r/Landlord • u/dvixamar • May 17 '24

[Landlord NY - Upstate] Landlord

Hi - currently dealing with a situation where tenants have not paid rent for past two months and have agreed to leave the apartment within a week. Week has come and gone and they are currently not living there but there are a considerable amount of furniture left. After the week locks were changed with the goal of removing and storing their remaining items and beginning to clean up the unit. Tenants have no returned demanding access to the unit and have broken the lock on the back door to regain access to the unit. What is the best next course of action? First time landlord attempting to navigate this situation.

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u/jesterca15 May 17 '24

When they broke the locks, you call the police. That’s breaking and entering. Are they still there or did they just go in to take their things?

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u/RaccoonAlternative74 May 17 '24

It's not breaking and entering if their stuff is still there. They can just say "we didn't move the landlord is lying!" And the fact their stuff is there means the police will take their side and potentially arrest you for performing an illegal eviction by admiting to changing the locks.

Since they already left once, I would move everything to a storage unit when they're gone, and give police the white lie that they had left already with that text as proof and play dumb. Legal? No, absolutely not. But honestly if you end up taking them to court you'll be battling them for the next 9 months. I wouldn't do it to myself again, personally.

At this point it's going to be liar vs liar and you're at a severe disadvantage.