months ago.

Why in DC specifically? Are the laws about such situations looser than in other states?

Democratic rule

[Anonymous]

If you are willing to move back in, you can get them out in less time. Agree with prior poster to make sure you have legal help and would add make sure all you paperwork is clean